Principal Engineer/Senior Staff Engineer- CPU Software & Hardware Co-Design Engineer (ML Systems)

QUALCOMM, Inc.; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm India Private Limited is seeking a high-impact CPU Software & Hardware Co-Design Engineer to advance ML workloads on QMX CPUs. You will work across the full stack from ML models to kernels, optimizing performance and guiding architectural decisions.

The role demands strong background in computer architecture and ML, proficiency in C/C++, and experience with simulators like QEMU. Bangalore-based, engineering leadership opportunities available.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 7+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• 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.

Responsibilities

• ML Workload Identification & Characterization: identify critical ML use cases and analyze compute, memory, and parallelism characteristics.
• Simulation & Trace Generation: generate execution traces with simulators and capture instruction-level behavior.
• Bottleneck Analysis & Performance Optimization: identify CPU, memory, and cache bottlenecks and apply kernel and data-layout optimizations.
• Software–Hardware Co-Design: collaborate with CPU architecture teams to derive data-driven architectural improvements.
• ML Kernel & Library Development (QMX Focus): develop optimized kernels (GEMM, convolution, attention) and integrate with ML frameworks.
• Benchmarking & Performance Engineering: establish baselines and drive improvements across hardware generations.

Skills

C/C++

Java

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field

Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field

PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field

Tools

QEMU

Job description

Company:

Qualcomm India Private Limited

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what's possible to enable next-generation experiences and drives digital transformation to help create a smarter, connected future for all. As a Qualcomm Software Engineer, you will design, develop, create, modify, and validate embedded and cloud edge software, applications, and/or specialized utility programs that launch cutting-edge, world class products that meet and exceed customer needs. Qualcomm Software Engineers collaborate with systems, hardware, architecture, test engineers, and other teams to design system-level software solutions and obtain information on performance requirements and interfaces.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 7+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• 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.

Detailed JD:

==========

Job Description: CPU Software & Hardware Co-Design Engineer (ML Systems)

Location: Bangalore (or relevant)

Levels: Engineer / Senior Engineer / Staff / Principal Engineer

Role Overview

We are building a high-impact team at the intersection of CPU architecture, machine learning workloads, and system-level performance optimization. This role focuses on CPU software–hardware co-design for next-generation QMX architectures, including workload characterization, simulation, kernel optimization, and driving architectural insights for future CPU designs. The ideal candidate will work across the full stack—from ML models to low-level kernels to architectural feedback—enabling efficient execution of ML workloads on CPU platforms.

Key Responsibilities

1. ML Workload Identification & Characterization

   • Identify and prioritize critical ML use cases and models for CPU-centric execution (LLMs, vision, speech, recommender systems, etc.)
   • Analyze workload characteristics including:
     • Compute intensity
     • Memory bandwidth and cache behavior
     • Parallelism and dataflow patterns

2. Simulation & Trace Generation

   • Generate detailed execution traces for ML workloads using QEMU or equivalent simulators
   • Develop tooling to:
     • Capture instruction-level execution behavior
     • Extract performance counters and bottlenecks
   • Enable accurate modeling of workload behavior for architectural exploration

3. Bottleneck Analysis & Performance Optimization

   • Identify system bottlenecks across:
     • CPU pipelines
     • Memory hierarchy
     • Instruction utilization
   • Optimize critical hotspots through:
     • Kernel-level tuning
     • Algorithmic improvements
     • Data layout and memory optimizations
   • Drive measurable improvements in workload performance

4. Software–Hardware Co-Design

   • Collaborate with CPU architecture and design teams to:
     • Provide data-driven insights from real workloads
     • Identify inefficiencies and propose architectural enhancements
   • Influence next-generation CPU features in:
     • Compute units
     • Vector/SIMD extensions (e.g., QMX)
     • Memory subsystems

5. ML Kernel & Library Development (QMX Focus)

   • Design and implement highly optimized ML kernels and libraries for QMX architecture
   • Develop kernels for:
     • GEMM, convolution, attention, activation functions, etc.
   • Enable integration with:
     • Open-source ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, ONNX, XNNPACK, MLAS)
   • Apply advanced optimizations:
     • SIMD/vectorization
     • Cache-aware execution
     • Parallel execution strategies

6. Benchmarking & Performance Engineering

   • Optimize CPU-centric ML benchmarks such as:
     • Geekbench AI
     • Internal benchmarking suites
   • Establish performance baselines and track improvements across hardware generations
   • Perform competitive analysis and performance positioning

Required Qualifications

• Strong background in:
  • Computer Architecture / Systems Programming
  • Machine Learning fundamentals
• Proficiency in:
  • C/C++ (mandatory)
• Experience with:
  • Performance profiling, benchmarking, and optimization

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with:
  • QEMU or equivalent simulators
  • ML kernel development (GEMM, convolution, attention)
• Knowledge of:
  • CPU architecture (pipelines, caching, SIMD/vector extensions such as NEON, SVE, QMX)
• Familiarity with:
  • ML frameworks and inference stacks
• Experience with low-level optimization:
  • Intrinsics, assembly, memory and cache tuning

Why Join This Team

• Work on next-generation CPU architectures (QMX)
• Directly influence hardware design through real workload insights
• Solve end-to-end ML performance challenges (model > kernel > silicon)
• Collaborate with top architecture, systems, and AI teams
• High-impact role with visibility across product and research roadmaps

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