Principal Software Developer – AI/ML Performance Validation & Systems Testing

WHAT YOU DO AT AMD CHANGES EVERYTHING   At AMD, our mission is to build great products that accelerate next-generation computing experiences—from AI and data centers, to PCs, gaming and embedded systems. Grounded in a culture of innovation and collaboration, we believe real progress comes from bold ideas, human ingenuity and a shared passion to create something extraordinary. When you join AMD, you’ll discover the real differentiator is our culture. We push the limits of innovation to solve the world’s most important challenges—striving for execution excellence, while being direct, humble, collaborative, and inclusive of diverse perspectives. Join us as we shape the future of AI and beyond.   Together, we advance your career.

We are seeking a  Principal Software Engineer  to serve as the senior technical leader for  ROCm software validation  across compute workloads and server-class systems. In this individual-contributor leadership role, you will define  how AMD proves ROCm is ready to ship  — from unit and component testing, through full-stack workload validation, to multi-node system-level qualification on AMD Instinct™ GPU platforms. You will set the technical direction for validation strategy, build and evolve the test infrastructure that gates every ROCm release, and personally drive the hardest debugging, characterization, and qualification problems. Your work directly determines the quality bar experienced by hyperscalers, OEMs, sovereign-AI customers, and the open-source community running ROCm in production.   THE PERSON: You will set the technical direction for validation strategy, build and evolve the test infrastructure that gates every ROCm release, and personally drive the hardest debugging, characterization, and qualification problems. Your work directly determines the quality bar experienced by hyperscalers, OEMs, sovereign-AI customers, and the open-source community running ROCm in production.

Own the end-to-end validation architecture for ROCm — unit, integration, framework, workload, performance, stress, stability, scale-out, and system-level test layers — across multiple GPU generations and server platforms.  Define release-qualification gates and exit criteria for ROCm software releases (functional coverage, performance regressions, stability hours, scale targets, RAS criteria) and drive the org to meet them.  Architect the test infrastructure — distributed test runners, GitHub Actions / Jenkins / internal CI fleets, hardware lab orchestration, result data lakes, flaky-test detection, bisection automation, and self-service developer pre-submit pipelines. Champion modern, agile quality engineering — shift-left testing, test pyramids, contract testing between layers, hermetic test environments, deterministic reproducers, and continuous validation in trunk. Set the bar for GitHub-based quality workflows — PR gating policy, required checks, code-coverage standards, bug-bash and triage cadences, and disciplined issue management across ROCm/* repositories and partner upstream projects. Lead complex escalation debug — partner with development, hardware, firmware, and customer-facing teams to root-cause the hardest multi-day, multi-node, multi-component failures and convert findings into durable test coverage.  Influence the roadmap  — work with product management, silicon, platform, and software architecture to ensure validation readiness for next-generation Instinct GPUs and server platforms  before tape-in milestones and silicon arrival. Mentor and elevate Senior and Staff validation engineers, SDETs, and SQA leads; raise the technical bar through design review, code review, and written guidance. Represent ROCm validation externally — strategic customer engagements, OEM qualification programs, and open-source community quality initiatives. Lead system-level testing for server