Principal Engineer, AI Platform Software Architecture

Job Title

Principal Engineer, AI Platform Software Architecture

Role Summary

Lead the software and system architecture for next-generation AI inferencing platforms across Qualcomm's edge product portfolio. Work with cross-functional teams-software, silicon, security, memory systems, and AI accelerators-to define platform direction, technical strategy, and architectural decisions that span multiple product generations.

Experience Level

Senior-level role. Candidates are expected to have substantial platform or systems software experience and proven technical leadership in cross-functional, multi-product programs.

Responsibilities

Drive architecture, technical strategy, and cross-team alignment for AI inferencing platforms.

• Define and drive long-term platform software architecture and roadmap for AI inferencing across edge products.
• Lead cross-functional architectural initiatives involving software, hardware, AI accelerators, security, and product teams.
• Collaborate with product management, customers, and silicon teams to translate workloads and requirements into architecture and roadmap recommendations.
• Drive hardware/software co-design and influence future platform capabilities via analysis and technical proposals.
• Lead system-level engineering across operating systems, AI runtimes, memory systems, virtualization, security, interconnects, and heterogeneous compute.
• Evaluate architectural alternatives, perform tradeoff analyses, and produce architecture proposals and specifications.
• Conduct architecture reviews and drive alignment across organizations; mentor engineers and establish architectural best practices.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience to perform the role effectively; preferred items are listed separately.

• Proven record of technical leadership and influencing architecture and silicon/software decisions across product lines.
• Experience designing system-level software and platform architecture (OS, runtimes, drivers, memory, interconnects, virtualization, security).
• Hardware/software co-design experience and familiarity with platform-level tradeoffs (performance, power, scalability, security).
• Practical programming experience with C/C++, Java, Python or similar (source lists 4+ years programming experience).
• Ability to evaluate alternatives, write technical proposals/specifications, and lead architecture reviews.
• Strong communication skills and experience driving consensus across distributed teams and senior technical leaders.

Nice-to-have:

• Extensive experience architecting embedded, platform, or systems software (preferred 15+ years).
• Expertise in SoC/computer architecture, ARM or RISC-V, Linux kernel, device drivers, memory subsystem, DMA/IOMMU, interconnects.
• Experience with virtualization/hypervisors, trusted execution environments, confidential computing, and model protection.
• Familiarity with AI inferencing runtimes, compilers, frameworks, LLMs, and heterogeneous compute (CPUs, GPUs, DSPs, NPUs, accelerators).

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field with 8+ years of software engineering experience; OR Master's degree in those fields with 7+ years of experience; OR PhD in those fields with 6+ years of experience. (These degree-and-experience combinations are listed in the role's minimum qualifications.)

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.