Senior Staff Engineer, Machine Learning Engineering ( Agentic AI SW )

QUALCOMM, Inc.; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 194,000 - 292,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is seeking an experienced software engineer to advance state-of-the-art AI on edge devices, joining a world-class team delivering Generative AI solutions, model optimization technologies, and AI runtime software for on-device deployment.

You will contribute to the design, development, optimization, and deployment of AI and agentic software that pushes the boundaries of on-device intelligence, with emphasis on performance, power efficiency, and memory usage across

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering with 6+ years in hardware or software engineering.
• Master’s degree with 5+ years experience in hardware/software systems.
• PhD with 4+ years in related fields.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end embedded AI software and runtime systems.
• Optimize ML frameworks, compilers, and runtimes for on-device performance.
• Develop and prototype AI solutions aligned with product roadmaps.
• Provide technical leadership and drive architecture decisions.
• Collaborate with hardware, software, and research teams.
• Mentor team members and communicate complex concepts clearly.

Skills

C/C++

Python

Embedded systems

Linux

Android

QNX

ML inference

On-device inference

Hardware-software co-design

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Master's degree in CS/Engineering

PhD in CS/Engineering

Tools

Linux

Android

QNX

Embedded hardware

Software stacks

Job description

Company:

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Machine Learning Engineering

General Summary:

Qualcomm AI Research is seeking an experienced software engineer to help advance state-of-the-art AI technologies on edge devices. This is an opportunity to join a world-class team developing industry-leading Generative AI solutions, model optimization technologies, and AI runtime software that enable deployment of cutting-edge models on edge devices with optimal performance, power efficiency, memory utilization, and computational efficiency.

In this role, you will be part of a multidisciplinary team that has consistently delivered industry-first innovations on Qualcomm AI accelerators. Recent achievements include the world's first on-device text-to-image generation using Stable Diffusion, power-optimized Vision Language Models (VLMs), and on-device large language model deployment, including 7B-parameter class models. You will contribute to the design, development, optimization, and deployment of next-generation AI and agentic AI technologies that push the boundaries of on-device intelligence.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 6+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
• OR
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 5+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
• OR
• PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.

Responsibility:

• Lead the development of end-to-end embedded AI software and runtime systems to orchestrate neural network models on Qualcomm’s leading-edge hardware, driving the co-design of machine learning software and hardware for optimized inference and training solutions.
• Design, develop, debug, profile, and optimize AI/ML frameworks, runtime software, model efficiency tools, compiler technologies, and machine learning inference to improve performance, power efficiency, scalability, and enable advanced hardware capabilities.
• Develop, adapt, and prototype novel AI/ML and agentic software solutions aligned with product roadmaps and system-level innovation, translating advanced machine learning research into production-ready technologies and customer-facing solutions.
• Provide technical leadership for the design, implementation, training, evaluation, and deployment of machine learning solutions, guiding experimentation, architecture decisions, and best practices across the team.
• Design and enhance the implementation of ML/AI SW stack and runtime software to improve performance and power efficiency.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with hardware, software, and research teams to define technical direction, solve complex problems, influence key organizational decisions, and drive successful delivery of strategic AI initiatives.
• Work independently with minimal supervision while mentoring and providing technical guidance to team members, effectively communicating complex concepts to both technical and leadership audiences.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• At least 9 years of work experience in a relevant field.
• 5+ years of experience and excellent programming capabilities with C/C++ and Python.
• 5+ years of experience with low level interactions between operating systems (e.g., Linux, Android, QNX) and Hardware.
• 5+ years of experience in embedded system development and optimization with application to a specific problem domain in ML (e.g., NLP, multi-media).
• 5+ years of experience with one or more programming language suitable for machine learning (e.g., Python, R, C, C++).
• Knowledge of model onboarding and on device inference.
• Familiarity with software performance and power optimization.
• Experience with the Qualcomm AI Software Stack + SDKs is a plus.

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.

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.

Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits:

$194,400.00 - $291,600.00

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.