CPU Research Engineer

MicroTech Consulting
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Last month
£149,000 – £150,000 pa

Salary

£149,000 – £150,000 pa

Job Type
Permanent
Work Pattern
Full-time
Work Location
On-site
Seniority
Senior
Education
Masters
Posted
23 Apr 2026 (Last month)

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Staff Research Scientist with strong ISA extensions experience. This is a high-level research and development role.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Analyse dynamic language overhead: Profile V8 and ArkTS interpreter/JIT to identify operations that consume disproportionate cycles (type checks, inline cache misses, garbage collection barriers, dynamic dispatch, deoptimisation)

  • Design ISA extensions: Propose new instructions or architectural features that accelerate common dynamic language patterns while maintaining backward compatibility and security boundaries

  • Prototype in software: Modify V8, ArkTS interpreter, or JIT compiler to use new instructions, measuring speedup on representative workloads (OpenHarmony apps, JavaScript benchmarks, browser workloads)

  • Model in architectural simulators: Implement proposed extensions in GEM5

  • Collaborate on RTL implementation: Work with digital design teams to refine instruction encoding, pipeline integration, and verification requirements

  • Publish and patent: Document novel contributions through internal technical reports, conference papers, and patent applications

Required:

  • Deep understanding ofCPU microarchitecture: pipelines, out-of-order execution, branch prediction, memory hierarchy, ISA design principles

  • Experience witharchitectural simulation (GEM5, Sniper, ZSim, or proprietary tools)

  • Familiarity withinterpreter or JIT compiler internals—any of: V8, SpiderMonkey, JavaScriptCore, HotSpot, ART, LuaJIT, PyPy, or similar

  • StrongC/C++ and systems programming skills

  • Comfortable working inLinux environments with Git, Make, scripting

  • Equivalent industry experience (5+ years in CPU architecture, compilers, or language runtimes) welcomed

  • PhD or MSc in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Electrical Engineering preferred

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