--- title: 'SoC System Hardware Architect at Baidu USA' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/soc-system-hardware-architect-baidu-usa-sunnyvale-8txthstvw8hn' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-12' --- # SoC System Hardware Architect at Baidu USA - **Company:** Baidu USA - **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA - **Posted:** 2021-06-18 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/baidu/jobs/3234382 ## Job description Do you want to be part of the AI revolution? Do you want to think out of the box, thriving on challenges in AI industry and have the desire to solve them? Do you want to work with a world-class team to explore the fast-growing AI hardware opportunities and impact on AI industry? We’re looking forward to you joining us to collaborate, contribute, and revolutionize AI silicon and system. Description We are looking for a world-class SOC Silicon Architect to join our SoC team at Baidu’s Sunnyvale office. The successful candidate will be a motivated self-starter who will thrive in this highly technical environment. Your job responsibilities as a SOC Silicon Architect will be to provide technical leadership through all phases of Baidu’s AI SoC development, but primarily focused on specification & architecture definition. Work with Baidu’s AI SoC marketing and software architects to define technical Requirements & Architecture Specifications for chip development.  Work with the SoC design team & program management to develop costing estimates, power/area targets, resource plans and schedules for the technical implementation. Drive SoC performance evaluation and provide recommendations for technology, IP, and vendor selection. Support design and verification in pre and post silicon to ensure features to meet the architectural requirements. Knowledgeable with storage, networking, or hardware protocols e.g., Ethernet, DDR, PCIe, I2C, SPI, USB buses and NoC. Experience with ARM CPU Cores and IP (Coherent Mesh, GIC, SMMU, etc.) selection, configuration, and integration. Familiarity with interconnects (NoC), coherency, virtual memory, memory controllers. ## Qualifications - 10+ years of experience in SoC Silicon architecture or IP design. - Demonstrated ability to develop detailed architecture, performance, power and cost estimates from higher level feature, function and performance requirements. - Familiar with methods for partitioning a solution across hardware and software, analog and digital or other multi-disciplinary boundaries in a system solution. - Excellent communication skills. Ability to read and write detailed architectural specs. - BS/MS in Electrical or Computer Engineering. - Excellent communication skills in both English and Chinese. Culture Fit: - Mission alignment: If you want to be part of a team to accomplish this great mission, we will provide you the best possible platform to do that. - Self-directed: We work best with people that are driven, motivated, and aspire to greatness. - Hungry to learn: We are eager to see you learn new skills and grow. - Team orientation: We work in small, fast-moving teams. We watch out for each other and go after big goals together as a team. ## #LI-DNI ## About Baidu USA ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Baidu USA is the Silicon Valley R&D center of Baidu, China’s largest search engine, focused on cutting-edge AI research, autonomous driving, and global business development. - **Entity Type**: Public subsidiary of Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) - **Headquarters**: Mountain View, California, USA (with additional offices in Bellevue, WA and Sunnyvale, CA) - **Founded**: 2014 - **Founders**: Baidu was founded by Robin Li and Eric Xu; Baidu USA operates as a wholly owned subsidiary. ## Core Business - **Primary Industries**: Artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, cloud computing, digital advertising, and hardware design (CPU/GPU/SoC). - **Target Customers**: B2B (advertisers, enterprise AI solutions), B2C (through Baidu’s consumer products), and internal R&D for Baidu’s global ecosystem. - **Mission**: “To make a complicated world simpler through technology.” ## Products & Services - **Baidu Research US**: Conducts fundamental AI research in deep learning, computer vision, speech recognition, and NLP. - **Intelligent Driving Group (IDG) US**: Develops Apollo autonomous driving platform and related hardware/software. - **Baidu Global Business Unit**: Manages **MediaGo** (AI-powered advertising platform for global app advertisers) and other international ad sales. - **Xingyun US**: Silicon Valley hardware design center focused on CPU/GPU/SoC architecture for AI and autonomous driving. - **Baidu AI Cloud**: Cloud services with AI capabilities (noted as a category, though US-specific offerings may be limited). ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Baidu, Inc. market cap ~$30–40 billion (as of mid-2025); Baidu USA is a subsidiary with no separate public valuation. - **Key Metric**: Headcount of 77 employees (+2.1% YoY); active job postings increased 180% YoY (14 current openings). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Baidu, Inc. (parent); partnerships with global advertisers, automotive OEMs, and hardware vendors. - **Growth Signals**: Rapid expansion in hardware engineering roles (CPU/GPU/SoC), 40% quarterly increase in job postings, new office in Bellevue, WA, and growing global advertising business (MediaGo). ## Competitive Advantages - Access to Baidu’s massive data, compute resources, and decades of AI expertise—combined with the agility of a small Silicon Valley team. - Strong talent pipeline from top universities (Stanford, UC Santa Barbara) and alumni network at Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and ByteDance. - Unique position bridging US innovation with Baidu’s vast Chinese market and ecosystem. ## Strategic Focus - **AI Hardware**: Building custom CPU/GPU/SoC designs for machine learning and autonomous driving. - **Autonomous Driving**: Advancing Apollo platform through US-based R&D and partnerships. - **Global Advertising**: Scaling MediaGo to capture international app advertiser spend. - **Talent Acquisition**: Aggressively hiring hardware architects, AI researchers, and business development managers to expand US footprint. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: “Nimbleness of a startup” with resources of a global tech giant; elite researchers and engineers work on “change-the-world” AI projects. - **Work Environment**: Hybrid/office presence across three US locations (Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Bellevue). Specific remote policy not disclosed. - **Impact**: Work on AI systems deployed to hundreds of millions of users (Baidu’s core products) and cutting-edge hardware that powers next-gen AI. - **Notable Perks**: Not explicitly listed, but typical for a global R&D center includes competitive compensation, equity (via Baidu), and exposure to cross-border technology development. ## Sources 1. [usa.baidu.com](https://usa.baidu.com/) 2. [usa.baidu.com/about](https://usa.baidu.com/about) 3. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/baidu](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/baidu) 4. 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