Key Responsibilities
Product Architecture Analysis
Analyze new and emerging OEM and customer use cases—spanning multimedia, AI/ML, camera, graphics, gaming, and always‑on / low‑power modes of operation—and map them to Qualcomm’s current hardware and software solutions. Propose architectural enhancements and optimizations for inclusion in next‑generation product planning.
Drive system‑level trade‑off analysis across power, performance, cost, latency, and thermal constraints, with particular focus on end‑to‑end user scenarios and real‑world OEM deployment requirements.
Challenge the status quo by evaluating trade‑offs across cost, IP selection, system partitioning, and key product KPIs, proposing innovative architectural paradigms that align with business unit objectives and long‑term platform strategy.
Influence architectural direction across compute, multimedia pipelines, AI acceleration, memory subsystems, and power management to enable differentiated OEM solutions and optimized low‑power and sustained‑performance operating modes.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration
Work closely with core systems, hardware design, software, and product management teams to define and align product roadmap intercepts and build robust, incremental development plans. Act as a system and OEM advocate, directly contributing to setting technical priorities, investment focus, and budget decisions within the business unit.
Partner with OEM‑facing teams to ensure customer requirements, integration constraints, and deployment feedback are accurately reflected in system architecture and product planning decisions.
Effectively communicate system architectures, implementation strategies, and trade‑offs to senior technical leaders and cross‑functional stakeholders. Present concise risk‑benefit analyses and strategic options to executive leadership to enable informed, timely decision‑making.
Operate comfortably with large and complex data sets, extracting actionable insights to support architectural direction, product definition, and execution alignment across teams.
Strategic Problem Solving and Innovation
Lead strategic, top‑down problem solving in environments with ambiguous or evolving OEM requirements, working from first principles and “blank‑sheet” scenarios to define system direction and converge on data‑driven solutions.
Identify architectural gaps and opportunities across hardware and software boundaries, driving differentiated system‑level innovations in areas such as AI workloads, multimedia processing efficiency, and ultra‑low‑power user experiences.
Contribute to Qualcomm’s intellectual property portfolio by inventing and filing patents on system‑level solutions developed in the course of this work.
Anticipate future OEM needs and technology inflection points, ensuring system architecture decisions made today scale effectively across multiple product generations and market segments.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 10+ years of Electrical, Computer, or Software Engineering or related work experience.
- OR
- Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 9+ years of Electrical, Computer, or Software Engineering or related work experience.
- OR
- PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 8+ years of Electrical, Computer, or Software Engineering or related work experience.
- 10+ years of experience in one or more areas of semiconductor product development.
- 5+ years in a technical leadership role.
Preferred Qualifications
Master's Degree or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
15+ years of experience in one or more areas of semiconductor product development (e.g., system design, architecture, HW design and validation, SW development).
5+ years of experience balancing tradeoffs between product KPIs and costs.
5+ years of experience managing project costs.
4+ years of experience working in a large matrixed organization.
3+ years of work experience in a role requiring interaction with executive leadership.
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Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits
$276,900.00 - $415,300.00
The 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.
If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.
