Staff, Technical Standards – RISC-V SOC

Job Title

Staff, Technical Standards – RISC-V SOC

Role Summary

Senior technical-standards contributor responsible for representing the company in standards forums and driving development of RISC-V SoC specifications. The role coordinates across engineering, legal, and external partners to identify, draft, and promote semiconductor standards and related technical strategy.

Primary focus areas include RISC-V ISA, processor and memory architecture, specification development, and consensus building within industry standards organizations.

Experience Level

Senior — requires extensive technical and standards experience. Typical guidance in this posting: 6+ years ASIC design/verification experience and 3+ years working with standards bodies (senior-level responsibilities and leadership experience expected).

Responsibilities

The role leads standards work for RISC-V SoC and related system topics and coordinates internal and external stakeholders.

• Represent the company as a delegate in standards organizations and technical forums.
• Identify and prioritize existing and emerging semiconductor standards relevant to company strategy.
• Draft, review, and drive technical specifications; lead consensus-building among industry partners.
• Coordinate across product, architecture, software, firmware, and legal teams to align technical and IP strategy and support patent filings.
• Assess industry and competitor landscapes to inform standards and strategic decisions.
• Support compliance, certification, modeling, and verification efforts for processor cores and system-level IP.
• Engage with external research, academic, and industry contacts to advance standards and technical initiatives.
• Travel internationally several times per year to attend standards forums and meetings.
• Mentor and lead technical contributors working on standards and cross-functional initiatives.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills, experience with standards processes, and leadership capabilities. Education requirements are summarized separately below.

• Strong expertise in RISC-V ISA, processor architecture and microarchitecture, and memory architecture.
• Proven experience developing technical specifications and driving consensus in standards bodies.
• 6+ years of ASIC design, verification, or closely related engineering experience (experience may span architecture, implementation, verification, validation, manufacturing, silicon qualification).
• 3+ years of hands-on experience engaging with standards organizations or similar industry forums.
• Experience with processor core and system compliance, certification, modeling, or verification.
• Strong networking, influencing, communication, and documentation skills; experience interacting with senior leadership.
• Demonstrated technical leadership and experience managing technical projects or budgets.
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally for standards meetings.
• Nice-to-have: familiarity with debug and trace, RAS (Reliability/Availability/Serviceability), SOC IP (buses, cache coherency, interrupts), system firmware and kernel interactions, physical design, government affairs, EDA tools, open-source licensing and ecosystems, and memory design/modeling/test skills.

Education Requirements

The posting references multiple acceptable academic paths: a Master's degree in Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering is listed as required in the leveling description; alternatives stated include a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems or related field with 4+ years' relevant experience, a Master's degree with 3+ years' relevant experience, or a PhD with 2+ years' relevant experience. A doctorate (PhD) in Computer or Electrical Engineering is listed as preferred. Equivalent practical experience is described in the alternate qualification pathways.

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.