Principal Engineer, AI Platform Software Architecture

Qualcomm; Chennai District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm India Private Limited seeks a Principal Engineer to lead enterprise AI platform software architecture for edge AI devices. You will influence software and silicon decisions across product lines, collaborating with hardware, security, and product teams to shape future AI platforms.

The role demands 15+ years of architectural experience, strong expertise in AI runtimes and LLM workloads, and a track record of cross-functional influence.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience architecting embedded, platform, or systems software.
• Proven strategy and influence across product generations and orgs.
• Deep expertise in hardware/software interface design and system architecture.

Responsibilities

• Define long-term platform software architecture and strategy for AI inferencing.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives across software, hardware, and security teams.
• Translate AI workload trends into roadmap recommendations for Qualcomm platforms.
• Drive hardware/software co-design and architectural proposals.
• Mentor engineers and establish technical standards.

Skills

Platform software architecture

AI inferencing

C/C++

ARM/RISC-V

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/CS

Master's degree in Engineering/CS

PhD in Engineering/CS

Tools

Linux kernel

Device drivers

Memory subsystem

Job description

Company:

Qualcomm India Private Limited

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

At Qualcomm, you will join a global leader in semiconductor technology and help shape the future of AI at the edge. You will work alongside world-class engineers, architects, and product leaders to define the software architecture that enables AI experiences across a diverse range of products, including wearables, smartphones, XR devices, automotive platforms, edge computing systems, and AI PCs.

The Core Platform Software Architecture team is seeking an experienced and highly influential Principal Engineer, AI Platform Software Architecture to drive the software and system architecture for next-generation AI inferencing platforms. In this role, you will lead cross-functional architectural initiatives spanning software, hardware, security, memory systems, and AI accelerators while helping shape the long-term technology strategy for Qualcomm's AI platform roadmap.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• OR
• Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 7+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• OR
• PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• 4+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

The successful candidate will serve as a technical leader responsible for influencing software and silicon architecture decisions across multiple product lines and future generations of AI platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term platform software architecture and technical strategy for AI inferencing across Qualcomm's portfolio of edge AI products, influencing technology investments and architectural decisions across multiple product generations.
• Lead cross-functional architectural initiatives involving software, hardware, AI accelerator, security, and product teams to deliver scalable and differentiated AI platform solutions.
• Collaborate with product management, customers, and silicon architecture teams to understand emerging AI workloads, product requirements, and technology trends, and translate them into platform architecture and roadmap recommendations.
• Drive hardware/software co-design and influence future platform capabilities through architectural analysis, technical proposals, and strategic technology planning.
• Lead system-level architecture and engineering efforts spanning operating systems, AI runtimes, memory systems, virtualization, security, interconnects, and heterogeneous compute architectures.
• Evaluate architectural alternatives, perform tradeoff analysis, and develop architecture proposals and specifications that balance performance, power, scalability, security, and product requirements.
• Drive alignment across organizations through architecture reviews, technical leadership, and effective stakeholder engagement.
• Mentor and influence engineers and architects across the company while helping establish architectural best practices, technical standards, and long-term technology direction.

Preferred Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience architecting complex embedded, platform, or systems software solutions.
• Demonstrated success driving architecture and technical strategy across multiple product generations and organizations.
• Strong experience in hardware/software interface design, system architecture, and end-to-end platform engineering.
• Deep expertise in several of the following areas:
  • SoC and computer architecture
  • ARM and RISC-V architectures
  • Linux kernel, operating systems, and device drivers
  • Memory management and memory subsystem architecture
  • DMA, IOMMU, and system interconnect technologies
  • Virtualization and hypervisor technologies
  • Security architecture, trusted execution environments, attestation, confidential computing, and model protection
  • AI inferencing runtimes, frameworks, compilers, and software stacks
  • Large Language Models (LLMs), Transformer architectures, and modern AI workloads
  • Heterogeneous computing systems involving CPUs, GPUs, DSPs, NPUs, and dedicated AI accelerators
• Proven ability to influence senior technical leaders and drive consensus across geographically distributed teams.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and technical presentation skills.

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