Company:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Job Area:
Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Hardware Systems Engineering
General Summary:
Qualcomm is a company of inventors that unlocked 5G & 6G, ushering in an age of rapid acceleration in connectivity and new possibilities that will transform industries, create jobs, and enrich lives. But this is just the beginning. It takes inventive minds with diverse skills, backgrounds, and cultures to transform 6G's potential into world-changing technologies and products. This is the Invention Age — and this is where you come in.
The Central Hardware Systems (CHS) HW Sys design team designs cutting-edge Hardware systems and printed circuit boards across Qualcomm's most strategic platforms — spanning DataCenter, Server, Connectivity, Compute, and R&D. As a Principal Engineer, you will be a key contributor shaping next-generation hardware from concept through fabrication, working alongside world-class electrical and mechanical engineering teams.
The Principal Engineer will lead hardware embedded system development of data center platforms built on Qualcomm SoCs, from test platforms, R&D, accelerator / CPU cards to multi-card server systems and rack-level designs. These platforms serve as production products, reference designs, verification and validation systems, software and firmware development vehicles, and SoC test platforms.
The systems are high-power and high-density, with very high-speed interconnects. They include high-bandwidth memory (LPDDR/HBM/DDR5), PCIe Gen5/Gen6 and CXL, high-speed Ethernet scale-out fabrics (400G/800G), 112G+ SerDes, multi-phase power delivery at very high current, advanced thermal solutions including direct liquid cooling, and board management and security subsystems. The role works closely with server ODMs and Qualcomm's SoC, software and systems teams to deliver platforms and sys designs that perform, scale and are reliable in production.
• Lead hardware projects and design teams from architecture and requirements phases through design, validation, bring-up, system integration and production.
• Develop and drive advanced hardware design methodologies, design rules, implementation flows, validation strategies and engineering best practices.
• Lead system-level design optimization and resolution of complex electrical, optical, mechanical, compatibility, compliance, manufacturing and cost issues.
• Provide technical leadership for advanced analysis including signal integrity, power integrity, feasibility, characterization and hardware validation.
• Collaborate across diverse cross-functional teams including IC design, software, systems, test, Customer Engineering, manufacturing and operations to deliver high-quality production solutions.
• Coordinate design handoff to ODM and provide support for ODM design and production.
• Serve as a technical authority and mentor, providing design reviews, technical direction and guidance across multiple engineering teams and projects.
• Drive innovation, intellectual property, process improvement and future product capabilities by applying technical expertise
• Define platform architecture for performance, power, density and total cost of ownership, including memory subsystem topology, host and accelerator-to-accelerator interconnect, scale-up and scale-out networking, and power and thermal budgets.
• Lead design of high-current, low-voltage power delivery networks: multi-phase VRs. Drive power integrity analysis from board through package to die.
• Provide technical leadership for signal integrity on 112G/224G SerDes, PCIe Gen5/Gen6, CXL, Ethernet and high-speed memory interfaces, including channel modeling, pre- and post-layout simulation, and correlation with lab measurements.
• Develop and drive advanced hardware design methods, design rules, validation strategies, DFx and RAS (reliability, availability, serviceability) practices suited to 24x7 data center deployment.
• Lead hardware bring-up, characterization and debug of new AI SoCs and platforms; support SoC test and post-silicon validation; work with software and firmware teams to optimize inference workloads.
• Collaborate with SoC/IC design, packaging, software, ML systems, test, Customer Engineering, product management, supply chain, manufacturing and operations to deliver high-quality production solutions.
• Coordinate design handoff to server ODMs and contract manufacturers, and support ODM design, NPI and volume production.
• Track industry standards (OCP, PCI-SIG, CXL Consortium, UEC/UALink, DMTF) and apply technical expertise to drive innovation, intellectual property, process improvement and future product roadmaps.
Minimum Requirements
• Bachelor or Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or related field.
• 15+ years experience in Hardware Engineering related work experience. This would include areas such as digital or analog circuit design, schematic capture, circuit simulation, power/signal integrity simulation tools, lab/measurement/test equipment, and technical project leadership roles.
• Technical project leadership across the full hardware development lifecycle
• Lab measurement and test equipment (high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, VNA/TDR, BERT, power analyzers)
Preferred Qualifications
• Hands-on experience delivering AI/ML accelerator, GPU or high-performance compute cards or servers into data center production.
• Experience with PCIe Gen5/Gen6, CXL, 112G/224G PAM4 SerDes and high-speed Ethernet (400G/800G).
• Expertise in high-current power delivery (500A+ rails), 48V power architectures and VR design and validation.
• Experience with HBM, LPDDR5/5X or DDR5 memory subsystem design.
• Familiarity with OCP specifications (OAM, OCP NIC 3.0, DC-MHS, ORv3) and rack-scale system design.
Additional Information
This is a full-time onsite position based in San Diego, CA.
Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field and 8+ years of Hardware Engineering experience or related work experience.
OR
Master's degree in Engineering or related field and 7+ years of Hardware Engineering experience or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Engineering or related field and 6+ years of Hardware Engineering experience or related work experience.
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).
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Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits :
$192,400.00 - $288,600.00
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 .