Sr. Staff Engineer / Principal Robotics SLAM and Positioning Lead

Qualcomm; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 198,600 - 297,800; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

Qualcomm is seeking a Principal Robotics SLAM and Positioning Lead to architect and own the localization and mapping services in our Advanced Robotics team. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in SLAM systems and software engineering practices, working on real-world robotics problems. This key role enables you to shape the future of our robotics platform through collaboration across AI, systems, and robotics domains.

The position is based in Santa Clara, California, offering competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of systems engineering experience with a Bachelor's degree.
• 5+ years of experience with a Master's degree.
• 4+ years of experience with a PhD.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture for SLAM and positioning services.
• Drive transition from prototypes to production-grade services.
• Establish SLAM KPIs for accuracy and robustness.

Skills

SLAM development

C++ proficiency

Multi-sensor fusion

Probabilistic estimation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Master's degree in Engineering

PhD in Engineering

Tools

ROS2

DDS

Job description

Company

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area

Engineering Group – Multimedia Systems

General Summary

The Advanced Robotics team is building a production‑grade, AI‑first robotics software platform that scales from AMRs and industrial robots to next‑generation humanoids. By integrating heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU) with robust middleware, safety architecture, and cloud integration, we enable customers to deploy intelligent, reliable, and scalable robotic systems across industries.

Role Overview

As Principal Robotics SLAM and Positioning Lead, you will be the technical owner and architect for Qualcomm’s core localization and mapping services. You will define, build, and evolve a modular, service‑oriented SLAM and state‑estimation stack that operates reliably across a wide range of robots, sensors, environments, and deployment scales.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical ownership & architecture
  • Own the end‑to‑end architecture for SLAM and positioning services, defining clear service boundaries, APIs, data contracts, and performance envelopes.
  • Drive the transition from algorithm prototypes to robust, production‑grade services for long‑running robotic deployments.
  • Establish design principles for determinism, observability, recoverability, and scalability across on‑device and fleet deployments.
• Core services development
  • Calibration Service – Online/offline calibration for cameras, IMUs, LiDARs, and other sensors; temporal, intrinsic, extrinsic, and drift calibration with validation and health metrics.
  • State Estimation / Fusion Service – Real‑time multi‑sensor fusion (VIO/VSLAM/LiDAR‑inertial/GNSS); factor‑graph or filter‑based estimation with bounded latency and fault tolerance.
  • Localization Service – High‑accuracy localization against local and global maps; support for multi‑session, multi‑map, and multi‑floor environments.
  • SLAM & Map Management Service – Consistent map generation, update, merging, lifecycle management; interfaces for map versioning, distribution, and cloud‑assisted workflows.
  • Re‑localization & Recovery Service – Robust handling of tracking loss, kidnaps, sensor dropouts, and degraded conditions; fast recovery paths with confidence estimation and system signaling.
  • Diagnostics & Health Monitoring – Continuous monitoring of localization quality, drift, observability, and sensor health; exposed metrics, logs, and alerts for fleet‑scale operations and debugging.
• Cross‑functional leadership – Partner with robotics middleware, controls, perception, and hardware teams to integrate with navigation, planning, and manipulation stacks; collaborate with simulation and validation teams to define regression suites, KPIs, and benchmarking methodologies; influence product roadmaps by translating customer requirements and field learnings into architectural decisions.
• Quality, performance & delivery – Establish SLAM KPIs for accuracy, robustness, latency, and recovery behavior across platforms; drive CI/CD practices, test automation, and release readiness criteria; optimize algorithms and pipelines for Qualcomm SoCs using heterogeneous compute efficiently.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (or related field) and 6+ years of systems engineering or related experience.
• Master’s degree in Engineering (or related field) and 5+ years of systems engineering or related experience.
• PhD in Engineering (or related field) and 4+ years of systems engineering or related experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience developing SLAM, localization, or state‑estimation systems for real‑world robotic or autonomous platforms.
• Strong proficiency in C++ with production‑grade software engineering practices.
• Deep understanding of multi‑sensor fusion, calibration, and probabilistic estimation.
• Experience delivering continuous systems on real robots.
• Experience with service‑oriented or middleware‑centric robotics architectures (e.g., ROS2, DDS).
• Familiarity with map lifecycle management, fleet‑scale localization, or cloud‑assisted robotics workflows.
• Background in diagnostics, observability, or health monitoring for safety‑critical systems.
• Experience optimizing robotics workloads on embedded or heterogeneous compute platforms.
• Track record of technical leadership influencing architecture across multiple teams.

Why You’ll Love This Role

• Own a critical technical pillar of Qualcomm’s robotics platform.
• Work on challenging, real‑world autonomy problems at scale.
• Influence how SLAM and positioning are productized for the next generation of robots.
• Collaborate with experts across AI, systems, silicon, and robotics.
• Competitive compensation and growth opportunities.

Benefits

Salary range: $198,600.00 – $297,800.00. Additional bonuses and RSU grants may apply. A comprehensive benefits package supports success at work, at home, and in personal pursuits.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities during the application and hiring process. 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.