This role pays less than
65%
of similar roles. Most pay
$145,700–$219,425
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$165k
versus about
$183k
for comparable roles.
Based on 240 similar postings.
Employer
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm is a leading American semiconductor and telecommunications company based in San Diego, CA.
Qualcomm currently has
623 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$148,300–$222,500
across 603 roles with salary data.
Data Engineer, Staff joins the Information Technology Group to design, build, and operate a modern, scalable data platform centered on Databricks Lakehouse. This role focuses on creating reusable data frameworks, shared platform components, and standardized pipelines to support analytics, reporting, and advanced AI and machine learning use cases. The engineer will develop batch and streaming pipelines, implement intelligent automation for schema inference and anomaly detection, and manage infrastructure reliability through SLIs and SLOs. Key technical requirements include proficiency in Python, SQL, and NoSQL databases, along with experience in AWS environments, Delta Lake, and Unity Catalog. The position involves solving complex problems related to data governance, cost optimization, and performance tuning while mentoring junior engineers and establishing architectural standards for high-quality, reliable data products across the organization.
What does a Data Engineer earn in California?
Median $199800 from 35 postings across 19 companies.
Design, build, and maintain scalable batch and streaming data pipelines using Databricks Lakehouse.
Develop reusable data engineering frameworks, libraries, and templates for ingestion, transformation, and validation.
Implement AI-based techniques to automate schema inference, quality checks, and self-healing pipeline mechanisms.
Establish standardized patterns for data modeling, orchestration, and downstream consumption by analytics and ML teams.
Define and monitor SLIs/SLOs while participating in incident response and on-call rotations.
Manage security, compliance, and data governance controls across shared data assets.
Perform performance tuning and cost optimization for cloud resources and workloads.
Mentor junior engineers and provide technical guidance on automation best practices.
What we're looking for
Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field is required for candidates with 5+ years of experience.
Candidates without a Bachelor's degree must have at least 7 years of IT-related work experience.
At least 3 years of experience in programming with languages such as Java or Python is required.
At least 3 years of experience with SQL or NoSQL databases is required.
At least 3 years of experience with data structures and algorithms is required.
8+ years of experience building and operating data platforms or distributed data systems is required.
Proven experience with Databricks Lakehouse, including Delta Lake and Unity Catalog, is required.
Strong hands-on experience with AWS infrastructure, including IAM, networking, and multi-account setups, is required.
Databricks
Delta Lake
Unity Catalog
AWS
Python
Java
SQL
NoSQL
Data Engineering
Data Modeling
Machine Learning
Data Governance
Fivetran
HVR
Vault
Data Observability