Senior Staff Software Engineer, Core AI Software

Qualcomm

Confirmed live yesterday Trusted

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
San Diego, CA
Salary
$158,400–$237,600 / yr
Posted
131 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live yesterday
Closes
Oct 30, 2026

Market check

Salary context

Below market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $216k
This role $198k
$146k most similar roles pay here $277k

This role pays less than 67% of similar roles. Most pay $190,250–$241,937 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $198k versus about $216k 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.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at Qualcomm

At a glance

TL;DR · Senior Staff Software Engineer, Core AI Software

Staff & Senior Staff Software Engineer, Core AI Software (Onsite) joins the Machine Learning Engineering team to lead software design and development for the Qualcomm AI Stack features within the QAIRT SDK, specifically focusing on Generative AI Inference Extensions known as Genie. The role involves developing core components of a runtime framework to support the execution of advanced deep neural networks, large language models, and other modern architectures on resource-constrained, low-power AI accelerators. You will be responsible for optimizing runtime efficiency, latency, and power consumption while performing root cause analysis and debugging complex issues. Candidates must possess proficiency in C/C++ within Linux environments, along with expertise in data structures, algorithm design, and object-oriented programming. The work focuses on deploying generative AI inference at the connected edge across platforms like Android and Windows using CMake-based build systems.

What does a Software Engineer earn in California?

Median $214000 from 775 postings across 63 companies.

See salary data

What you'll do

  • Develop software for the QAIRT and Genie SDKs to support generative AI models on Snapdragon platforms.
  • Design and implement core components of the Qualcomm AI Stack runtime framework for resource-constrained systems.
  • Optimize runtime efficiency, latency, and power consumption for machine learning workloads on low-power accelerators.
  • Validate, analyze, and optimize the performance and accuracy of software through detailed testing of ML use cases.
  • Debug complex issues and perform root cause analysis to ensure high system reliability.
  • Lead feature development and integrate advanced machine learning techniques into products and AI solutions.
  • Provide guidance to junior team members and make technical decisions impacting the broader work group.

What we're looking for

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field.
  • 4+ years of experience with a Bachelor's, 3+ years with a Master's, or 2+ years with a PhD in a relevant engineering field.
  • 5+ years of general software development experience for Staff level or 8+ years for Senior Staff level.
  • Proficiency in C/C++ programming and development within a Linux environment.
  • Strong skills in data structures, algorithm design, object-oriented programming, debugging, and testing.
  • Experience building embedded software applications and knowledge of low-level OS-to-hardware interactions.
  • Familiarity with generative AI architectures like LLMs and experience with hardware acceleration at the edge.
  • Experience with CMake-based build environments, Git-based SCM, and agile development practices.

More like this

Similar roles

Senior Staff Software Engineer, AI IoT

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 151 days ago $178,400$267,600
C/C++ Python Linux Unix Android QNX Windows LSTM Qualcomm AI Stack QNN SNPE QAIRT Embedded Software Git Agile
6+ yrs exp

Staff Software Engineer, Core AI Software

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 136 days ago $158,400$237,600
C++ C Linux Android Windows Deep Neural Networks CMake Git Agile Qualcomm AI Stack QNN Genie QAIRT Data Structures Algorithms
5+ yrs exp

Principal Software Engineer, AI Software Automotive Lead

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 3 days ago $200,800$301,200
C/C++ Python PyTorch TensorFlow ONNX JAX QNN SNPE QAIRT Genie Linux QNX Android Automotive AUTOSAR CNNs Transformers LLMs Quantization Pruning Agile Git ISO 26262 ASPICE ISO/SAE 21434
8+ yrs exp

Senior Software Engineer

Genworth Financial

Richmond, VA +1 61 days ago $96,700$145,000
Python Flask Azure PostgreSQL GitLab CI/CD DevSecOps JavaScript HTML CSS React Angular Vue Azure App Service Azure Synapse Pipelines SQL
5+ yrs exp Hybrid