Engineering Architect, Standards & Community

Why this role exists

Standards don’t write themselves. Extensions don’t get ratified because they’re technically correct — they get ratified because someone showed up, made the argument, built the coalition, and pushed through the objections. Open-source projects don’t adopt your patches because the code is good — they adopt them because you’ve earned the trust that comes from sustained, visible contribution.

VRULL’s technical credibility is built in the compiler, in the ISA working groups, and in the upstream communities where our work ships. That credibility needs to be strategic, not accidental. Someone needs to ensure that VRULL’s presence in RISC‑V International, in GCC and LLVM/MLIR governance, in Linux and DPDK communities, in HPC consortia, and at industry conferences is coordinated, sustained, and aimed at outcomes that matter.

This is not a marketing role. This is an engineering leadership role with a public-facing mandate. You need the technical depth to argue a vector extension encoding in a RISC‑V working group, debate MLIR dialect design in an LLVM RFC, or present HPC benchmark results at SC. You need to know when to push, when to compromise, and when to let the engineering speak for itself.

The landscape is expanding. RISC‑V is entering the AI and HPC markets simultaneously, and the standards decisions being made now — vector extensions, matrix operations, memory models, RVA profiles — will determine whether RISC‑V competes or remains a footnote. The communities that matter now include not just the traditional compiler and silicon world but the AI framework maintainers, the HPC centre architects, and the Julia ecosystem builders who will decide whether RISC‑V becomes a target worth supporting.

What you’ll do

Drive VRULL’s participation in RISC‑V International working groups — architecture review, extension proposals, profile development, with particular focus on AI and HPC extensions
Coordinate the team’s upstream engagement across GCC, LLVM, MLIR, Linux, DPDK, and AI/HPC framework communities — making it strategic, not ad hoc
Represent VRULL at industry conferences, technical summits, and partner reviews — from RISC‑V Summit and EuroLLVM to SC and ISC
Build and maintain the relationships with key community maintainers, standards-body chairs, and HPC centre architects that accelerate VRULL’s work
Identify the standards and community opportunities that align with VRULL’s technical roadmap and customer engagements — including emerging communities around Julia and modern language adoption in HPC
Mentor the team on community engagement — how to get patches reviewed, how to build reviewer credibility, how to navigate working-group politics

What we’re looking for

Deep technical background in at least one of: compiler engineering (GCC/LLVM/MLIR), ISA architecture, systems software, AI frameworks, or HPC — you must be credible in the room, not just present
Track record of active participation in standards bodies or open-source governance — you’ve shaped outcomes, not just attended meetings
Exceptional communication skills — writing, presenting, and the ability to make complex technical arguments accessible without dumbing them down
Strategic thinking about community positioning — you understand that upstream contributions are investments, not favours
Existing relationships in the RISC‑V ecosystem, compiler communities, HPC consortia, or AI infrastructure projects

What sets you apart

Named contributor to a ratified RISC‑V extension or profile
Maintainer or reviewer status in a major open-source project (GCC, LLVM, MLIR, Linux, or a major framework)
Conference speaking track record at events like RISC‑V Summit, Plumbers, EuroLLVM, SC, ISC, or equivalent
Connections across both AI and HPC communities — you understand that these worlds are converging and RISC‑V needs to serve both
The rare combination: technically deep enough to do the work, articulate enough to explain why it matters, and politically savvy enough to get it adopted

We build the technology. This role makes sure the world knows — and that the standards reflect what we’ve built.