Principal System Lead – AI Systems and Frameworks

Qualcomm•San Diego, CA

About The Position

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what is possible. The company drives digital transformation and enables next-generation experiences, striving to create a smarter, more connected future for everyone. Position Overview We are seeking a Principal‑level System Lead to drive AI‑centric mobile system architectures through close collaboration with OEMs and cross‑functional engineering teams. As part of the Mobile Product System and Architecture organization, you will play a hands‑on role in translating emerging AI‑driven use cases into scalable, power‑efficient system implementations leveraging Qualcomm’s advanced mobile SoCs and software platforms. This role emphasizes AI systems across the stack, including generative AI, diffusion models, and camera‑centric AI workloads, with strong awareness of modern AI software frameworks from Google, open‑source ecosystems, and third‑party providers. You will focus on optimizing end‑to‑end AI use cases for performance, latency, memory efficiency, and low‑power modes of operation in real OEM products.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 8+ years of Electrical, Computer, or Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 7+ years of Electrical, Computer, or Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 6+ years of Electrical, Computer, or Software Engineering or related work experience.
8+ years of experience in one or more areas of semiconductor product development.
5+ years in a technical leadership role.

Nice To Haves

Master's Degree or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field is required for this position.
8–10 years of experience in one or more domains of semiconductor product development, including system design, architecture, hardware design and validation.
A minimum of 3 years of experience making trade-offs between product key performance indicators (KPIs) and costs.
At least 5 years of experience working within a large, matrixed organization.
3 or more years of experience in a role that involves direct interaction with senior leadership.

Responsibilities

Product & System Architecture (AI Focus)
Analyze emerging OEM use cases involving generative AI, diffusion models, on‑device inference, camera‑centric AI, and always‑on AI workloads, mapping them to Qualcomm’s current hardware and software capabilities.
Define and propose system‑level architectural enhancements spanning AI accelerators, CPUs, GPUs, memory subsystems, and power management, with focus on scalable and power‑efficient AI execution.
Evaluate trade‑offs across performance, power, memory bandwidth, model size, latency, and thermal constraints, grounded in realistic OEM deployment scenarios.
Develop a strong understanding of AI software stacks and frameworks (e.g., Android AI frameworks, open‑source ML runtimes, and third‑party SDKs) and how they interact with underlying hardware architecture.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration
Collaborate closely with hardware, software, systems, and AI platform teams to ensure architectural decisions are practical, implementable, and aligned with product roadmaps.
Work with OEM‑facing and software teams to incorporate customer feedback, framework limitations, and evolving AI workloads into system architecture decisions.
Clearly communicate technical trade‑offs and architectural recommendations within cross‑functional engineering forums, using data and experimentation to support conclusions.
Technical Problem Solving and Innovation
Solve complex AI system challenges starting from loosely defined requirements, applying top‑down reasoning and quantitative analysis to explore and converge on viable solutions.
Identify architectural bottlenecks and inefficiencies across hardware and software boundaries for AI workloads, proposing innovative approaches to improve performance and energy efficiency.
Contribute to Qualcomm’s innovation pipeline through invention disclosures and patent filings related to AI system architectures, optimizations, and deployment methodologies.

Benefits

We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus).
In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play.

Stand Out From the Crowd

Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.

Upload and Match Resume