RISC-V Software Engineer

Qualcomm; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 212,000 - 318,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. seeks a Principal Engineer to lead design and development of security, virtualization, confidential compute, and TEE features for next‑gen Qualcomm SoCs.

You will drive architecture decisions, enable hardware features, and ensure compliance with RISC‑V standards across hypervisor extensions, SBI, RPMI, CoVE, and supervisor domains. This hands‑on technical leader will collaborate with hardware and software teams to enable silicon and emulation platform stacks,

Qualifications

• 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.
• 4+ years of work experience with programming languages such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to architecture and development of security, virtualization, confidential compute and trusted execution features.
• Drive upstream contributions to the OpenSBI, KVM and Linux kernel, ensuring long-term maintainability and community alignment.
• Collaborate with hardware and platform teams to enable security, virtualization confidential compute, and trusted execution features.
• Collaborate with hardware engineers to enable software stack on silicon and emulation platforms, debug hardware-software interactions, and ensure seamless integration.
• Guide the integration of compliance test suites for confidential compute and trusted execution features.

Skills

C/C++

Python

Linux

Open source

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering/CS

Master’s degree in engineering/CS

PhD in engineering/CS

Tools

Git/GitHub

Linux kernel

KVM

Job description

Company

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary

We are looking for a highly skilled and experienced Principal Engineer to lead the design and development of security, virtualization, confidential compute and trusted execution environment (TEE) features in our next-generation Qualcomm SoCs. This role is ideal for a hands‑on technical leader who thrives at the intersection of hardware and software and is passionate about RISC‑V architecture. You will play a critical role in defining the architecture, enabling new hardware features, and ensuring compliance with industry standards such as RISC‑V hypervisor extension, RISC‑V Supervisor Binary Interface (SBI), RISC‑V Platform Management Interface (RPMI), RISC‑V Confidential Compute (CoVE), and RISC‑V supervisor domains.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to architecture and development of security, virtualization, confidential compute and trusted execution features.


• Drive upstream contributions to the OpenSBI, KVM and Linux kernel, ensuring long-term maintainability and community alignment.


• Collaborate with hardware and platform teams to enable security, virtualization confidential compute, and trusted execution features.


• Collaborate with hardware engineers to enable software stack on silicon and emulation platforms, debug hardware-software interactions, and ensure seamless integration.


• Guide the integration of compliance test suites for confidential compute and trusted execution features.

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.


• 6+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

Required Qualifications

• 18+ years of experience in Linux KVM or Linux kernel or TEE development.


• Good understanding in virtualization, confidential compute and trusted execution environments.


• Strong debugging skills using tools like ftrace, perf, kgdb, crash, kernel logs and hardware debuggers.


• Good experience with Git, GitHub or GitLab.

Nice To Have Qualifications

• Exposure to the RISC‑V architecture.


• Good understanding of ARM virtualization extensions or ARM Trustzone or ARM CCA or RISC‑V hypervisor extensions or RISC‑V CoVE.


• Proven experience in upstreaming patches and working with the Linux KVM or Linux kernel community.


• Proven experience in working with Industry standard groups and proposing specification changes.


• Platform or SoC bring-up on silicon, emulation, and simulation platforms.


• Contributions or maintainer-ship in any open‑source project.


• Familiarity with Docker, CI/CD pipelines.

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.

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 to 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).

EEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.

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.

Pay Range And Other Compensation & Benefits

$211,800.00 - $317,800.00

The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer – and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link.

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