Lead CPU Firmware Verification and Validation Engineer/ Manager
Qualcomm· Semiconductors· Sep 17, 2026 · 1mo ago
Santa Clara, California, United States of America
In office
Full-time
Lead
$141K–$219K est.
8+ years exp
Job description
Company:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Job Area:
Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering
General Summary:
Our Mission
We are dedicated to transforming the industry by reimagining silicon and developing next-generation computing platforms. By joining our team, you’ll collaborate with world-class engineers to create innovative solutions that push the limits of performance, energy efficiency, and scalability. Our focus is on developing CPU platform firmware for Qualcomm's Snapdragon SoC, delivering a comprehensive solution that includes hardware, software, reference designs, user guides, SDKs, and more.
We are seeking a highly skilled and dynamic Software and Firmware Verification and Validation Manager to lead a global, multi-role team responsible for verification and validation of complex software and firmware platforms. In addition to being hands-on, this role will oversee a talent group of engineers with extensive background in ensuring long-term stability, scalability, and lifecycle support across multiple product verticals. The successful candidate will ensure seamless coordination across regions and functions, while enabling innovation, reducing operational risks, and improving overall quality & customer satisfaction.
As a Lead CPU FW V&V Engineer, you will take on a lead technical role, working closely with cross-functional engineering teams, including SoC, firmware development, Configuration & Release Management, in addition to regular interfaces with product and program management. You will be responsible for the end-to-end integration of a high-performance CPU firmware stack.
Key Responsibilities:
• Build, manage, and scale a global FW verification and validation organization (Software QA)
• Be a strong advocate for FW quality, capable of quality milestones against business demands
• Resource allocation planning against multiple active and concurrent programs
• Define and refine automation strategies to continue to optimize the CI/CD cycle
• Streamline and manage the support pipeline to ensure faster response to issues and improved SLA management.
• Improve firmware release cadence and ensure quality standards through robust testing and validation.
• Implement risk management practices, ensuring stability and reliability of production software.
• Manage and reduce technical debt through proactive planning and execution.
• Support extended product lifecycle, ensuring cost efficiency and scalability of development efforts.
• Act as a key quality interface between production software organizations and customer engineering teams.
• Provide career development opportunities and coaching for a global workforce.
• Foster broad-range skills development, knowledge retention, and cross-functional expertise.
• Build a collaborative culture that prioritizes innovation, quality, and customer satisfaction
• Contribute to FW architecture and design with a focus on smooth integration and Design For Test (DFT)
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:
• Master's Degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science or related field.
• 15 + years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• 4 + years of experience with Database Management Software .
• 4 + years of experience with API.
• 3+ years in a technical leadership role with or without direct reports.
• 3+ years of work experience in a role requiring interaction with executive leadership (e.g., Vice President level and above).
• 1+ year of work experience with Git, Perforce, or Source Code Management System.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities:
• Leverages expert Software knowledge and experience to design, develop, create, modify, and validate highly critical embedded and cloud edge software, applications, and/or specialized utility programs.
• Analyzes user needs, software requirements, and time and cost constraints to design and customize highly sophisticated software for optimal operational efficiency.
• Designs and implements software sub-systems for complex, large-scale products and systems; resolves design, coding, and other technical issues by presenting end-to-end solutions.
• Leads design, coding, and testing efforts to ensure that projects are completed to specifications and schedules.
• Serves as a technical expert in performing highly complex code reviews, regression tests, and triages and fixes issues to ensure the quality of code.
• Collaborates with high-level representatives from other functions (e.g., testing group, product group, customers) to integrate plan for software design of a large initiative.
• Writes detailed technical documentation for highly complex Software projects; reviews technical documentation for experienced engineers.
Level of Responsibility:
• Provides supervision to direct reports.
• Decision-making is critical in nature and highly impacts program, product, or project success.
• Requires verbal and written communication skills to convey highly complex and/or detailed information. May require strong negotiation and influence with large groups or high-level constituents.
• Has a great degree of influence over key organizational decisions (e.g., is making or directly making key decisions that will have substantial impact over the organization).
• Tasks often require multiple steps which can be performed in various orders; extensive planning, problem-solving, and prioritization must occur to complete the tasks effectively.
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 disability-accomodations@qualcomm.com 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).
To all Staffing and Recruiting Agencies : Our Careers Site is only for individuals seeking a job at Qualcomm. Staffing and recruiting agencies and individuals being represented by an agency are not authorized to use this site or to submit profiles, applications or resumes, and any such submissions will be considered unsolicited. Qualcomm does not accept unsolicited resumes or applications from agencies. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Qualcomm employees or any other company location. Qualcomm is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/applications.
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 :
$221,100.00 - $331,700.00
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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Keywords to mirror
ci/cdjavapythonapirest
- Platform
- eightfold
- Effort
- medium
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