Job Details

Software Engineer – Qualcomm Advanced Robotics Team

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is building an AI‑first robotics stack and platform for the next generation of general‑purpose robots – from automated mobile robots and cobots to emerging humanoids. The advanced robotics team pairs heterogeneous compute (CPU, GPU, DSP, NPU) with a full robotics SDK and developer tooling for manipulation, perception, navigation, and fleet workflows. We leverage our success in automated driving, advanced AI, and safety architecture to accelerate growth in this emerging market.

What You'll Do

• Design and develop the software architecture for the Qualcomm Robotics platform interfaces, runtime, QoS, and safety envelopes across Linux and MCU subsystems; drive DDS/ROS2 patterns for reliable, real‑time data flow on heterogeneous compute, and system mapping and optimization for the Robotics platform.
• Develop the platform roadmap and technical design reviews across perception (VIO/VSLAM, DFS), mapping, semantic scene understanding, navigation, manipulation, and SDK components; ensure high performance and low power on our SoCs.
• Drive real‑world validation using simulation, HIL and establish metrics for robustness, determinism, and regression across camera/IMU/LiDAR stacks and whole‑robot scenarios.
• Optimize for heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU) and camera pipeline/ISP; guide teams on concurrency, memory, power budgets, and accelerator utilization for on‑device AI.
• Champion safety & reliability practices and interfaces compatible with relevant standards (e.g., ISO26262/IEC61508) and design for field diagnostics, observability, and OTA update paths.
• Mentor and grow senior engineers across core platform, perception, controls, and SDK – set crisp technical direction, code quality bars, and review culture.
• Engage customers and partners as the senior technical face of the platform – clarify requirements, guide integrations, and translate learnings into the roadmap.

How You'll Lead

• Set the technical bar for platform correctness, determinism, and developer experience.
• Coach senior ICs and tech leads, building a strong review culture and CI/CD discipline for robotics.
• Partner with product and silicon teams to align software roadmaps with SoC capabilities and customer needs.

Why Qualcomm

• Opportunity to shape the software heart of a rapidly scaling robotics portfolio used across industrial, commercial, and emerging humanoid form factors.
• Build on a mature developer ecosystem (RBx/QRB platforms, on‑device AI toolchains) and ship at the edge, globally.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering experience.
  OR Master's degree and 5+ years of experience.
  OR PhD and 4+ years of experience.
  
• 3+ years of experience with programming languages such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years in software engineering, with 4+ years building robotics platforms, Ubuntu, ROS2 or complex real‑time distributed systems; proven record shipping SDKs or core runtimes.
• Expert in C++ (modern) and Python with production experience in ROS2 and DDS (QoS, discovery, message design, and tracing).
• Depth in robotics - SLAM/visual‑inertial odometry, dense/stereo depth, semantic mapping, planning & controls, or manipulation with demonstrable system‑level integration on embedded platforms.
• Strong background in Linux for robotics, real‑time considerations, and MCU/RTOS interactions (time sync, safety islands, bootloaders, field firmware management).
  
• Performance engineering on heterogeneous SoCs (CPU/GPU/NPU/DSP) and camera/ISP stacks; hands‑on profiling and optimization.
• BS/MS in CS, EE, Robotics, or related field (PhD a plus).
• Track record leading large cross‑functional efforts (architecture docs, design reviews, de‑risking, postmortems) that landed in customer products.
• Experience delivering developer‑facing SDKs and documentation; familiarity with Qualcomm robotics stacks and ROS2 package ecosystems.
• Demonstrated results in on‑device AI for perception or policy (model optimization, quantization, or pipeline fusion) on edge devices.
• Contributions to ROS/ROS2 or relevant open‑source robotics projects; publications/patents in SLAM, perception, manipulation, or real‑time systems.

Pay Range And Other Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: $180,600 – $271,000. This reflects the broad, minimum to maximum pay scale for this job code in the location posted. In addition to base salary, Qualcomm offers a competitive discretionary bonus program, RSU grants, and a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play.

EEO Statement

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classifications.