Sr. Director, Engineering

Qualcomm; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 248,000 - 372,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSU grants

Discretionary bonus

Job summary

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is seeking an exceptional Senior Director, Software Engineering to lead software architecture, development, and execution for a next‑generation AI accelerator platform.

You will own end-to-end software strategy spanning system software, runtimes, compilers, AI frameworks, SDKs, and performance optimization. You will collaborate with silicon teams, AI frameworks, product management, ecosystem partners, and customers to deliver differentiated platform capabilities that

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field with 10+ years of software engineering or related experience.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field with 9+ years of software engineering or related work experience.
• PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of software engineering or related work experience.
• 4+ years of work experience with programming languages such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the software technical leader for Qualcomm's next generation AI accelerator platform.
• Define and execute the current Datacenter software vision, architecture, roadmap, and delivery strategy aligned with product and business objectives for the new AI accelerator.
• Lead multiple engineering organizations responsible for system software and firmware design and development.
• Oversee device drivers and kernel integration.
• Oversee AI runtimes and execution engines with emphasis on graphs spanning multiple NPU.
• Oversee compiler technologies and graph optimization.
• Oversee ML frameworks and ecosystem enablement.
• Oversee platform SDKs, APIs, tools, profiling, and debugging solutions.
• Oversee performance optimization and benchmarking.
• Oversee validation, quality, and release engineering.
• Partner with silicon architecture and hardware engineering teams to co-design hardware and software features.
• Drive software readiness across all chip development milestones.
• Establish performance, power, reliability, and usability goals for the platform software stack.
• Lead strategic engagements with customers, hyperscalers, ecosystem partners and standards organizations.
• Build, mentor, and scale engineering teams across locations.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, accountability, collaboration, and operational rigor.
• Present program status, technical strategy, and key decisions to executive leadership.

Skills

C/C++

Java

Python

Software architecture

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

MLIR

LLVM

PyTorch

TensorFlow

JAX

Job description

Company

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary

Qualcomm is seeking an exceptional Senior Director, Software Engineering to lead software architecture, development, and execution for our next generation AI accelerator platform. This leader will own the end-to-end software strategy for a breakthrough AI compute architecture, spanning system software, runtimes, compilers, AI frameworks, SDKs, performance optimization, and developer enablement. As the software leader for a flagship AI accelerator program, you will drive the vision, roadmap, and execution of a world‑class software stack that enables cutting‑edge generative AI, machine learning, and high‑performance computing workloads across Datacenter applications. You will work closely with silicon architects, hardware design teams, AI framework, product management, ecosystem partners, and key customers to define and deliver differentiated platform capabilities that maximize hardware performance/efficiency as well as developer productivity. This role requires a unique combination of deep technical expertise, organizational leadership, strategic thinking, and excellence in execution. The ideal candidate has a proven track record of leading large software teams on complex semiconductor platforms with an emphasis on AI.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 10+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

OR

• Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 9+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

OR

• PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

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

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the software technical leader for Qualcomm's next generation AI accelerator platform.
• Define and execute the current Datacenter software vision, architecture, roadmap, and delivery strategy aligned with product and business objectives for the new AI accelerator.
• Lead multiple engineering organizations responsible for:
• System software and firmware design and development.
• Device drivers and kernel integration.
• AI runtimes and execution engines with emphasis on graphs spanning multiple NPU.
• Compiler technologies and graph optimization.
• ML frameworks and ecosystem enablement.
• Platform SDKs, APIs, tools, profiling, and debugging solutions.
• Performance optimization and benchmarking.
• Validation, quality, and release engineering.
• Partner with silicon architecture and hardware engineering teams to co‑design hardware and software features that maximize AI performance, efficiency, programmability, and scalability.
• Drive software readiness across all chip development milestones, including architecture definition, emulation, pre‑silicon enablement, bring‑up, validation, customer engagements, and production release.
• Establish performance, power, reliability, and usability goals for the platform software stack.
• Lead strategic engagements with key customers, hyperscalers, ecosystem partners and standards organizations.
• Build, mentor, and scale high‑performing engineering teams across multiple geographic locations.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, accountability, collaboration, and operational rigor.
• Present program status, technical strategy, and key decisions to executive leadership.

Desired Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 15+ years of software engineering experience, including significant leadership responsibilities.
• 8+ years of experience leading large, globally distributed engineering organizations.
• Experience delivering software platforms for complex SoC, accelerator, GPU, NPU, CPU, DSP, datacenter, or high‑performance computing products.
• Deep expertise in one or more of the following:
• AI/ML software stacks
• Compiler technologies
• Runtime systems
• Operating systems
• Distributed computing
• High‑performance computing
• Heterogeneous computing architectures
• Demonstrated success driving cross‑functional execution involving hardware and software co‑development.
• Strong understanding of modern AI workloads in particular inference for large language models/serving frameworks, multimodal AI, recommendation systems, and generative AI applications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, AI/ML, or related discipline.
• Experience leading software development for AI accelerators, GPUs, NPUs, TPUs, or custom silicon platforms.
• Expertise in compiler technologies such as MLIR, LLVM or similar frameworks.
• Experience with AI frameworks including PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, ONNX, Mojo, Triton or equivalent ecosystems.
• Strong understanding of accelerator memory hierarchies, interconnects, parallel programming models, and performance optimization.
• Expertise in compiler technologies such as Triton, MLIR, LLVM or similar frameworks.
• Experience supporting hyperscale cloud deployments and enterprise AI infrastructure.
• Track record of delivering industry‑leading developer platforms and software ecosystems.
• Publications, patents, or recognized technical leadership in AI systems or high‑performance computing.

Leadership Characteristics

• Visionary technology leader with the ability to define and execute transformative platform strategies.
• Exceptional communicator capable of influencing executive stakeholders, customers, and engineering teams.
• Strong systems thinker who can balance technical innovation, customer needs, and business priorities.
• Proven ability to attract, develop, and retain world‑class engineering talent.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity and deliver results in highly complex environments.

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

$248,000.00 - $372,000.00

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.

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 disability‑[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).

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