Senior Engineer - Machine Learning

Latitude; Northern, San Diego (KY, CA); Hybrid; USD 141,000 - 211,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm Incorporated is seeking a Core ML Engineer to design, develop, and optimize production ML systems powering AI platforms and applications. The role emphasizes model development, inference optimization, and scalable ML infrastructure for enterprise solutions.

You will build reusable ML components, integrate ML/LLM models into APIs, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver end-to-end ML solutions at scale.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/engineering/IS or related field with 2+ years of work experience.
• Master's degree in CS/engineering/IS or related field with 1+ year of work experience.
• PhD in CS/engineering/IS or related field.

Responsibilities

• Core ML system development: design and implement ML models and pipelines for production use.
• Inference & performance optimization: reduce latency and cost with caching, quantization, batching, and routing.
• Model integration & deployment: integrate ML/LLM models into APIs, microservices, and applications; build model-serving infra.
• Data & pipeline engineering: design data pipelines for ingestion, preprocessing, feature engineering, validation.
• Cross-functional collaboration: partner with product, platform, and hardware teams to deliver end-to-end ML solutions.

Skills

Python programming

Systems programming

Transformer/LLMs understanding

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/IS

Master's degree in CS/Engineering/IS

PhD in CS/Engineering/IS

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Kubernetes

Docker

Job description

Company: Qualcomm Incorporated

Job Area: Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Machine Learning Engineering

General Summary

We are seeking a highly skilled Core ML Engineer to design, develop, and optimize machine learning systems that power next-generation AI platforms and applications. This role focuses on model development, inference optimization, and scalable ML infrastructure, enabling production-grade AI capabilities across enterprise systems. The ideal candidate combines strong software engineering fundamentals with deep ML expertise, and thrives in building robust, high-performance systems at scale.

Key Responsibilities

Core ML System Development

• Design and implement machine learning models and pipelines for production use
• Build scalable training → evaluation → deployment workflows
• Develop reusable ML components, libraries, and frameworks

Inference & Performance Optimization

• Optimize model inference for latency, throughput, and cost
• Implement advanced techniques such as caching, quantization, batching, and routing
• Benchmark and profile models across diverse workloads and hardware environments

Model Integration & Deployment

• Integrate ML/LLM models into APIs, microservices, and applications
• Build and maintain model-serving infrastructure (e.g., vLLM, ONNX, custom runtimes)
• Collaborate with platform and infrastructure teams for scalable deployment

Data & Pipeline Engineering

• Design data pipelines for ingestion, preprocessing, feature engineering, and validation
• Improve data quality and model reliability through systematic evaluation

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Partner with product, platform, and hardware teams to deliver end-to-end ML solutions
• Participate in design reviews and contribute to system architecture decisions

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 2+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 1+ year of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
• PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.

Preferred Qualifications

Strong programming skills in Python and at least one systems language (C++/Rust/Go)

Solid Understanding Of:

• Machine learning fundamentals (supervised, unsupervised, deep learning)
• Transformer architectures / LLMs
• Model evaluation and debugging

Experience With:

• ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow)
• Model deployment and serving systems
• Building scalable software and APIs

Experience With:

• Large Language Models (LLMs), multimodal models, or generative AI
• Retrieval systems and RAG pipelines
• Distributed computing and GPU/accelerator environments including model serving and efficient cache/state management (e.g. KV cache, embeddings) across disaggregated systems
• Kubernetes, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines
• Agentic and multi-step AI workflows, tool integration, orchestration, and multi-component pipelines

Knowledge Of:

• Model optimization techniques (quantization, distillation, caching)
• Vector databases and search systems (OpenSearch, Qdrant, etc.)
• Cost-aware system design - model routing (small vs. large models), dynamic batching, and caching strategies

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).

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

$140,800.00 - $211,200.00

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.