Firmware Development Principal Engineer
QualcommJob Title
Firmware Development Principal Engineer
Role Summary
Develop and deliver embedded firmware for CPU performance and power management on Qualcomm custom CPUs. Work with hardware, firmware, architecture, and platform teams to define, implement, verify, characterize, and tune CPU performance management solutions across SoCs in pre-silicon and post-silicon environments.
Experience Level
Senior — principal-level role. Candidates typically have extensive embedded software/firmware experience; see Education Requirements for degree-to-experience guidance.
Responsibilities
Core responsibilities include design, implementation, verification, cross-team enablement, and tuning of CPU performance management firmware:
- Drive firmware design, implementation and verification in pre-silicon and post-silicon environments.
- Define CPU performance management solutions for current and future Qualcomm CPU designs.
- Implement and tune embedded firmware to manage CPU subsystem performance across SoCs.
- Collaborate with hardware power management, firmware, system architects, and platform teams for bring-up, debug, and lifecycle support.
- Engage with third parties and open-source communities to enable processor architecture support, device drivers, and firmware features.
- Contribute to hiring, mentoring, and defining necessary team skills for platform enablement.
Requirements
Must-have technical skills and experience for successful performance in this role.
- Extensive embedded firmware or system software experience with demonstrated ownership on complex projects.
- Proficient in C and comfortable with low-level programming and debugging; assembly language experience is strongly preferred.
- Experience developing device drivers and working in RTOS or OS kernel environments.
- Experience with pre-silicon development tools such as simulators and FPGA emulation and with post-silicon bring-up and verification.
- Experience developing, characterizing, and tuning performance or power-management solutions for SoC subsystems.
- Strong collaboration skills for working across hardware, firmware, and architecture teams and with external partners.
- Nice-to-have: familiarity with ARM v8 architecture and experience with embedded OSes such as Zephyr, eCos, uC/OS, or FreeRTOS.
Education Requirements
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field with 8+ years of software engineering experience; OR Master's degree in those fields with 7+ years; OR PhD in those fields with 6+ years. Preferred fields include Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science. Equivalent professional experience may be accepted.
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.
