EDA/CAD Software Engineer, Staff

Job Title

EDA/CAD Software Engineer, Staff

Role Summary

Develop and maintain CAD tools, flows, and methodologies for emulation and VLSI design within Qualcomm's Global CAD team. Focus areas include synthesis, partitioning, place & route, clock optimization, and infrastructure for compute and storage.

Deliver scalable CAD software, collaborate with SoC and RTL teams, and mentor other engineers on the team.

Experience Level

Senior - typically requires 7+ years of relevant engineering or CAD/EDA experience (see Education Requirements for degree/experience combinations).

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include:

• Design and implement CAD algorithms for emulation (synthesis, partitioning, place & route, clock optimization).
• Develop and integrate CAD toolchains and infrastructure; work with industry-standard EDA tools.
• Optimize compute and storage usage for CAD flows and large datasets.
• Implement high-quality C++ software following software design principles and patterns.
• Collaborate with RTL/SoC teams to support synthesis, validation, and integration activities.
• Mentor and lead other engineers; produce customer-facing tooling and documentation.
• Maintain development workflows and tooling (source control, build systems, job schedulers).

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience:

• Proven software development experience in C++ and familiarity with software design patterns and data structures.
• Hands-on Linux development experience.
• Practical experience with RTL synthesis concepts, clock tree optimization, and VLSI/logic design concepts.
• Experience with CAD/EDA tool development or similar infrastructure projects.
• Experience using Git, LSF (or similar job schedulers), JIRA, and GCC toolchains.
• Strong analytical and interpersonal skills, able to work independently and with cross-functional teams.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with partitioning, place & route, and large-scale CAD flow optimization.
• FPGA or ASIC design/verification experience.
• Experience scaling compute and storage for large EDA workloads.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Science, Engineering, or a related field plus experience is required per posting language (examples provided by employer): Bachelor's +7 years related work experience. Alternative qualification combinations listed: Bachelor's +4 years ASIC design/verification/integration experience; Master's +3 years; PhD +2 years. Preferred fields: Computer Science or Computer Engineering. The posting allows equivalent practical experience in place of formal degrees per the stated qualification alternatives.

About the Company

Company: Qualcomm

Headquarters: San Diego, California, United States

Qualcomm is a global leader in semiconductor and telecommunications equipment, specializing in mobile technologies and innovations. Known for its Adreno GPUs, the company provides solutions enabling advancements in mobile gaming, AI, VR/AR, and autonomous driving. Qualcomm's cutting-edge technology and commitment to high-performance, power-efficient designs drive the evolution of mobile graphics and connectivity worldwide.