Director Engineering - AI software stack

Company:
Qualcomm India Private Limited

Job Area:
Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what's possible to enable next-generation experiences and drives digital transformation to help create a smarter, connected future for all. As a Qualcomm Software Engineer, you will design, develop, create, modify, and validate embedded and cloud edge software, applications, and/or specialized utility programs that launch cutting-edge, world class products that meet and exceed customer needs. Qualcomm Software Engineers collaborate with systems, hardware, architecture, test engineers, and other teams to design system-level software solutions and obtain information on performance requirements and interfaces.

Key Responsibilities
• AI/ML Strategy & Platform Leadership
• Define and own the AI/ML technology roadmap aligned with business goals across automotive and edge AI platforms.
• Drive adoption of LLMs, VLMs/LVMs, multimodal AI, and agentic AI systems for real‑world, safety‑critical deployments.
• Influence platform and silicon‑level decisions by translating AI workload requirements into hardware and software capabilities.

Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 3+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 2+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 1+ year of Software Engineering or related work experience.

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

Execution & Delivery
• Oversee end‑to‑end delivery of AI systems from research to production, including model onboarding, optimization, validation, and lifecycle management.
• Ensure performance, power, latency, memory, and accuracy targets are met across heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU).
• Establish best practices for model optimization (quantization, compression, batching, KV‑cache tuning, mixed precision).

Team & Organizational Leadership
• Build, mentor, and scale multi‑disciplinary AI/ML engineering teams (ML engineers, systems engineers, platform engineers).
• Set technical direction, define career growth paths, and uphold a high bar for engineering excellence.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and innovation.

Minimum Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 25+ years of industry experience in software engineering.
• 20+ years of people management experience, including managing managers or senior technical leads and customers.
• Strong background in AI/ML system design, not just model development.
• Hands‑on experience with ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, ONNX) and edge/embedded deployment.
• Proven ability to deliver large‑scale, production AI systems in complex environments

Preferred Qualifications
• Master’s or PhD in AI/ML, Computer Science, or related field.
• Deep understanding of LLMs, VLMs/LVMs, multimodal and agentic AI architectures.
• Experience with automotive or industrial platforms, embedded Linux/QNX, and real‑time constraints.
• Familiarity with QNN‑like runtimes, inference SDKs, and heterogeneous acceleration.
• Strong customer‑facing experience, including executive‑level technical discussions.
• Track record of influencing product and platform roadmaps through technical leadership.
• Experience in software architecture and design patterns
• Knowledge of architectural approaches for large-scale software applications
• Previous customer-facing experience is advantageous
• Exposure to fine-tuning GenAI models and reinforcement learning considered a plus
• Expertise in inference accuracy, throughput optimization, and edge deployment highly desirable
• Lead system-level problem triage to identify root causes and communicate testing/debugging results to relevant stakeholders

Applicants: 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 Qualcomm's toll-free number found here. Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).

Qualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.

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