Staff System Performance Engineer

Qualcomm

Confirmed live today High trust

Quick summary

Work type: On-site
Location: San Diego, CA
Salary: $155,400–$233,200 / yr
Posted: 3 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live today
Closes: Mar 16, 2027
Nearby: 99+ roles within 25 mi

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Salary context

Competitive pay

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $196k

This role $194k

$137k most similar roles pay here $254k

This role pays less than 53% of similar roles. Most pay $166,397–$225,425 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $194k versus about $196k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

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About Qualcomm

Qualcomm is a leading American semiconductor and telecommunications company based in San Diego, CA.

Qualcomm currently has 615 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $155,400–$232,600 across 593 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Staff System Performance Engineer

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As a System Performance Engineer, Staff on the System Performance Team, you will 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 to junior engineers while collaborating with cross-functional hardware and software 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 to develop automation and analyze SoC architectures. Required expertise includes ARM v8 and v9 specifications, memory hierarchies, system interconnects, and graphics APIs like Vulkan, OpenGL, DX12, or CUDA to solve critical power and performance challenges.

Skills

Python C/C++ ARM SoC CUDA Vulkan OpenGL DX12 Android Linux Windows AI LLM Power Management Automation SMMU GIC Coresight-PMU Memory Hierarchy

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 for internal and external 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 (preferred).
4+ years of practical post-silicon experience of power and performance analysis of complex SoCs (preferred).
Strong programming and scripting skills in Python and C/C++ (preferred).
Knowledgeable in state-of-the-art workloads including AI and LLM (preferred).
Understanding of memory hierarchy, system interconnects, and ARM SoC architecture specifications (preferred).
Experience with Vulkan, OpenGL, DX12, or CUDA (preferred).
Understanding of industry power and performance benchmarks and SW power management stacks (preferred).
Strong communication and collaboration skills to lead teams and report to senior executives.