#Embedded NPU Software Engineer, Senior

Qualcomm

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
San Diego, CA
Salary
$111,300–$166,900 / yr
Posted
18 days ago
Closes
Nov 15, 2026

Market check

Salary context

Below market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $182k
This role $139k
$98k most similar roles pay here $234k

This role pays less than 78% of similar roles. Most pay $142,400–$221,000 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $139k versus about $182k 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 558 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $154,000–$231,000 across 401 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at Qualcomm

At a glance

TL;DR · #Embedded NPU Software Engineer, Senior

As a Software Engineer at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., you will join the NPU Platform Software Team as part of their Snapdragon processor development efforts, focusing on embedded platform software for CPU, DSP, and NPU processors across mobile, automotive, compute, and other markets. Your daily responsibilities include architecting multimedia frameworks, developing high-performance system drivers, optimizing software for efficiency, and collaborating with hardware teams to ensure seamless integration. You will work with C/C++, real-time operating systems, multi-threaded programming, and inter-processor communication technologies while contributing to the design of execution environments and concurrency management. This role requires a solid foundation in embedded software development and experience with Qualcomm Hexagon DSP or similar platforms, as well as familiarity with machine learning and computer vision workloads.

What you'll do

  • Architect and design multimedia frameworks for heterogeneous processors.
  • Develop high-performance system drivers for AI acceleration and compute resources.
  • Optimize software for performance, memory usage, and power efficiency.
  • Implement inter-processor communication mechanisms for complex use cases.
  • Contribute to the execution environments and concurrency management systems.
  • Collaborate on debugging and resolving issues across the software stack.

What we're looking for

  • Solid foundation in embedded software development and operating systems.
  • Experience developing high-performance system drivers for compute resources.
  • Proficiency in C/C++ and real-time operating systems.
  • Strong understanding of computer architecture and inter-processor communication.
  • Ability to profile and optimize software for performance, memory, and power efficiency.
  • Familiarity with Qualcomm Hexagon DSP or similar platforms.
  • Experience in multimedia software development on Android, Windows, or Linux.

More like this

Similar roles

Careers

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 73 days ago
C/C++ Python Linux Android Windows Qualcomm Hexagon DSP multi-threaded programming inter-processor communication embedded systems real-time operating systems scripting test automation debugging profiling Trace32 JTAG
Hybrid

Embedded NPU Software Engineer, Senior

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 79 days ago $127,200$190,800
C/C++ Qualcomm Hexagon DSP Android Linux Windows SIMD multi-threading memory hierarchy inter-processor communication concurrency management Trace32 JTAG NPU programming computer architecture real-time operating systems multimedia frameworks AI acceleration pipelines machine learning computer vision signal processing

Embedded NPU Software Engineer, Staff

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 29 days ago $134,800$202,200
C/C++ Qualcomm Hexagon DSP Android Linux Windows SIMD Multi-threading Memory hierarchy Inter-processor communication Debugging tools Trace32 JTAG Machine learning Computer vision Signal processing Multimedia frameworks NPU programming Real-time operating systems

#Embedded Software Engineer

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 89 days ago $94,200$141,200
C Linux Kernel ARM CoreSight Windows OS Visual Studio LLVM Python Perl Assembly C++ ETM CPU Architecture Memory Bus Architecture Interprocessor Communications Reset Controller Hardware Crash Debug Sequence Security Architecture Windows Performance Analyzer Compiler Technology JIT Technologies

Embedded NPU Software Engineer, Senior

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 9 days ago $127,200$190,800
C C++ Python Computer Architecture Embedded Systems Design Verification Architectural Simulators Digital Design Simulators Emulators Test Generators Design Synthesis Machine Learning Modem Technology