Staff Software Engineer, Core AI Software (Mobile BU Focus) _ Onsite

MaC VC; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 162,000 - 243,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. in San Diego is seeking aStaff Software Engineer to drive AI software on the AISW team, delivering core features of the Qualcomm AI Stack for Snapdragon devices and OEM launches.

You will lead GenAI inference extensions, optimize runtimes, and ensure performance, power, and reliability for mobile customers with a strong customer-first mindset.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/engineering or related field required.
• 4+ years of professional software development experience.
• Strong C/C++ and Linux development proficiency.
• Solid grounding in data structures, algorithms, debugging and testing.
• Excellent verbal and written communication across teams and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of software for Qualcomm AI Stack SDKs (QAIRT, Genie) on Snapdragon platforms.
• Design and implement core AI runtime components for constrained mobile systems.
• Collaborate with Mobile BU PoCs for OEM engagement and product launches.
• Prioritize customer satisfaction; address issues with urgency and high quality.
• Improve internal and customer workflows for AI tools, SDKs, docs, and processes.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams to ensure end-to-end readiness for launches.
• Validate and optimize performance, accuracy, and robustness of mobile AI use cases.
• Debug complex issues across software-hardware boundaries to ensure reliability.
• Lead feature development and influence technical direction for customers/partners.
• Participate in design and code reviews; mentor junior engineers.

Skills

C/C++ development

Linux development

Data structures & algorithms

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field

Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field

PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field

Tools

Genie

QAIRT

QNN

CMake

Qualcomm AI Stack

Job description

Company

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Machine Learning Engineering

General Summary

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what’s possible to enable next‑generation experiences and drive digital transformation, creating a smarter, connected future for all. As a Staff Software Engineer in the AI Software (AISW) team, you will play a critical role in delivering AI software capabilities that directly enable successful OEM and customer launches within the Mobile Business Unit (BU).

In this role, you will lead the design and development of core features in the Qualcomm AI Stack, including Qualcomm AI Runtime (QAIRT) and Generative AI Inference Extensions (Genie). You will contribute to efficient execution of advanced deep neural networks (DNNs), large language models (LLMs), and modern AI architectures on Snapdragon platforms. A key aspect of this position is a strong customer‑first mindset, ensuring AI software solutions meet the highest standards of quality, usability, performance, and reliability for mobile customers.

You will be responsible for supporting AI software that optimizes runtime efficiency, latency, power consumption, and stability of AI applications running machine‑learning workloads on Qualcomm’s low‑power AI accelerators, with a strong emphasis on real‑world mobile product readiness and customer satisfaction.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 3+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
• PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 2+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead development of software for Qualcomm AI Stack SDKs (QAIRT, Genie) to enable execution of state‑of‑the‑art generative and traditional AI models on Snapdragon mobile platforms.
• Design and implement core AI runtime framework components for inference on resource‑constrained mobile systems operating under strict power, memory, and performance constraints.
• Work closely with Mobile BU Points‑of‑Contact (PoCs) responsible for OEM engagement and product launches to deliver features, bug fixes, and optimizations required for customer success.
• Demonstrate a strong focus and obsession toward customer satisfaction, ensuring issues impacting customer experience are prioritized, addressed with urgency, and resolved with high quality.
• Proactively improve internal and customer workflows related to AI tools, SDKs, documentation, and processes to enhance ease of use, debuggability, and overall developer experience.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams including Mobile BU, product leads, systems, validation, performance, and customer engineering teams to ensure end‑to‑end readiness for commercial launches.
• Validate, analyze, and optimize software performance, accuracy, and robustness through detailed testing of mobile AI use cases.
• Debug complex system issues, perform root‑cause analysis, and drive fixes across software‑hardware boundaries to ensure high reliability in customer environments.
• Lead feature development and influence technical direction to enable customers and partners to effectively deploy AI solutions on Qualcomm platforms.
• Participate actively in design and code reviews, setting high standards for code quality, maintainability, and scalability.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement within the AI Software organization.
• Work independently with minimal supervision; technical decisions will impact both your immediate area and broader cross‑team deliverables.

Minimum Qualifications (Must Have)

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ software development.
• Experience developing software in Linux environments.
• Solid grounding in data structures, algorithms, software design principles, debugging, and testing.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across teams and with customer‑facing stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications (Desired)

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Electrical Engineering.
• Experience building embedded and systems‑level software for mobile or edge platforms.
• Familiarity with generative AI model architectures (e.g., LLMs) and inference pipelines.
• Understanding of hardware acceleration and deployment of AI inference on edge devices.
• Experience across platforms such as Linux, Android, and/or Windows.
• Knowledge of low‑level OS–hardware interactions.
• Experience with CMake‑based build environments.
• Prior experience using or integrating Qualcomm AI Stack products (e.g., QNN, Genie).
• Experience with agile development practices and git‑based source control.
• Ability to collaborate effectively within a globally distributed, cross‑functional team while balancing multiple priorities driven by customer and product milestones.

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).

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

$162,000.00 - $243,000.00

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.