Chief Architect
Architect Labs
Palo Alto, CA · Posted October 29, 2026
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Where Palo Alto, CA ranks
Where Palo Alto, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #3Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills28% · of 100
- #3Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills in the West Coast28% · of 54
- #3Best cities for AI-skill jobs37% · of 100
- #3Best cities for AI-skill jobs in the West Coast37% · of 71
- #4Best cities for data and analytics pay after cost of living$207k · of 28
- #4Best all-round cities for mid-career professionals83 / 100 · of 100
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
About the job
About Architect Labs
Architect is a frontier AI lab for custom silicon. We partner with frontier labs, clouds / neoclouds, physical AI companies, and advanced fabs to tape-out custom chips co-designed for next-generation AI workloads. Our goal is to compress end-to-end software to silicon timelines, and maximize intelligence per watt and per dollar for the world. We are a small exceptional team across silicon, systems, software and frontier AI. Our team have led research teams at nearly every frontier AI lab, and at some of the most complex SoCs in the world.
What You'll Do
Define the architectural vision for new generation of AI compute silicons, and reinvent how architectures are discovered, explored and co-optimized with AI. Own the critical decisions across compute, memory, interconnect, and hardware–software co-design. Build an autoresearch architecture-search pipeline that connects workload analysis, design-space exploration, performance modeling, and PPA feedback to rapidly uncover architectures conventional methods would miss. Partner closely with ASIC and software leaders to turn the strongest ideas into silicon, with hands-on ownership of the toughest tradeoffs.
What We'd Like to See
Exceptional architecture pedigree: A seasoned architect and technical leader or equivalent who has defined and shipped multiple industry-leading CPUs, GPUs, AI accelerators, or complex SoCs.
Full-stack systems judgment: Deep command of computer architecture, performance modeling, memory systems, interconnects, power/performance/area tradeoffs, and software–hardware co-design.
Proven product impact: Architectural decisions that materially improved performance, efficiency, scalability, or product competitiveness in deployed silicon.
Technical authority: The ability to challenge assumptions, simplify complex systems, mentor outstanding engineers, and lead through technical credibility rather than hierarchy.
Builder mentality: Comfortable moving from first-principles exploration to detailed engineering decisions in a fast-moving, high-ownership environment.
What We Offer
Competitive compensation and meaningful equity, extraordinary technical ownership, and the opportunity to shape foundational computing systems alongside a small, exceptional team.