Senior Director, Engineering Mobile Handset AI Software

Technology, Data & Digital · Software & Web Development · Software Engineering · Machine Learning · Data Science

In short

Seeking an experienced Embedded ML SW Architect to design and develop high-level architectures for AI features on Snapdragon Mobile products. This role involves driving technical initiatives, optimizing performance and power, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to advance state-of-the-art machine learning solutions.

Responsibilities

Develop architecture for complex AI features and experiences for Snapdragon Mobile products.
Recommend architecture enhancements and perform hands-on prototype development.
Architect on-device agentic experiences, including context/memory management, perception, and heterogeneous compute placement for LLM/SLM workloads.
Serve as a technical expert in developing and commercializing solutions, participating in design reviews.
Influence and negotiate with external partners on project implementation plans and milestones.
Act as a technical expert on AI and Mobile industry trends, competitors' products, and advances.
Leverage technical expertise to identify trends and define future solutions for product/technology roadmaps.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 8+ years of Electrical, Computer, or Software Engineering experience.
OR Master's degree and 7+ years of experience.
OR PhD and 6+ years of experience.
8+ years of experience in semiconductor product development.
5+ years in a technical leadership role.
Proficiency in C, C++, Python.
Excellent communication skills to articulate complex technical concepts.
Strong leadership abilities to motivate and guide development teams.
Detail-oriented with strong problem-solving, analytical, and debugging skills.
Demonstrated ability to learn, think, and adapt in a fast-changing environment.
Familiarity with software development methodologies, version control systems, and agile project management practices.
10+ years of experience in High-Performance Computing System Engineering or Software with 5+ years in AI system optimization.
Master's or PhD in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering.

Desired Qualifications

Extensive experience with Mobile SW architecture and deployment.
System SW performance optimization, benchmarking, and performance breakdown analysis with CPU, GPU, NPU.
Knowledge of state of the art in AI for Computer Vision, Audio, Generative AI.
Hands-on experience with agentic AI systems, LLMs/SLMs, and embedded ML at the system level on resource-constrained devices.
Experience with heterogeneous compute placement across CPU/GPU/NPU and context/perception pipelines.
Experience with Mobile platforms is highly desirable.
Excellent understanding of AI frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch).
Experience with large language models/foundational models and small language models (SLMs), including LoRA/adapter-based fine-tuning and on-device personalization techniques.
Experience in architecting, designing, and implementing SW framework for complex heterogeneous or multi-processor systems.
Experience with embedded ML at the system level — model deployment, scheduling, and lifecycle management under tight memory, power, and thermal constraints.
Good Understanding of complete AI Software stack and familiarity with AI hardware acceleration technologies.
Experience with performance optimization of AI application on Windows using processor specific optimization tools/libraries/primitives on GPU, NPU.
Experience in modeling AI networks and workloads to extract performance and power estimates.
Experience with context and perception pipelines (sensor fusion, screen/scene understanding, multimodal context).
Strong background in algorithm development, performance analysis using profiling tools, and algorithmic modification methods.
Knowledge of Mobile platforms, Android framework, Embedded system implementations.
Strong software engineering principles.
Strong leadership abilities to motivate and guide development teams.
Detail-oriented with strong problem-solving, analytical, and debugging skills.
Familiarity with software development methodologies, version control systems, and agile project management practices.

Benefits

Competitive annual discretionary bonus program.
Opportunity for annual RSU grants.
Highly competitive benefits package designed to support success at work, at home, and at play.
Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer.
Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process for individuals with disabilities.
Qualcomm is committed to making its workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities.