Sr. Director, Product Development Manager (PDM) AI Platforms and Systems Solutions

Qualcomm • San Diego, CA

33d • $237,800 - $356,800 • Onsite

About The Position

The Sr. Director, Product Development Manager will lead product strategy and delivery for AI platform products and specifications spanning AI/ML model enablement, agentic systems, orchestration runtimes, and open protocols and standards. The role covers the product lifecycle from conception and definition through end of life, with a strong focus on the Windows AI ecosystem and on-device and hybrid AI experiences using local CPU, GPU, and NPU accelerators.

The position builds and leads a product management team, sets long-term roadmaps, and coordinates across systems, engineering, standards, quality, marketing, customers, and partners. It is accountable for portfolio outcomes, business planning, cost and profit control, market and ecosystem analysis, product launches, and industry adoption. The role also drives innovation and intellectual property strategy, including patents and standards contributions, and presents complex technical roadmaps to customers, partners, and executives.

The role requires full-time onsite work in San Diego, California, five days per week. Its technical scope includes model lifecycle and inference optimization; agent planning, tool use, and multi-agent workflows; orchestration across compute tiers; interoperability protocols and standards; Windows edge AI APIs, SDKs, and app-to-silicon workload flows; and performance, power, latency, memory, and security trade-offs for running LLM/VLM models on edge devices.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• At least 10 years of Product Management or related work experience; completed advanced degrees in a relevant field may substitute for up to two years of work experience (Master's degree: one year; doctorate: two years).
• Strong analytical, communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to interpret incomplete or conflicting information.
• Ability to build trusting relationships, communicate complex technical information to varied audiences, negotiate and influence stakeholders, and deliver commitments.
• Ability to manage parallel, cognitively complex work and develop innovative solutions aligned with broad objectives.
• Product management capability directing a comprehensive product strategy from conception through end of life and serving as a central cross-functional resource.
• Ability to lead, develop, coach, and inspire high-performing teams.
• Full-time onsite availability in San Diego, California, five days per week.

Nice To Haves

• 15 or more years of Product Management or related technical work experience.
• Advanced degree (MS or MBA) in a technical or business discipline.
• Direct experience defining or shipping Windows-ecosystem AI/ML platforms, inference runtimes, agentic frameworks, or orchestration systems on local CPU, GPU, or NPU accelerators.
• Detailed understanding of edge AI APIs/DDIs and SDKs (Windows preferred; Android, Mac, or Linux acceptable) and app-to-silicon workload flow, including DirectX, WinML, OpenCL, and GGML.
• Familiarity with AI middleware and frameworks such as llama.cpp, Ollama, and AnythingLLM, and with the AI application development flow.
• Working knowledge of LLM/VLM models in the approximate 1B–150B parameter range and edge performance, power, latency, memory, and security trade-offs; familiarity with Qwen, Llama, Gemma, and gpt-oss model families.
• Experience authoring or contributing to technical specifications, protocols, or industry standards, including through consortia or standards bodies.
• At least five years of people-leadership experience, including hiring, developing, and retaining technical talent.
• At least four years working in a large, matrixed organization.
• At least two years working with operating budgets and/or project financials.
• At least two years negotiating third-party business agreements or partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead, develop, and coach a team of product managers, setting direction, objectives, performance expectations, and talent-development priorities.
• Oversee cross-functional collaboration and ensure engineering and program-management milestones align with the product-line roadmap.
• Develop and redesign organizational strategies and provide direction for the function, influencing long-term business plans and objectives.
• Analyze market and ecosystem demands across AI/ML, agentic systems, and orchestration; identify gaps and make portfolio decisions affecting product and specification roadmaps.
• Validate business cases and determine product and specification development that advances the roadmap.
• Drive launch strategies and adoption for Windows-ecosystem AI products and technologies through technical marketing, conferences, standards bodies, and direct customer engagement.
• Prepare and deliver complex technical presentations on product and specification roadmaps to customers, partners, and executives, incorporating their feedback.
• Monitor markets and translate insights into roadmap adjustments across AI/ML, agentic systems, orchestration, and protocols.
• Oversee development of multiple complex products and specifications, communicate goals across functions, and differentiate the portfolio using customer, market, competitor, and technology input.
• Drive long-term innovation and intellectual property strategy, including patents and standards contributions, aligned with customer interests and the roadmap.
• Communicate with internal customers, third-party partners, and senior management to establish needs and goals, and execute stakeholder and executive communication and change-management plans.
• Collaborate with stakeholders and program sponsors to define product goals for performance, cost, timeline, and customer schedules; assess feasibility and facilitate cross-functional decisions.
• Manage work independently and make significant decisions affecting program success, finances, objectives, and organizational direction.
• Exercise financial accountability, including budget management and input into P&L.

Benefits

• Competitive annual discretionary bonus program.
• Opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for the annual bonus).
• Competitive benefits package designed to support employees at work, at home, and at play.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior