Senior System Performance Engineer

Qualcomm

Confirmed live 2 days ago Trusted

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
San Diego, CA
Salary
$122,500–$183,700 / yr
Posted
77 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live 2 days ago
Closes
Dec 23, 2026

Market check

Salary context

Below market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $183k
This role $153k
$111k most similar roles pay here $233k

This role pays less than 69% of similar roles. Most pay $143,975–$221,250 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $153k 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.

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View all roles at Qualcomm

At a glance

TL;DR · Senior System Performance Engineer

As a System Performance Engineer, Senior, you will join the System Performance Team to optimize and validate performance for Snapdragon Chipsets across mobile, compute, automotive, IoT, server, and data center AI segments. You will serve as a technical lead, mentoring junior engineers while collaborating with cross-functional teams to improve power, performance, and thermal behavior. Your daily responsibilities include profiling complex concurrent system use-cases in Android, Linux, and Windows environments, defining analysis plans for CPU, GPU, and AI/ML workloads, and triaging root causes of performance issues. You will utilize Python, C/C++, and tools for Vulkan, OpenGL, DX12, or CUDA to analyze SoC architectures. The role requires expertise in ARM v8 and v9 specifications, memory hierarchies, system interconnects, and software power management stacks to solve critical hardware and software integration challenges.

What you'll do

  • Profile and analyze complex concurrent system use-cases in emulation and software environments across Android, Linux, and Windows.
  • Define and document performance and power analysis plans for CPU, GPU, and AI/ML workloads.
  • Identify specific areas of performance optimization within both software and hardware architectures.
  • Lead the triage of complex performance issues to determine root causes and present findings to stakeholders.
  • Implement optimal power, performance, and thermal solutions in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
  • Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers across multiple projects.
  • Create reports and recommendations for senior executives to drive business decisions and architecture choices.
  • Develop automation tools to improve team operational efficiency.

What we're looking for

  • Master’s degree in Computer Engineering is preferred.
  • 4+ years of practical post-silicon experience in power and performance analysis of complex SoCs.
  • Strong programming and scripting skills in Python and C/C++.
  • Knowledge of ARM SoC concepts, architecture specifications (SMMU, GIC, Coresight-PMU), and v8/v9 specifications.
  • Experience with Vulkan, OpenGL, DX12, or CUDA.
  • Understanding of memory hierarchy, system interconnects, and SW power management stacks.
  • Knowledge of state-of-the-art workloads including AI and LLM.
  • Strong communication skills to provide technical leadership and report results to senior executives.

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