As a Principal-level System Lead at Qualcomm Technologies, you will join the Mobile Product System and Architecture team to drive AI-centric mobile system architectures by collaborating closely with OEMs and cross-functional engineering teams. Your day-to-day responsibilities include analyzing emerging use cases involving generative AI, diffusion models, on-device inference, camera-centric AI, and always-on workloads, mapping them to Qualcomm’s advanced hardware and software capabilities. You will define architectural enhancements for AI accelerators, CPUs, GPUs, memory subsystems, and power management, focusing on performance, latency, memory efficiency, and low-power modes. Key skills include expertise in modern AI software frameworks such as Android AI frameworks and open-source ML runtimes, along with a deep understanding of hardware architecture. This role requires extensive collaboration across hardware, software, systems, and AI platform teams to ensure practical and implementable architectural decisions aligned with product roadmaps, while also contributing to Qualcomm’s innovation pipeline through invention disclosures and patent filings related to AI system architectures and optimizations.
Skills
AI
generative AI
diffusion models
camera-centric AI
on-device inference
Android AI frameworks
open-source ML runtimes
third-party SDKs
performance optimization
power management
memory subsystems
thermal constraints
cross-functional collaboration
quantitative analysis
innovation disclosure
patent filings
What you'll do
Analyze emerging AI use cases for Qualcomm’s mobile SoCs and software platforms.
Define system-level architectural enhancements for scalable and power-efficient AI execution.
Evaluate trade-offs across performance, power, memory bandwidth, latency, and thermal constraints.
Develop a deep understanding of AI software stacks and frameworks interacting with hardware.
Solve complex AI system challenges by applying top-down reasoning and quantitative analysis.
What we're looking for
At least 8-10 years of experience in semiconductor product development.
Strong background in system design and architecture for AI systems.
Experience evaluating trade-offs between performance, power, memory efficiency.
Proficiency with modern AI software frameworks and open-source ML runtimes.
Ability to collaborate across hardware, software, and systems engineering teams.
Track record of identifying and solving complex architectural bottlenecks.
Direct interaction experience with senior leadership in a matrixed organization.
Market check
Salary context
This
$211,900–$317,900
range sits above
81%
of similar postings on FindRole.
Peer median band
$192,600–$262,400
Median floor and ceiling across peers.
Typical midpoint (25–75%)
$193,025–$246,700
Middle half of comparable postings.
Based on 239 comparable postings.*
* 240 is the maximum number of comparable postings sampled.
Employer
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm is a leading American semiconductor and telecommunications company based in San Diego, CA.
Qualcomm currently has
595 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$148,300–$222,500
across 540 roles with salary data.
Azure
AWS
GCP
PyTorch
TensorFlow
LangChain
Python
MLOps
CI/CD
Microsoft 365
Vector databases
NIST AI RMF
Data engineering
Generative AI
Agentic systems
Multimodal AI
RAG
Chatbots
Predictive analytics
AI assistants
Python
SQL
AI Governance Platforms
Risk Assessment Tools
Synthetic Data Generation
Automated Testing Frameworks
Anomaly Detection
AI Observability Tools
CI/CD
EU AI Act
GDPR
CCPA
NIST AI RMF
Bias Audits
Adversarial Testing
Stress Testing
Explainable AI (XAI)
Model Validation Techniques
Monitoring and Logging Frameworks