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#Embedded NPU Software Engineer, Senior

qualcomm
San Diego, United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 19 May 2026
💰 $166,900/yr($111,300/yr$166,900/yr)

About the role


Company:

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

** This position is not eligible for Qualcomm immigration sponsorship. **

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what's possible to enable next-generation experiences and drive digital transformation across industries. As a Qualcomm Software Engineer, you will design, develop, create, modify, and validate embedded and cloud-edge software, applications, and specialized utility programs that launch cutting-edge, world-class products.

Qualcomm is looking for software engineers to develop embedded platform software for CPU, DSP, and NPU processors and AI engines comprising its SoC portfolio for mobile, automotive, compute, and other markets. In this role, you will utilize your solid foundation in embedded software development, operating systems, and drivers to deploy platform software for complex AI and multimedia use cases running on our SoCs.

As part of the NPU Platform Software Team, you will work across all levels of the stack on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. You’ll contribute to the design and implementation of inter-processor communication, memory management mechanisms, execution environments, concurrency management, and other software frameworks that enable NPU acceleration for machine learning inference, computer vision, image/video processing, sensors, IoT, automotive, audio, and more.

We are looking for enthusiastic, versatile, and self-motivated engineers ready to take ownership of technical deliverables and grow into system-level contributors.

Minimum Qualifications:

•    Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 2+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 1+ year of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field.

• 2+ years of academic or work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

Responsibilities

  • Architect, design, and develop multimedia frameworks across heterogeneous processors.

  • Develop high-performance system drivers for compute resources and AI acceleration.

  • Profile and optimize software for performance, memory, and power efficiency.

  • Collaborate with hardware, systems, and test teams to ensure seamless integration.

  • Participate in design and code reviews; contribute to system-level debugging and issue resolution.

  • Offsite and occasional onsite work with OEMs and Independent Software Vendors may be required.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.

  • 5+ years of experience in embedded software development.

  • Strong proficiency in C/C++ and real-time operating systems.

  • Experience with multi-threaded programming, hardware drivers, and inter-processor communication.

  • Solid understanding of computer architecture and embedded system design.

  • Experience with Qualcomm Hexagon DSP or similar platforms.

  • Multimedia software development experience on Android, Windows, or Linux.

  • Exposure to machine learning or computer vision workloads.

  • Familiarity with scripting (Python, shell) and test automation.

  • Strong debugging and profiling skills using tools like Trace32, JTAG, etc.

  • Versatile attitude to learn new architectures and operating systems.

  • Self-motivated and able to work independently.

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail disability-accomodations@qualcomm.com or call Q

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Company

qualcomm

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