Senior Staff Software Engineer

Company:

Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc.

Job Area

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

As a Senior Staff Software Engineer in the Linux Kernel and Systems Software team , you will contribute to the architecture, development, optimization, and commercialization of Linux kernel technologies for Qualcomm’s next-generation ARM and RISC-V - based platforms.

This is a senior-level individual contributor role requiring deep technical expertise and hands-on development experience in Linux kernel and system software. The role involves solving complex problems across areas such as CPU scheduling, CPU topology, power and performance management, workload optimization, virtualization, memory management, and hardware/software interaction .

You will work closely with hardware architects, kernel developers, firmware teams, power performance teams, virtualization teams, and other software organizations to develop and optimize system software for current and future platforms.

You will be expected to independently investigate difficult problems, contribute to architecture and design decisions, develop production-quality kernel software, and apply deep technical expertise throughout platform development and commercialization.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and optimize Linux kernel technologies, with emphasis on CPU scheduling, CPU topology, CPUFreq/DVFS, and power and performance management .
• Analyze and resolve complex system-level issues spanning workloads, Linux kernel, firmware, CPU architecture, cache/memory hierarchy, and hardware .
• Develop and optimize scheduler policies, workload placement, frequency management, topology-aware scheduling, and workload-aware performance optimizations .
• Evaluate new processor and SoC capabilities and contribute to the corresponding Linux kernel architecture, design, and implementation .
• Characterize workloads and analyze scheduling behavior, CPU utilization, scalability, latency, cache behavior, power, and performance to identify and implement system-level improvements.
• Develop, debug, and validate kernel technologies across QEMU, FPGA emulation, and production silicon , using tools such as ftrace, tracepoints, perf, trace-cmd, crash analysis, and JTAG .
• Collaborate with hardware, firmware, performance, and other system software teams through architecture discussions, design/code reviews, platform enablement, and commercialization .
• Contribute to the upstream Linux kernel community and open-source projects , provide technical guidance to other engineers, and document key architecture, design, and validation decisions.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

OR

Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 5+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

OR

PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 4+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.

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

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with 8+ years of relevant systems software experience , or equivalent practical experience.
• Deep expertise in C programming and Linux kernel development .
• Strong hands-on experience with one or more Linux kernel subsystems, preferably including:
• CPU scheduling
• CPU topology
• • CPUFreq / DVFS and power management
• Interrupt and timer subsystems
• Idle Governor and CPUFreq Governor workings
• Platform enablement and device drivers
• Strong understanding of computer architecture , including CPU microarchitecture, cache hierarchy, cache coherency, memory ordering, memory hierarchy, NUMA/topology concepts, and interrupt architecture.
• Strong knowledge of ARM and RISC-V architecture and SoCs is highly desirable.
• Significant hands-on experience analyzing and optimizing system performance and power , including the ability to correlate workload behavior with kernel, firmware, and hardware behavior.
• Demonstrated ability to independently debug difficult system-level problems involving interactions between hardware, firmware, operating-system software, and applications .
• Extensive experience with Linux debugging and performance-analysis tools such as perf, ftrace, trace-cmd, kernel tracepoints, crash dumps, and JTAG-based debugging .
• Experience with Git , code-review workflows, and development of large-scale production software.
• Experience with QEMU, FPGA, emulation, or other pre-silicon development environments is highly desirable.
• Experience with low-level platform technologies such as device tree/ACPI, interrupt controllers, timers, memory controllers, CPU topology, and platform bring-up is beneficial.
• Contributions to the upstream Linux kernel or other major open-source system software projects are highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively on technically ambiguous problems, evaluate alternative approaches, and develop robust solutions with limited technical direction.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as a Senior Staff subject-matter expert in Linux kernel scheduler and system software.
• Independently investigate and solve highly complex problems involving Linux scheduling, CPU topology, power/performance management, virtualization, and platform software .
• Develop technically robust solutions from initial analysis and prototyping through implementation, validation, upstream development, and product commercialization .
• Contribute to architecture and design decisions for operating-system support of future CPUs and SoCs .
• Perform hands-on development and debugging of complex kernel features and system-level issues.
• Evaluate architectural trade-offs involving performance, power, scalability, complexity, maintainability, and upstream Linux compatibility .
• Identify limitations in existing software architectures and develop solutions that can scale across platforms and product generations.
• Contribute technical expertise through architecture reviews, design reviews, code reviews, and detailed technical discussions.
• Work directly with hardware, firmware, performance, virtualization, and other system software engineers to diagnose and solve cross-layer problems.
• Share technical knowledge and mentor other engineers while maintaining primary responsibility as a hands-on technical contributor .
• Collaborate with internal engineering organizations, customers, partners, and the open-source community to resolve complex system software and commercialization issues.

Level of Responsibility

• Applies deep technical expertise to complex and often ambiguous Linux kernel and system software problems.
• Makes significant technical contributions to architecture and design decisions within areas of expertise.
• Independently identifies, analyzes, and resolves problems that span multiple software and hardware components.
• Works effectively across hardware, firmware, kernel, performance, and product organizations to develop technically sound solutions.
• Communicates complex technical topics clearly to engineers, architects, and technical stakeholders.
• Evaluates competing technical approaches and makes sound engineering trade-offs across performance, power, scalability, maintainability, and product requirements .
• Provides technical guidance and mentoring through expertise and collaboration, without people-management or organizational leadership responsibilities .
• Maintains a strong hands-on focus on architecture, design, implementation, debugging, optimization, and validation .

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during th