Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is building the AI-first stack and platform for the next generation of general-purpose robots, aiming to leverage their expertise in automated driving and AI to accelerate growth in the emerging robotics market.
Requirements
- 5+ years in software engineering, with 4+ 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.
- 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.
Responsibilities
- Develop 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, real‑time data flow on heterogeneous compute, and system mapping and optimization to Qualcomm Robotics platform.
- Develop 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.
- 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., 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.
Other
- 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.
- Requires verbal and written communication skills to convey complex information. May require negotiation, influence, tact, etc.
- Has a moderate amount of influence over key organizational decisions (e.g., is consulted by senior leadership to make key decisions).
