Engineer, Principal Manager

Qualcomm•Santa Clara, CA

About The Position

General Summary: The Principal Firmware Engineer will provide technical leadership and architectural guidance for embedded firmware across Qualcomm’s next-generation CPU subsystems. This role drives complex cross-functional initiatives, influences long-term platform strategy, and serves as a domain expert in CPU power management and embedded system design. Replacement Headcount Additional Job Description: As part of Qualcomm’s CPU Power Management Firmware team, you will define and implement firmware solutions to manage power and performance for Qualcomm’s custom CPUs across multiple SoC verticals. Responsibilities include working on power management, boot flows, RAS, debug, security, and runtime services within the CPU subsystem. You will collaborate closely with hardware teams, firmware development teams, and platform architects to influence future CPU and SoC designs. You will also work with external partners during new platform enablement and drive architectural decisions impacting future product generations. · Act as primary technical liaison for partners and customers on CPU power management topics · Provide architectural feedback into next-generation CPU microarchitecture and SoC power subsystem designs

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 7+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
4+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 12+ years’ software engineering experience OR
Master’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 11+ years’ software engineering experience OR
PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 10+ years’ software engineering experience
10+ years of experience with programming languages such as C, C++, Java, Python etc.

Nice To Haves

BS/BEng in Electrical, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science (or equivalent professional experience) with 12+ years of embedded firmware development experience
Demonstrated ability to drive technical strategy, shape architectural direction, and align engineering efforts across teams
Proficient in writing and debugging C and assembly
Experience developing device drivers in RTOS or OS kernel environments
Deep experience with embedded OSes such as Zephyr, eCos, uC/OS, or FreeRTOS
Expertise working in pre-silicon environments including simulators and FPGA emulation
Experience defining inter-processor communication interfaces between embedded controllers and SoC platforms
Familiarity with ARM v8 architecture; hands-on development for ARMv8 platforms is a plus
Proven ability to influence HW/FW interface definition and FW architecture across multiple product lines
Demonstrated experience mentoring senior engineers and leading teams through complex debug and system bring-up scenarios

Responsibilities

Lead the end-to-end design, implementation, and verification of firmware in both pre-silicon and post-silicon environments
Drive the definition and architectural direction of power management solutions for future Qualcomm CPU generations
Collaborate with and contribute to open-source communities for device drivers, processor architecture support, and firmware enablement
Define staffing needs, mentor engineers, and participate in hiring activities
Lead cross-functional design reviews involving architecture, hardware, firmware, and validation teams
Own long-term roadmap development for CPU power management firmware and influence platform-level power/performance architecture
Serve as a technical authority for complex silicon debug, root-cause analysis, and system-wide issue resolution
Provide technical leadership across internal teams and ensure alignment with company-wide best practices
Act as primary technical liaison for partners and customers on CPU power management topics
Provide architectural feedback into next-generation CPU microarchitecture and SoC power subsystem designs