Senior HPC Architect / HPC Program Lead

Who We Are

Applied Materials is the global leader in materials science and engineering solutions that are at the foundation of virtually every new semiconductor chip and advanced display in the world. The equipment that we create and service is essential to advancing AI and accelerating the commercialization of next-generation semiconductor chips. Join us and push the boundaries of materials science and engineering in a company at the foundation of the electronics industry. The work we do together advances the world’s technology.

What We Offer

Salary:

$140,500.00 - $193,000.00

Location:

Santa Clara,CA

You’ll benefit from a supportive work culture that encourages you to learn, develop, and grow your career as you take on challenges and drive innovative solutions for our customers. We empower our team to push the boundaries of what is possible—while learning every day in a supportive leading global company. Visit our Careers website to learn more.

At Applied Materials, we care about the health and wellbeing of our employees. We’re committed to providing programs and support that encourage personal and professional growth and care for you at work, at home, or wherever you may go. Learn more about our benefits.

We are seeking an experienced HPC Technical Lead to drive the design, implementation and optimization of the organization's High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments. This is a hands-on technical role responsible for building and maintaining scalable, secure and high-performing HPC platforms across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

The Tech Lead will be the go-to technical expert for HPC infrastructure, cloud HPC platforms, schedulers and AI/ML workloads. The ideal candidate will work closely with engineering teams, application users, IT operations and vendors to solve complex technical problems, provide technical guidance to team members, and ensure HPC platforms meet performance and reliability requirements.

Key Responsibilities

HPC Architecture & Engineering

• Design, build and optimize HPC clusters across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

• Translate the HPC roadmap into technical designs, implementation plans and working solutions.

• Evaluate and run proof-of-concepts for new HPC, GPU and cloud technologies, and share technical recommendations.

• Define and follow technical standards, reference architectures and best practices for HPC environments.

Technical Requirement Analysis & Solutioning

• Work with engineering, R&D and AI/ML users to understand workload, application and performance requirements.

• Turn requirements into technical designs, cluster configurations and deployment approaches.

• Conduct technical feasibility assessments, design reviews and benchmarking for new HPC use cases.

• Act as the senior technical point of contact for HPC-related issues and solutions.

AI & GPU Computing

• Design and support GPU-accelerated infrastructure for AI/ML training and inference workloads.

• Tune GPU clusters, drivers, CUDA libraries and containers for performance and stability.

• Work with AI/ML teams to optimize job scheduling, resource allocation and data pipelines.

• Explore and prototype Generative AI and emerging technologies on HPC platforms.

Cloud HPC & Platform Management

• Implement and maintain cloud HPC solutions on Azure, AWS and other providers.

• Configure and manage HPC platforms such as Rescale, Azure CycleCloud, Slurm and related tools.

• Automate cluster provisioning and configuration using infrastructure-as-code and scripting.

• Ensure HPC environments meet security, compliance and business continuity requirements.

• Monitor cloud resource usage and recommend technical cost optimizations.

Operations, Performance & Support

• Act as the highest-level escalation point for complex HPC incidents and troubleshooting.

• Perform performance tuning, benchmarking and capacity analysis for compute, storage and network.

• Drive root cause analysis and implement permanent fixes for recurring issues.

• Contribute to change management, patching, upgrades and platform reliability improvements.

• Create and maintain technical documentation, runbooks and knowledge articles.

Technical Guidance & Collaboration

• Provide technical mentoring and guidance to HPC engineers and support staff.

• Conduct code, configuration and design reviews.

• Work with vendors and cloud providers on technical issues, product evaluations and escalations.

• Coordinate with infrastructure, storage, networking, security and application teams on technical delivery.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology or a related field.

• 8+ years of hands-on experience in HPC engineering, infrastructure or architecture roles.

• 2+ years of experience in a technical lead or senior engineer role.

• Strong hands-on knowledge of:

• HPC cluster design, deployment and administration

• Linux system administration and performance tuning

• Slurm or equivalent HPC workload schedulers

• Cloud HPC solutions (Azure, AWS)

• Parallel file systems and high-performance storage (e.g., Lustre, GPFS, BeeGFS, Weka)

• High-speed networking (InfiniBand, RDMA)

• GPU computing (NVIDIA GPUs, CUDA)

• MPI and parallel application environments

• Strong scripting and automation skills (Python, Bash, PowerShell).

• Experience with infrastructure-as-code and configuration management tools (Terraform, Ansible or similar).

• Strong troubleshooting, analytical and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting engineering simulation and scientific workloads in enterprise HPC environments.

• Hands-on knowledge of CAE and CFD applications such as Ansys, Siemens or similar tools.

• Experience with containers for HPC and AI (Apptainer/Singularity, Docker, Kubernetes).

• Experience with cloud-native AI platforms and MLOps workflows.

• Familiarity with HPC security, compliance and governance frameworks.

• Relevant certifications in cloud technologies (Azure, AWS) or HPC environments.

Key Competencies

• HPC Architecture & Engineering

• Technical Problem Solving

• Performance Optimization

• Cloud & Automation

• AI/GPU Infrastructure

• Technical Mentoring

• Cross-Team Collaboration

• Documentation & Communication

Success Metrics

• HPC platform availability, performance and reliability.

• Quality and timeliness of technical solutions and project delivery.

• Reduction in incidents and faster resolution of complex issues.

• Improved job performance and resource utilization.

• User and engineering team satisfaction.

Scope

Global HPC Infrastructure, Cloud HPC, AI/GPU Platforms, Engineering Applications and Technical Operations.

Additional Information

Time Type:

Full time

Employee Type:

Assignee / Regular

Travel:

Yes, 10% of the Time

Relocation Eligible:

No

The salary offered to a selected candidate will be based on multiple factors including location, hire grade, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and with consideration of internal equity of our current team members. In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, candidates may be eligible for other forms of compensation such as participation in a bonus and a stock award program, as applicable.

For all sales roles, the posted salary range is the Target Total Cash (TTC) range for the role, which is the sum of base salary and target bonus amount at 100% goal achievement.

Applied Materials is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law.