This role pays more than
90%
of similar roles. Most pay
$174,250–$227,675
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$271k
versus about
$201k
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
569 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$153,600–$223,200
across 548 roles with salary data.
As a Principal System Lead – AI Systems and Frameworks within the Mobile Product System and Architecture organization, you will drive AI-centric mobile system architectures through collaboration with OEMs and cross-functional engineering teams. You will translate emerging AI use cases, such as generative AI, diffusion models, and camera-centric workloads, into scalable, power-efficient implementations on mobile SoCs. Your daily responsibilities include defining architectural enhancements for AI accelerators, CPUs, GPUs, and memory subsystems while balancing performance, latency, and thermal constraints. You will work with Android AI frameworks, open-source ML runtimes, and third-party SDKs to optimize end-to-end execution. The role involves solving complex technical problems from loosely defined requirements, identifying bottlenecks across hardware and software boundaries, and contributing to the innovation pipeline through patent filings regarding AI system architectures and deployment methodologies for real OEM products.
Map emerging AI use cases like generative models and camera-centric workloads to Qualcomm hardware and software capabilities.
Define system-level architectural enhancements for AI accelerators, CPUs, GPUs, memory subsystems, and power management.
Evaluate trade-offs between performance, power, memory bandwidth, and thermal constraints for real-world OEM deployments.
Analyze how AI software stacks and frameworks interact with underlying hardware architectures to optimize end-to-end execution.
Identify architectural bottlenecks across hardware and software boundaries to improve energy efficiency and performance.
Resolve complex AI system challenges by applying quantitative analysis to transform loosely defined requirements into viable solutions.
Contribute to the innovation pipeline through invention disclosures and patent filings for AI system architectures.
What we're looking for
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 8+ years of experience, OR Master's with 7+ years, OR PhD with 6+ years.
Master's Degree or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field (preferred).
8+ years of experience in one or more areas of semiconductor product development.
5+ years of experience in a technical leadership role.
8–10 years of experience in semiconductor product development including system design, architecture, hardware design, and validation (preferred).
At least 3 years of experience making trade-offs between product key performance indicators (KPIs) and costs (preferred).
At least 5 years of experience working within a large, matrixed organization (preferred).
3 or more years of experience in a role that involves direct interaction with senior leadership (preferred).
System Architecture
3D Integration
Chiplets
Memory Systems
PCIe
SATA
Power Management
high-speed IO
Heterogeneous Integration
Technology Scouting
Remote Device Management
Windows Server
VMware
Citrix
NetScaler
Bash
PowerShell
Active Directory
Group Policy
KVM
Commvault
NAS
SAN
iSCSI
Linux
NIST Risk Management Framework
STIGs
Nessus
Networking Protocols