Company:Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Job Area:Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering
General Summary:About Qualcomm Robotics Qualcomm Robotics is building the software and silicon foundation for the next generation of intelligent machines - from AMRs and cobots to emerging humanoids by pairing heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU) with a full ROS 2-based SDK and developer tooling for perception, navigation, manipulation, and fleet workflows. Our expertise bring ondevice AI, advanced camera pipelines, and connectivity to the edge robotics developer ecosystem.
The Opportunity As
Lead Robotics Software Engineer, you will be the senior technical owner for Qualcomm's
robotics software platform, defining the endtoend architecture, raising the engineering bar across core middleware and services (ROS 2/DDS), and leading crossfunctional teams to deliver productiongrade SDKs and reference solutions that customers can take to market. You'll combine deep systems expertise with handson leadership across perception/SLAM, planning & control, realtime Linux/MCU, and ondevice 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/ROS 2 patterns for reliable, realtime data flow on heterogeneous compute.
- 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 the QIRP/Robotics SDK with highquality APIs, samples, and build toolchains; harden CI/CD, release criteria, and developer experience for internal and external partners.
- Drive realworld validation using simintheloop and HIL; establish metrics for robustness, determinism, and regression across camera/IMU/LiDAR stacks and wholerobot scenarios.
- Optimize for heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU) and camera pipeline/ISP; guide teams on concurrency, memory/power budgets, and accelerator utilization for ondevice AI.
- Champion safety & reliability practices and interfaces compatible with relevant standards (e.g., ISO 26262/IEC 61508 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.
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 Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.
Preferred Qualifications:- 15+ years in software engineering, with 8+ years building robotics platforms or complex realtime distributed systems; proven record shipping SDKs or core runtimes.
- Expert in C++ (modern) and Python with production experience in ROS2 and DDS (QoS, discovery, message design, and tracing).
- Depth in at least two of: SLAM/visualinertial odometry, dense/stereo depth, semantic mapping, planning & controls, or manipulation-with demonstrable systemlevel integration on embedded platforms.
- Strong background in Linux for robotics, realtime 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; handson profiling and optimization.
- BS/MS in CS, EE, Robotics, or related field (PhD a plus).
- Track record leading large crossfunctional efforts (architecture docs, design reviews, derisking, postmortems) that landed in customer products.
- Experience delivering developerfacing SDKs and documentation; familiarity with Qualcomm robotics stacks/QIRP SDK and ROS2 package ecosystems.
- Demonstrated results in ondevice AI for perception or policy (model optimization, quantization, or pipeline fusion) on edge devices.
- Contributions to ROS/ROS 2 or relevant opensource robotics projects; publications/patents in SLAM, perception, manipulation, or realtime systems.
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, ondevice AI toolchains) and ship at the edge, globally.
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 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).
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EEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.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.
Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits: $207,600.00 - $311,400.00
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. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer - and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link.
If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.
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