Senior System Performance Engineer - Data Center/AI

MaC VC; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 194,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. in San Diego, CA seeks a System Performance Engineer to profile and optimize AI/HPC workloads, analyze power and thermal behavior, and drive system-level performance improvements across SoC architectures.

You will collaborate with hardware, software, and architecture teams, develop tooling, and mentor junior engineers while delivering clear technical reports and recommendations.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in a related field required.
• 4+ years of post-silicon experience in power and performance analysis of complex SoCs.
• Proficient in Python and C/C++ for scripting and tooling.
• Familiarity with ARM SoC concepts, memory hierarchy, and system interconnects.
• Experience with profiling, performance monitoring, and optimization workflows.
• Excellent communication and teamwork abilities.

Responsibilities

• Enable, profile, and analyze AI/ML workloads and HPC systems in emulation and software environments.
• Execute performance and power analysis plans across compute, memory, storage, networking, and accelerators.
• Identify optimization opportunities in SoC hardware and software architectures.
• Analyze performance and power issues, determine root causes, and report findings.
• Collaborate with product, hardware, software, and architecture teams to improve system performance.
• Evaluate emerging AI workloads to understand behavior and optimization potential.
• Mentor junior engineers and share knowledge.
• Prepare reports, documentation, and presentations with clear recommendations.
• Develop tooling and automation to streamline performance investigations.

Skills

Python

C/C++

Performance analysis

Profiling techniques

System architecture

Memory hierarchy

ARM SoC concepts

Power and thermal optimization

Communication skills

Collaboration

Education

Master's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field

Job description

Company

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > PPT Systems 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 Systems Engineer, you will research, design, develop, simulate, and validate system-level software, hardware, architecture, algorithms, and solutions that enable the development of cutting‑edge technology.

Qualcomm's System Performance Team is responsible for optimizing and validating the performance, power efficiency, and scalability of advanced computing, AI, and datacenter platforms. The team collaborates closely with hardware, software, architecture, and product teams to ensure industry‑leading performance across a broad range of workloads and use cases.

In the role of System Performance Engineer, you will work with software, hardware, and architecture teams to analyze and optimize power, performance, and thermal behavior of complex systems. You will leverage your systems knowledge and analytical skills to profile workloads, identify bottlenecks, validate performance, and help ensure product requirements are met.

Key Responsibilities

• Enable, profile, and analyze complex AI, machine learning, high-performance computing, and concurrent system workloads in both emulation and software environments.
• Execute performance and power analysis plans for workloads spanning compute, memory, storage, networking, accelerator, and concurrent system scenarios.
• Identify areas of performance, power, and efficiency optimization across SoC hardware and software architectures.
• Analyze and triage performance, power, and scalability issues, determine root causes, and communicate findings to stakeholders.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including product management, hardware, software, and architecture teams to improve system performance and efficiency.
• Evaluate emerging AI/ML and datacenter workloads to understand system behavior and identify optimization opportunities.
• Support more junior engineers through technical guidance, reviews, and knowledge sharing.
• Prepare clear and concise reports, technical documentation, and presentations to communicate findings and recommendations.
• Develop automation, tooling, and analysis infrastructure to improve engineering productivity and streamline performance investigations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 4+ years of practical post-silicon experience in power and performance analysis of complex SoCs.
• Strong programming and scripting skills (Python, C/C++).
• Strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.
• Self-starter with the ability to work independently on technical investigations.
• Knowledge of modern AI/ML and Large Language Model (LLM) workloads and their performance characteristics.
• Strong understanding of memory hierarchy, cache systems, and high-performance system interconnects.
• Understanding of ARM SoC concepts and architecture specifications such as SMMU, GIC, Coresight-PMU, and various bus interface protocols.
• Understanding of industry-standard performance and power benchmarks, workload characterization, and system-level interactions.
• Experience with system performance analysis methodologies, profiling techniques, and performance monitoring infrastructure.
• Strong computer architecture and hardware fundamentals.
• Understanding of software power-management frameworks, operating-system scheduling, and resource-management behavior.
• Familiarity with distributed computing, AI infrastructure, and datacenter system concepts is a plus.

Applicants

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer.

Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process.

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

$129,500.00 - $194,300.00