{"id":4106851,"url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-staff-engineer-cpuss-firmware-development","title":"Staff Engineer – CPUSS Firmware Development","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":"C","score":69,"open_postings":1016,"ghost_share":0.255,"stale_share":0.149,"repost_share":0.452,"time_to_fill_p50_days":73,"computed_at":"2026-11-11T05:49:22Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"staff","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":155400,"max":233200,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":233200},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Embedded C","optional":false},{"name":"Assembly","optional":true},{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"Git","optional":true},{"name":"Rest-Assured","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-11","last_verified_at":"2026-11-11T22:40:29Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":35,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":35},"description":"Company:\nQualcomm Technologies, Inc.Job Area:\nEngineering Group, Engineering Group > CPU EngineeringGeneral Summary:\nWe are seeking a hands-on Staff Firmware Engineer to design, develop, integrate, and debug low-level firmware for ARM-based CPU subsystems in advanced System-on-Chip products.\nIn this role, you will work closely with CPU and SoC architects, hardware designers, design-verification engineers, system software teams, emulation teams, and post-silicon validation teams. You will translate hardware and microarchitecture specifications into robust embedded firmware for CPU subsystem boot, initialization, power management, Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS), low-power operation, recovery, and related control functions.\nThis is an individual-contributor position for an engineer who combines strong embedded C development skills with a deep understanding of hardware-software interaction. The successful candidate will remain actively involved in firmware implementation and debugging while providing technical direction, reviewing designs and code, mentoring engineers, and driving complex issues to closure.\n\nKey Responsibilities\n· Design, implement, integrate, and maintain low-level CPUSS firmware using embedded C.\n· Develop firmware for CPU subsystem functions such as:\nCPU, core, and cluster boot and initialization\nLow-power management\nDVFS and voltage/frequency control\nLimits and thermal-management support\nFault handling, recovery, crash reset, and diagnostic flows\n· Translate hardware architecture and programming specifications into reliable firmware sequences, register definitions, interfaces, state handling, timeout behavior, diagnostics, and error-recovery mechanisms.\n· Perform register-level programming of CPU subsystem and SoC hardware, including safe handling of memory-mapped registers, interrupts, handshakes, sequencing dependencies, and hardware state transitions.\n· Contribute to firmware architecture and detailed design decisions, with emphasis on modularity, maintainability, reuse, and support for multiple SoC products or derivative configurations.\n· Develop firmware and engage in debugs across pre-silicon and post-silicon platforms, including RTL simulation, emulation, FPGA or prototype platforms, and production silicon.\n· Correlate firmware execution with hardware behavior using debuggers, logs, traces, register dumps, waveform analysis, and other platform-specific debug methods.\n· Own firmware features through the complete development lifecycle-from requirements and design through implementation, review, validation, integration, release, and silicon support.\n· Participate actively in firmware design reviews, code reviews, hardware specification reviews, bring-up planning, and technical issue reviews.\nRequired Qualifications\n· Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.\n· Approximately 5-10 years of relevant industry experience in embedded firmware, low-level software, SoC firmware, processor firmware, device drivers, or a closely related area.\n· Strong hands-on programming experience in embedded C.\n· Experience developing low-level or bare-metal firmware that directly controls hardware.\n· Strong understanding of ARM-based processor or SoC architecture and relevant concepts such as:\nProcessor startup and boot flows\nException and interrupt handling\nMemory-mapped I/O\nClocks and resets\nCaches and memory systems\nHardware sequencing and synchronization\nInterconnects and peripheral interfaces\n· Experience converting hardware specifications into firmware designs and implementations.\n· Experience with register-level programming, including masks, fields, read/write side effects, polling, timeouts, ordering requirements, and error handling.\n· Demonstrated ability to debug complex hardware-firmware interaction issues and drive them to root cause.\n· Ability to independently own technically complex firmware features from definition through validation and delivery.\n· Experience participating in design reviews and performing detailed firmware code reviews.\n· Strong analytical, problem-solving, technical communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.\nPreferred Qualifications\n· Experience with CPU subsystem firmware, processor-control firmware, platform firmware, or power-management firmware.\n· Experience with DVFS, voltage management, clock control, power-state sequencing, power gating, thermal or limits management, or related CPU power-management functions.\n· Experience developing boot, initialization, low-power, recovery, crash-reset, or diagnostic firmware.\n· Working knowledge of ARM assembly and processor startup code.\n· Familiarity with ARM exception levels, interrupt architecture, cache behavior, coherency, memory barriers, and multicore-system concepts.\n· Experience debugging firmware using JTAG or platform debuggers, trace data, register dumps, waveform viewers, and hardware logs.\n· Experience supporting a common firmware codebase across multiple SoC products, hardware revisions, or derivative programs.\n· Experience with Git or similar version-control systems, build systems, and structured firmware release practices.\nMinimum Qualifications:\n• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.OR\nMaster's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 3+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.\nOR\nPhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 2+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.\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$155,400.00 - $233,200.00The 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":8803,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"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","Autonomous Driving","RF & Wireless Hardware","Car Electronics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-11T22:40:29Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"adverts_offering_sponsorship_24m":0,"sanctioned_now":false,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 1,115 · green card filings: 76","filings_12m":1115,"filings_prev_12m":2000,"green_card_filings_12m":76,"median_offered_wage_usd":150938,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-11-11T07:38:50+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":620}],"liveness":{"score":77,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.859,"p_room":0.9,"age_days":35,"expected_fill_days":74,"reasons":["conf:1","win:mid","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-11T23:45:38Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":233200,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-staff-engineer-cpuss-firmware-development","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/qualcomm-staff-engineer-cpuss-firmware-development.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-11T23:45:38Z","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":47305,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-12T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"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-staff-engineer-cpuss-firmware-development"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"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-staff-engineer-cpuss-firmware-development"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"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-staff-engineer-cpuss-firmware-development"},{"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-staff-engineer-cpuss-firmware-development\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fqualcomm-staff-engineer-cpuss-firmware-development"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":4106851}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"qualcomm.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":4106851},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}