Software Lead Engineer - Qualcomm Advanced Robotics Team

Company:

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

About Qualcomm Robotics

Qualcomm Advanced Robotics Team is building the AI first stack and platform for the next generation general purpose robots - from AMRs and cobots to emerging humanoids by pairing heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU) with a full Robotics SDK and developer tooling for manipulation, perception, navigation, and fleet workflows. We are leveraging our success in automated driving product portfolio, advanced AI end to end development and tools, and safety architecture to accelerate the growth in this emerging market.

The Opportunity

As Software Lead Engineer , you will be the senior technical owner for Qualcomm’s robotics software platform —defining the end‑to‑end architecture, raising the engineering bar across core middleware and services (ROS2/DDS), and leading cross‑functional teams to deliver production‑grade SDKs and reference solutions that customers can take to market. You’ll combine deep systems expertise with hands‑on leadership across perception/SLAM, planning & control, real‑time Linux/MCU, and on‑device AI shipping robust software on Qualcomm robotics SoCs.

What you’ll do

• Own the software architecture for the Qualcomm Robotics platform interfaces, runtime, QoS, and safety envelopes across Linux + MCU subsystems; drive DDS/ROS2 patterns for reliable, real‑time data flow on heterogeneous compute, and system mapping and optimization to Qualcomm Robotics platform.
• Lead the platform roadmap and technical design reviews across perception (VIO/VSLAM, DFS), mapping, semantic scene understanding, navigation, manipulation, and SDK components; ensure high performance and low power on our SoCs.
• Ship QC Robotics SDK with high‑quality APIs, samples, and build toolchains; harden CI/CD, release criteria, and developer experience for internal and external partners.
• Drive real‑world validation using sim‑in‑the‑loop and HIL; establish metrics for robustness, determinism, and regression across camera/IMU/LiDAR stacks and whole‑robot scenarios.
• Optimize for heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU) and camera pipeline/ISP; guide teams on concurrency, memory/power budgets, and accelerator utilization for on‑device AI.
• Champion safety & reliability practices and interfaces compatible with relevant standards (e.g., ISO26262/IEC61508 alignment where applicable) and design for field diagnostics, observability, and OTA update paths.
• Mentor and grow senior engineers across core platform, perception, controls, and SDK setting crisp technical direction, code quality bars, and review culture.
• Engage customers & partners as the senior technical face of the platform clarify requirements, guide integrations, and translate learnings into the roadmap.

How you’ll lead

• Set the technical bar for platform correctness, determinism, and developer experience.
• Coach senior ICs and tech leads, building a strong review culture and CI/CD discipline for robotics.
• Partner with product and silicon teams to align software roadmaps with SoC capabilities and customer needs.

Why Qualcomm

• Opportunity to shape the software heart of a rapidly scaling robotics portfolio used across industrial, commercial, and emerging humanoid form factors.
• Build on a mature developer ecosystem (RBx/QRB platforms, on‑device AI toolchains) and ship at the edge, globally.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. OR Master’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 7+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. OR PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

• 4+ years of work experience with programming languages such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

Preferred qualifications

• 15+ years in software engineering, with 10+ years building robotics platforms, Ubuntu, ROS2 or complex real‑time distributed systems; proven record shipping SDKs or core runtimes.
• Expert in C++ (modern) and Python with production experience in ROS 2 and DDS (QoS, discovery, message design, and tracing).
• Depth in: Physical AI embedded and virtual platforms , SLAM/visual‑inertial odometry , dense/stereo depth , semantic mapping , planning & controls , or manipulation —with demonstrable system‑level integration on embedded platforms.
• Strong background in Linux for robotics , real‑time considerations, and MCU/RTOS interactions (time sync, safety islands, bootloaders, field firmware management).
• Performance engineering on heterogeneous SoCs (CPU/GPU/NPU/DSP ) and camera/ISP stacks; hands‑on profiling and optimization.
• BS/MS in CS, EE, Robotics, or related field (PhD a plus).
• Track record leading large cross‑functional efforts (architecture docs, design reviews, de‑risking, postmortems) that landed in customer products.
• Experience delivering developer‑facing SDKs and documentation; familiarity with Qualcomm robotics stacks and ROS 2 package ecosystems.
• Demonstrated results in on‑device AI for perception or policy (model optimization, quantization, or pipeline fusion) on edge devices.
• Contributions to ROS/ROS2 or relevant open‑source robotics projects; publications/patents in SLAM, perception, manipulation, or real‑time systems.

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Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits : $192,600.00 - $289,000.00

The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Salary is one component of total compensation at Qualcomm, which also includes a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants. Our benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter can discuss details about Qualcomm’s benefits.

If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.