Firmware Development Engineer, Sr. Staff

Job Title

Firmware Development Engineer, Sr. Staff

Role Summary

Responsible for design, implementation, and verification of embedded firmware for CPU power management and associated controller services across pre-silicon and post-silicon environments. Collaborates with hardware teams, platform architects, and external partners to enable power and performance management for CPU subsystems on SoCs.

May contribute upstream to open-source projects and influence firmware lifecycle and platform bring-up processes.

Experience Level

Senior-level. Typical candidates have roughly 5–7+ years of embedded firmware or software engineering experience; specific degree-plus-experience combinations are listed under Education Requirements.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include:

• Drive firmware design, implementation, and verification in pre-silicon (simulators/FPGA) and post-silicon environments.
• Define and implement CPU power management solutions for current and future SoC platforms.
• Develop and maintain firmware for boot, RAS, debug, security, and runtime services.
• Design interprocessor communication interfaces between embedded controllers and the platform.
• Collaborate with platform bring-up, debug, diagnostics, and cross-functional teams.
• Engage with external partners and open-source communities to upstream support for architectures, drivers, and firmware features.
• Assist in identifying hiring needs, mentoring engineers, and shaping team skills requirements.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience:

• Proficiency writing and debugging C and assembly language.
• Driver development experience in RTOS or OS kernel environments.
• Development experience with embedded RTOSes such as Zephyr, eCos, uC/OS, or FreeRTOS.
• Experience with pre-silicon development including simulators and FPGA emulation.
• Experience defining interprocessor communication interfaces for embedded controllers.
• Familiarity with ARM v8 architecture; ARMv8 development experience is a plus.
• Experience working independently with significant decision-making and cross-team influence.
• Experience with higher-level scripting/tools (e.g., C++, Python, Java) for tooling, automation, or testing.

Nice-to-have:

• Prior contributions to open-source projects related to processor support, device drivers, or firmware.

Education Requirements

Preferred: BS/BEng in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field. Minimum qualifications state: Bachelor's degree plus 6+ years of software engineering or related experience, OR Master's degree plus 5+ years, OR PhD plus 4+ years. Equivalent professional experience may be acceptable.

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.