{"id":1985186,"url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-principal-software-engineer-mobile-software-architecture","title":"Principal Software Engineer – Mobile Software Architecture","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":75,"open_postings":1256,"ghost_share":0.189,"stale_share":0.096,"repost_share":0.443,"time_to_fill_p50_days":75,"computed_at":"2026-10-08T05:49:30Z"}},"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":197000,"max":295400,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":295400},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Agile","optional":true},{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":true},{"name":"HPC","optional":true},{"name":"Rest-Assured","optional":true},{"name":"Windows","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-04-23T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-06","last_verified_at":"2026-10-09T01:44:32Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":169,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":169},"description":"Company:\nQualcomm Technologies, Inc.Job Area:\nEngineering Group, Engineering Group > Software EngineeringGeneral Summary:\nThe Mobile Software Architecture team is responsible for defining and delivering end-to-end system features across Qualcomm Mobile platforms. These features span multiple IPs, SoCs, Android layers, and OEM customizations, and are foundational to Mobile product differentiation, scalability, and commercialization.\nWe are seeking an experienced Director of Mobile Software Architecture focused on Snapdragon Mobile Handset products. As a senior member of the team working on Mobile Handset software architecture and software system design, you will have the opportunity to analyze requirements and architect/develop high level designs for new Use-cases and features. You will drive technical initiatives to evolve Snapdragon Mobile software, helping to drive performance and power enhancements into the SW and HW stacks and SW tools of state-of-the-art machine learning solutions on Snapdragon Mobile platform. You will work closely with development leads, software and hardware architects, project engineers, product managers, customer engineers, OEMs and external partners. This role combines technical depth, organizational leadership, OEM engagement, and execution accountability for some of the most complex system initiatives in Mobile.\nKey Responsibilities\nTechnical & Architectural Leadership\nOwn the end-to-end architecture of one or more critical Mobile system features, from concept through commercialization.\nDefine system-level architecture across multiple IPs and software layers, including CPU, NPU, DSP, memory, virtualization, security, kernel, and Android frameworks.\nDevelop architecture for complex features and experiences built around AI for Snapdragon Mobile products; recommend architecture enhancements.\nDrive architectural clarity for cross-SoC and cross-product scalability.\nRepresent Mobile system architecture in technical forums, architecture reviews, and executive discussions.\nIndependently research and work cross-functionally to define requirements. Hands on prototype development.\nServe as a technical expert in developing and commercializing solutions; participate in design reviews and recommend improvements to ensure alignment with business goals and customer needs.\nInfluence and negotiate with external partners to gain buy-in for ideas and align on project and subsystem implementation plans and milestones to ensure the needs of all stakeholders are met.\nAct as a technical expert on AI and Mobile industry trends, competitors' products, and advances in various engineering fields; share expertise within and/or across teams.\nLeverages technical expertise to identify trends and define future solutions by contributing to discussions on the short - and long-term strategic direction of the product/technology roadmaps.\nOrganizational Leadership\nSet technical direction and unblock complex cross-team architectural issues.\nMentor senior architects and ensure consistent architecture quality, documentation, and execution discipline.\nGrow the team strategically to build critical mass of system HW/SW expertise.\nCross-Functional Execution\nPartner closely with HW, kernel, Android, CoreTech, and subsystem SW teams to drive alignment on requirements and design.\nWork with Product Management (PDM) to prioritize system features based on OEM and business needs.\nDrive Feature Requirement (FR) definition, review, and acceptance across all participating organizations.\nMaintain execution accountability to meet schedule, quality, and commercialization commitments.\nOEM and External Engagement\nEngage directly with OEMs to understand system-level requirements, usage models, and constraints.\nRepresent Qualcomm’s system architecture strategy in OEM and partner discussions.\nDrive close collaboration with Google Android and Next-Gen platform teams for features that require deep upstream alignment.\nSupport OEM integration and commercial launch readiness.\nRequired Qualifications\nExtensive experience in system-level software architecture for mobile, embedded, or large-scale platform software.\nDeep expertise in Android OS, Linux kernel, and system software stacks.\nProven track record leading complex, cross-IP, cross-organization system features.\nExperience working directly with OEMs and external partners on system-level requirements.\nStrong technical communication skills, including executive-level architecture reviews.\nDemonstrated ability to lead senior technical talent while remaining hands-on.\nMinimum Qualifications:\n• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.OR\nMaster's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 7+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.\nOR\nPhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.\n• 4+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.\nPreferred Qualifications\nExperience with virtualization technologies (pKVM, hypervisors, secure VMs).\nBackground in AI/ML system software, NPU/DSP integration, or runtime/model management.\nExperience with mobile SoC architecture and HW/SW co-design.\nPrior leadership of architecture or platform teams in a large engineering organization.\nExperience in architecting, designing, and implementing SW framework for complex heterogenous or multi-processor system.\nGood Understanding of complete AI Software stack and familiarity with AI hardware acceleration technologies\nExperience with performance optimization of AI application on Windows using processor specific optimization tools/libraries/primitives on GPU, NPU\nExperience in modeling AI networks and workloads to extract performance and power estimates, and converting that into optimization\nStrong background in algorithm development, performance analysis using profiling tools, and algorithmic modification methods for performance improvement\nKnowledge of state of the art in AI for one or more of the domains such as Computer Vision, Audio, Generative AI\nKnowledge of Mobile platforms, Android framework, Embedded system implementations\nStrong software engineering principles\nProficiency in programming languages such as Python, C++\nExcellent communication skills to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical and technical stakeholders.\nStrong leadership abilities to motivate and guide development teams.\nDetail-oriented with strong problem-solving, analytical, and debugging skills with the ability to think strategically and drive innovative solutions.\nDemonstrated ability to learn, think and adapt in a fast-changing environment\nFamiliarity with software development methodologies, version control systems, and agile project management practices.\n10+ years of experience in High Performance Computing System Engineering or Software with 5+ years in AI system optimization\nMaster’s or PhD in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering\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$197,000.00 - $295,400.00The 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":9960,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"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":["Artificial Intelligence","Autonomous Driving","Energy Efficiency","Car Electronics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-07T01:53:27Z"}],"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":"2026-10-03T21:08:04+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":17,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.624,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":168,"expected_fill_days":75,"reasons":["conf:1","velocity","win:tail","crowd:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-08T05:49:30Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":295400,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-principal-software-engineer-mobile-software-architecture","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-principal-software-engineer-mobile-software-architecture.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-09T04:15:11Z","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","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":3790,"day_limit":5000,"remaining_today":1210,"minute_limit":60,"resets_at":"2026-10-10T00:00:00Z"}},"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-mobile-software-architecture"},{"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-mobile-software-architecture"},{"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-mobile-software-architecture"},{"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-mobile-software-architecture\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fqualcomm-principal-software-engineer-mobile-software-architecture"}]}