Engineer, Senior Staff

Qualcomm Incorporated; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm India Private Limited is seeking a Senior Staff Engineer with 15+ years of embedded and automotive software leadership to spearhead strategic programs and act as a technical authority for next-generation software-defined vehicle platforms.

The role demands deep platform architecture expertise, executive-level engagement, and hands-on debugging across kernel, drivers, and silicon, working with OEMs, Tier-1 partners, and product/engineering teams.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of embedded, automotive, and platform software experience.
• Strong experience with OEMs and cross-functional teams.
• Proven track record in architecture, system integration, and complex issue resolution.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic automotive OEM and Tier-1 programs.
• Drive end-to-end software and platform architecture decisions.
• Provide architectural guidance across automotive products and platforms.
• Mentor engineers across multiple technology areas.

Skills

Embedded software

Platform architecture

System debugging

Customer engagement

Cross-functional leadership

Kernel debugging

Security & safety

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

Trace32

GDB

Performance profiling

Job description

Company

Qualcomm India Private Limited

Job Area

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Applications Engineering

General Summary

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Staff Engineer (15+ years) to lead strategic automotive programs and serve as a technical authority for next-generation software-defined vehicle platforms.

This role requires a rare combination of deep platform architecture expertise, customer engagement, system-level problem solving, and cross-functional technical leadership. The candidate will work directly with global OEMs, Tier-1 partners, product teams, and engineering organizations to define architecture, drive platform adoption, and resolve the most complex hardware and software challenges.

The ideal candidate is a recognized technical leader who can seamlessly operate from executive-level technical discussions down to kernel, driver, and silicon-level debugging.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Program Leadership
  • Serve as technical lead for strategic automotive OEM and Tier-1 programs.
  • Drive execution of critical customer initiatives, platform readiness, and release milestones.
  • Partner with customer engineering, product management, systems, and development teams to ensure successful program execution.
  • Lead technical reviews, risk assessments, escalation management, and executive updates.
• Platform Architecture & Design Leadership
  • Drive end-to-end software and platform architecture discussions across automotive products.
  • Review and influence designs spanning:
    • Android Automotive (AAOS)
    • Linux BSP & Kernel
    • QNX Neutrino
    • Hypervisor & Virtualization
    • Middleware and Platform Services
    • Security and Safety Frameworks
  • Provide architectural guidance to customers and internal teams for scalable and production-ready solutions.
  • Influence platform evolution and long-term technology strategy.
• Deep System Debug & Root Cause Analysis
  • Lead investigations of complex cross-functional issues involving hardware, firmware, kernel, middleware, and applications.
  • Drive root cause analysis of critical customer escalations and production blockers.
  • Analyze and resolve:
    • Boot and startup issues
    • Memory management problems
    • Performance bottlenecks
    • System stability issues
    • Virtualization challenges
    • Storage and file system problems
    • Security and access violations
  • Work closely with silicon, systems, kernel, and software teams to deliver robust resolutions.
• Customer & Technical Engagement
  • Act as trusted technical advisor to OEM and Tier-1 customers.
  • Lead architecture reviews, customer workshops, and technical deep dives.
  • Translate customer requirements into platform strategies and engineering priorities.
  • Build strong relationships across customer, product, and engineering organizations.
• Technical Leadership
  • Provide domain leadership across automotive software platforms.
  • Mentor engineers and technical leads across multiple technology areas.
  • Drive engineering excellence, debugging methodologies, and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
  • Champion best practices in architecture, design reviews, and system analysis.

Preferred Technical Expertise

Operating Systems

• Android Automotive OS (AAOS)
• Linux Kernel & BSP
• QNX Neutrino OS
• Hypervisor & Virtualization Technologies

Embedded Platform Architecture

• ARMv8 / ARMv9 Architecture
• Scheduler, Memory Management, MMU
• IOMMU / SMMU
• Interrupt and Timer Architecture
• DMA and Shared Memory Frameworks
• Boot Chain and System Initialization
• Multi-core Processing

System Software

• Kernel Development and Debugging
• Device Drivers
• Middleware Architectures
• Platform Frameworks
• System Performance Optimization

Debugging & Analysis

• Trace32
• GDB
• Crash Dump Analysis
• Performance Profiling
• System Tracing and Diagnostics
• Cross-layer Hardware/Software Debugging

Automotive Domain

• Software Defined Vehicles (SDV)
• IVI / Cockpit Platforms
• ADAS Platforms
• Functional Safety
• Automotive Cyber Security
• Platform Integration and Validation

Candidate Profile

• B.Tech/M.Tech in Computer Science, Electronics, or related field.
• 15+ years of experience in embedded, automotive, and platform software development.
• Strong experience working with OEMs, Tier-1 customers, and cross-functional engineering organizations.
• Proven track record in platform architecture, system integration, and complex issue resolution.
• Exceptional communication, technical leadership, and stakeholder management skills.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Applications Engineering, Software Development experience, or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 5+ years of Software Applications Engineering, Software Development experience, or related work experience.
• PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Software Applications Engineering, Software Development experience, or related work experience.
• 3+ years of experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.
• 3+ years of experience with debugging techniques.

Applicants

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail [e-mail] or call Qualcomm's toll‑free number found here . Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).

Qualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.

If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers .