CPU Software & Hardware Co-Design Engineer (ML Systems)

Company:

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what's possible to enable next-generation experiences and drives digital transformation to help create a smarter, connected future for all. As a Qualcomm Software Engineer, you will design, develop, create, modify, and validate embedded and cloud edge software, applications, and/or specialized utility programs that launch cutting-edge, world class products that meet and exceed customer needs. Qualcomm Software Engineers collaborate with systems, hardware, architecture, test engineers, and other teams to design system-level software solutions and obtain information on performance requirements and interfaces.

Role Overview

We are building a high-impact team at the intersection of CPU architecture, machine learning workloads, and system-level performance optimization. This role focuses on CPU software–hardware co-design for next-generation QMX architectures, including workload characterization, simulation, kernel optimization, and driving architectural insights for future CPU designs. The ideal candidate will work across the full stack—from ML models to low-level kernels to architectural feedback—enabling efficient execution of ML workloads on CPU platforms.

Key Responsibilities

1. ML Workload Identification & Characterization

• Identify and prioritize critical ML use cases and models for CPU-centric execution (LLMs, vision, speech, recommender systems, etc.)
• Analyze workload characteristics including:Compute intensityMemory bandwidth and cache behaviorParallelism and dataflow patterns

2. Simulation & Trace Generation

• Generate detailed execution traces for ML workloads using QEMU or equivalent simulators
• Develop tooling to:Capture instruction-level execution behaviorExtract performance counters and bottlenecks
• Enable accurate modeling of workload behavior for architectural exploration

3. Bottleneck Analysis & Performance Optimization

• Identify system bottlenecks across:CPU pipelinesMemory hierarchyInstruction utilization
• Optimize critical hotspots through:Kernel-level tuningAlgorithmic improvementsData layout and memory optimizations
• Drive measurable improvements in workload performance

4. Software–Hardware Co-Design

• Collaborate with CPU architecture and design teams to:Provide data-driven insights from real workloadsIdentify inefficiencies and propose architectural enhancements
• Influence next-generation CPU features in:Compute unitsVector/SIMD extensions (e.g., QMX)Memory subsystems

5. ML Kernel & Library Development (QMX Focus)

• Design and implement highly optimized ML kernels and libraries for QMX architecture
• Develop kernels for:GEMM, convolution, attention, activation functions, etc.
• Enable integration with:Open-source ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, ONNX, XNNPACK, MLAS)
• Apply advanced optimizations:SIMD/vectorizationCache-aware executionParallel execution strategies

6. Benchmarking & Performance Engineering

• Optimize CPU-centric ML benchmarks such as:Geekbench AIInternal benchmarking suites
• Establish performance baselines and track improvements across hardware generations
• Perform competitive analysis and performance positioning

Required Qualifications

• Strong background in:Computer Architecture / Systems ProgrammingMachine Learning fundamentals
• Proficiency in:C/C++ (mandatory)
• Experience with:Performance profiling, benchmarking, and optimization

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with:QEMU or equivalent simulatorsML kernel development (GEMM, convolution, attention)
• Knowledge of:CPU architecture (pipelines, caching, SIMD/vector extensions such as NEON, SVE, QMX)
• Familiarity with:ML frameworks and inference stacks
• Experience with low-level optimization:Intrinsics, assembly, memory and cache tuning

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.

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 rangeand Other Compensation & Benefits:

$177,300.00 - $265,900.00

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 thislink.

If you would like more information about this role, please contactQualcomm Careers.

Originally posted on Himalayas