Staff Embedded Software Engineer – Edge AI/GenAI & Multimedia

Qualcomm; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 202,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is seeking a Software Engineer to design, develop, and validate embedded and cloud edge software across multimedia, AI/Gen AI, and computer vision. You will collaborate with systems, hardware, and test engineers to deliver high-performance software on Qualcomm hardware platforms.

The role emphasizes end-to-end software lifecycle, with opportunities to work on GenAI workflows, multimedia pipelines, and GStreamer plugins across Android and embedded Linux environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field with 4+ years of Software Engineering experience; or Master’s with 3+ years; or PhD with 2+ years.
• 2+ years of experience with programming languages such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.
• Strong background in embedded software development and the full software lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to architecture and development of AI, GenAI, and multimedia SDKs for developers building commercial applications.
• Design and develop GenAI LLM and vision-language model inference workflows, including preprocessing, inference, and post-processing.
• Design and develop multi-stream AI/GenAI pipelines for real-world IoT products and applications.
• Own the design and development of GStreamer-based plugins for the QIM SDK on Qualcomm hardware platforms, including design docs, production-quality code, tests, and support.
• Drive feature design, debugging, and system integration to deliver high-quality outcomes on schedule.
• Lead code reviews, regression testing, and issue triage to uphold engineering standards.
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to align technical execution with product goals.
• Author and review technical documentation to support maintainability.

Skills

Embedded software

C/C++ programming

Python

Java

Linux kernel/user-space

AI/GenAI concepts

Multimedia processing

Tensor processing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/CS

Master's degree in Engineering/CS

PhD in Engineering/CS

Tools

GStreamer

LangChain

LlamaIndex

PyTorch

TensorFlow

ONNX Runtime

Docker

Vulkan

OpenGL ES

HALs

Job description

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what is possible to enable next-generation experiences and drive digital transformation to help create a smarter, connected future for all. As a Qualcomm Software Engineer, you will design, develop, create, modify, and validate embedded and cloud edge software applications across subsystems—Multimedia, AI/Gen AI, and Computer Vision—and or specialized programs that launch cutting‑edge, world‑class products that meet and exceed customer needs. Qualcomm Software Engineers collaborate with systems, hardware, architecture, and test engineers, as well as other teams, to design system‑level software solutions and obtain information on performance requirements and interfaces.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• Master’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 3+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 2+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• 2+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience programming in C and C++, with a strong track record of building high-performance software for embedded and industrial systems.
• 5+ years of experience designing and leading real-time embedded and industrial software solutions, with strong hands‑on technical execution.
• Strong experience with AI and GenAI inference frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, ONNX Runtime, Llama.cpp, and LiteRT, along with a solid foundation in AI concepts, model architectures, tensor layouts, tensor transformations, and tensor-processing mathematics.
• 2+ years of experience with GStreamer, including development of AI and multimedia applications using open‑source media pipelines.
• Hands‑on experience with GenAI orchestration frameworks such as LangChain and LlamaIndex, including building agent-based systems and retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and applications.
• Hands‑on experience with multimedia frameworks across Android, Tizen, and other operating systems, with deep understanding of hardware abstraction layers (HALs) for camera, audio, video, graphics/display, computer vision, and USB/UVC.
• Strong knowledge of Android system architecture, including AIDL/HIDL, Binder, system and vendor services, and Java/JNI integration.
• Experience building AI applications for vision and audio use cases, including classification, object detection, segmentation, and pose estimation, as well as GenAI-powered applications. Strong ability to handle tensor pre‑processing and post‑processing and integrate AI models into end‑to‑end pipelines across inputs such as camera, audio, and text.
• Strong background in Linux system‑level programming, including multithreading, concurrency, DMA/ION memory handling, IPC mechanisms such as Binder and gRPC, and zero‑copy architectures.
• Hands‑on experience writing OpenGL ES (GLES) and GLSL shaders and working with programmable graphics/GPU pipelines.
• Hands‑on experience writing Vulkan shaders and working with modern programmable graphics pipelines.
• Hands‑on experience with Docker and container technologies, including familiarity with OCI container standards and specifications.
• Proven development experience across embedded Linux, Ubuntu, and Android software stacks.
• End-to-end experience across the software development lifecycle, including architecture, design, implementation, deployment, and support.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Contribute to the architecture, design, and development of AI, GenAI, and multimedia SDKs that enable application developers to build commercial-quality applications.
• Design and develop GenAI large language model (LLMs) and vision‑language model (VLMs) inference workflows, including pre‑processing, inference, post‑processing, and orchestration.
• Design and develop multi‑stream AI and chained AI/GenAI pipelines for real‑world IoT products and applications.
• Own the design and development of GStreamer-based plugins for the QIM SDK (Qualcomm Intelligent Multimedia SDK) on Qualcomm hardware platforms, including authoring design documents, developing production-quality software, creating unit tests, and providing ongoing technical support.
• Drive feature design, implementation, debugging, and system integration to ensure high-quality delivery on schedule.
• Lead code reviews, regression testing, and issue triage to uphold strong engineering standards and product quality.
• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional stakeholders and project teams to align technical execution with broader product and program objectives.
• Author and review technical documentation for software components and features to support development, integration, and long-term maintainability.

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. 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.

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: $134,800.00 - $202,200.00

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.