Staff Linux Software Engineer (Multiple Locations)
About The Position
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for Qualcomm Data Center to lead development of Linux-based system software for next-generation datacenter platforms. The role focuses on host-side software, drivers, and system integration for Qualcomm high-performance inference accelerators. The Staff Engineer owns complex subsystems end-to-end, drives architectural decisions, and provides technical leadership across software, hardware, and platform teams. Work spans driver development, test infrastructure, performance optimization, security enablement, and product commercialization, with an emphasis on robust, production-ready system software. The engineer designs and optimizes Linux user-space and kernel-adjacent drivers and libraries in modern C++, develops host software stacks for AI inference and secure compute workloads, and drives API design and scalable, multithreaded software architectures. The role also includes feature integration and bring-up across hardware/software boundaries, test and CI development, functional and performance validation, complex system debugging, and support for customer deployments. This position works closely with hardware, firmware, hypervisor, security, and cloud teams.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field and 4+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience; or a master's degree in one of these fields and 3+ years of related experience; or a PhD in one of these fields and 2+ years of related experience.
- 2+ years of work experience with a programming language such as C, C++, Java, or Python.
- Extensive experience with Linux system software development in modern C/C++.
- Strong background in Linux user-space development, API design, and multithreading and synchronization.
- Solid understanding of Linux internals, kernel concepts, drivers, and system bring-up.
- Experience with UML, object-oriented design, and large-scale software architecture.
- Strong knowledge of SoC architecture, including cores, caches, memory hierarchy, interconnects, and I/O.
- Experience with source code and configuration management; git is required.
- Ability to work at low-level implementation detail while maintaining a system-level perspective.
- Excellent written and verbal English communication skills.
- Comfort operating in a high-caliber, cross-disciplinary engineering environment.
Nice To Haves
- Familiarity with virtualization and container technologies such as KVM, Docker, and SR-IOV.
- Experience optimizing AI/ML inference workloads on system software stacks.
- Proficiency in Python for tooling, testing, or automation.
- Experience with C/C++ unit testing frameworks such as gtest.
- Exposure to cloud technologies, middleware, and protocols.
- Working knowledge of PCIe 3.0 or newer.
- Linux system administration experience.
- Linux kernel development experience.
- Contributions to open-source kernel or confidential computing projects.
Responsibilities
- Design, implement, and optimize Linux user-space and kernel-adjacent drivers and libraries in modern C++.
- Lead development of host software stacks supporting high-performance AI inference and secure compute workloads.
- Drive API design, multithreaded systems, and scalable software architectures.
- Own feature development, integration, and bring-up across hardware and software boundaries.
- Architect and develop unit, integration, and system-level tests for CI environments.
- Lead functional and performance validation of host software and drivers.
- Establish best practices for testability, automation, and long-term maintainability.
- Debug complex host-side issues, including boot flows, PCIe link behavior, log transfer, and overflow handling.
- Optimize host software for AI inference performance and low-latency workloads.
- Use advanced debugging, tracing, and profiling tools on Linux platforms.
- Provide technical leadership across mixed hardware/software teams.
- Drive design reviews, influence system architecture, and mentor senior engineers.
- Work with hardware, firmware, hypervisor, security, and cloud teams to deliver end-to-end solutions.
- Support customer deployments and resolve complex system-level issues.
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.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
