{"id":604527,"url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-principal-software-engineer-ai-software-automotive-lead","title":"Principal Software Engineer, AI Software Automotive Lead","company":{"id":94,"name":"Qualcomm","domain":"qualcomm.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/qualcomm","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Eightfold","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":70,"open_postings":1118,"ghost_share":0.244,"stale_share":0.135,"repost_share":0.462,"time_to_fill_p50_days":74,"computed_at":"2026-10-25T05:49:26Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Diego, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":223600,"max":335400,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":335400},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":15,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Agile","optional":true},{"name":"AI Agents","optional":true},{"name":"C++","optional":true},{"name":"Edge AI","optional":true},{"name":"Git","optional":true},{"name":"JAX","optional":true},{"name":"Linux","optional":true},{"name":"Multimodal AI","optional":true},{"name":"ONNX","optional":true},{"name":"Python","optional":true},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":true},{"name":"Quantization","optional":true},{"name":"Rest-Assured","optional":true},{"name":"TensorFlow","optional":true},{"name":"TensorFlow C++","optional":true},{"name":"Transformers","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-27T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-17","last_verified_at":"2026-10-25T18:09:39Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":59,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":2,"flags":["repost"],"days_open":59},"description":"Company:\nQualcomm Technologies, Inc.Job Area:\nEngineering Group, Engineering Group > Machine Learning Engineering General Summary:\nAs a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what's possible to enable next-generation intelligent automotive experiences. As a Principal Engineer within Qualcomm AI Software, you will drive the design, development, and deployment of advanced AI software technologies powering automotive platforms across digital cockpit, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), ADAS, autonomous driving, computer vision, voice AI, and generative AI applications.\nIn this position, you will serve as a technical leader and primary interface between the AI Software organization and the Automotive Business Unit. You will work closely with automotive customers, internal engineering organizations, and product teams to define requirements, drive architectural decisions, and enable successful deployment of Qualcomm AI technologies into production automotive programs.\nYou will combine deep technical expertise with strong program leadership skills. Your responsibilities will include representing Qualcomm in customer engagements, translating automotive requirements into AI software roadmap priorities, coordinating feature delivery across multiple engineering teams, and leading the development of robust AI solutions that meet automotive performance, reliability, safety, and quality requirements.\nYou will have the opportunity to influence the direction of Qualcomm's AI software stack, lead strategically important initiatives, mentor senior engineers, and drive the adoption of next-generation AI technologies across the automotive ecosystem.\n Responsibilities\nServe as the primary AI Software technical lead interfacing with the Automotive Business Unit, automotive OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, and strategic customers.\n\nRepresent Qualcomm in customer discussions, technical deep dives, architecture reviews, and issue resolution efforts related to AI software technologies and automotive deployments.\n\nLead or coordinate the design, development, integration, and delivery of AI software features required for Qualcomm Automotive platforms and products.\n\nTranslate customer requirements and market needs into technical requirements, architecture proposals, feature roadmaps, and engineering execution plans.\n\nContribute to enhancements across the Qualcomm AI Stack, including model preparation, optimization, runtime, inference, tooling, and developer workflows to support automotive use cases.\n\nIdentify and resolve limitations within the AI software stack and collaborate across teams to deliver scalable, production-ready solutions.\n\nLead cross-functional efforts involving AI Software, Automotive Engineering, Program Management, Product Management, Systems Engineering, and Platform Software teams.\n\nProvide technical leadership for deployment of advanced AI workloads on Automotive platform environments including:\n\noComputer vision\noPerception systems\noDriver monitoring\noVoice assistants\noLarge language models (LLMs)\noMultimodal AI applications\noGenerative AI services\nDrive architectural decisions affecting multiple products, software releases, and automotive customer programs.\n\nParticipate in strategic planning and long-term roadmap development for AI software technologies within Qualcomm Automotive solutions.\n\nEnsure solutions satisfy automotive requirements related to performance, reliability, maintainability, security, and safety.\n\nMentor engineers across the organization and provide technical guidance for complex architecture, optimization, debugging, and customer deployment challenges.\n\nStay current with advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, automotive systems, and industry standards to continuously improve Qualcomm's AI software offerings.\n\nMinimum Qualifications:\n• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 8+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.OR\nMaster's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 7+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.\nOR\nPhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 6+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.\nPreferred Qualifications:\n15+ years of industry experience in software engineering, embedded systems, AI/ML software, or automotive software development.\n\nExpert-level proficiency in C/C++ software development.\n\nStrong software architecture and design skills, including distributed systems, embedded software, performance optimization, debugging, testing, and software lifecycle management.\n\nDemonstrated experience leading large technical initiatives spanning multiple teams and organizations.\n\nExperience interfacing directly with customers and translating customer requirements into engineering deliverables.\n\nStrong understanding of embedded and systems software development environments.\n\nExcellent communication, presentation, and technical leadership skills.\n\nAbility to influence technical direction and build consensus across multiple organizations.\n\nAbility to make technical and business decisions in ambiguous environments with incomplete information.\n\nExperience in automotive software platforms, including QNX, Android Automotive, Linux, or AUTOSAR-based environments.\n\nExperience delivering software for automotive production programs with OEMs or Tier-1 suppliers.\n\nFamiliarity with automotive safety and quality standards, including:\nISO 26262\n\nASPICE\n\nAutomotive cybersecurity standards (ISO/SAE 21434)\n\nFunctional safety development processes\n\nExperience with AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, ONNX, JAX, or equivalent.\n\nExperience with deployment and optimization of:\nCNNs\n\nTransformers\n\nVision-language models\n\nLarge language models (LLMs)\n\nMultimodal models\n\nExperience with edge AI inference acceleration and heterogeneous compute architectures, including CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, DSPs, and AI accelerators.\n\nExperience with Qualcomm AI technologies, including QAIRT, QNN, SNPE, Genie, and related AI software components.\n\nExperience debugging complex issues spanning application software, middleware, operating systems, drivers, compilers, and hardware platforms.\n\nExperience with model optimization techniques, including quantization, compression, pruning, compilation, and runtime optimization.\n\nExperience leading globally distributed engineering teams and cross-functional programs.\n\nExperience with Agile software development methodologies and Git-based source control management.\n\nSoftware development experience in Python.\n\nAI-native and agentic software development proficiency.\n\nQualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail  or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found here. Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).\nTo all Staffing and Recruiting Agencies:Our Careers Site is only for individuals seeking a job at Qualcomm. Staffing and recruiting agencies and individuals being represented by an agency are not authorized to use this site or to submit profiles, applications or resumes, and any such submissions will be considered unsolicited. Qualcomm does not accept unsolicited resumes or applications from agencies. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Qualcomm employees or any other company location. Qualcomm is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/applications.\nEEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.\nQualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.\nPay rangeand Other Compensation & Benefits :\n$223,600.00 - $335,400.00The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer - and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link.\nIf you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.","description_format":"text","description_chars":9666,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":15,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Processors, MCUs & AI Chips","RF & Wireless Hardware","Car Electronics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-10T17:53:29Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-09-10T22:14:10Z"},{"event":"reopen","at":"2026-09-12T02:28:18Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-09-12T05:28:20Z"},{"event":"reopen","at":"2026-09-15T06:57:51Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 55 · green card filings: 6","filings_12m":55,"filings_prev_12m":87,"green_card_filings_12m":6,"median_offered_wage_usd":122008,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":32}],"liveness":{"score":37,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.623,"p_room":0.6,"age_days":59,"expected_fill_days":74,"reasons":["conf:3","repost:2","velocity","win:late","crowd:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-25T05:49:26Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":335400,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-principal-software-engineer-ai-software-automotive-lead","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-principal-software-engineer-ai-software-automotive-lead.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-25T19:34:55Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":27821,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-26T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":94},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=94"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fqualcomm-principal-software-engineer-ai-software-automotive-lead"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fqualcomm-principal-software-engineer-ai-software-automotive-lead"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fqualcomm-principal-software-engineer-ai-software-automotive-lead"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/qualcomm-principal-software-engineer-ai-software-automotive-lead\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fqualcomm-principal-software-engineer-ai-software-automotive-lead"}]}