Software Engineer - Advanced Robotics Team - levels

About Qualcomm Robotics

Qualcomm Advanced Robotics Team is building the AI‑first stack and platform for the next generation general purpose robots – from AMRs and cobots to emerging humanoids by pairing heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU) with a full Robotics SDK and developer tooling for manipulation, perception, navigation, and fleet workflows. We are leveraging our success in automated driving, advanced AI end‑to‑end development, and safety architecture to accelerate growth in this emerging market.

As a Software Engineer you will be the senior technical developer for Qualcomm’s robotics software platform – defining the end‑to‑end architecture, raising the engineering bar across core middleware and services such as ROS2/DDS, and leading cross‑functional teams to deliver production‑grade SDKs and reference solutions that customers can take to market. You’ll combine deep systems expertise with hands‑on leadership across perception/SLAM, planning and control, real‑time Linux/MCU, and on‑device AI shipping robust software on Qualcomm robotics SoCs.

• Develop the software architecture for the Qualcomm Robotics platform interfaces, runtime, QoS, and safety envelopes across Linux plus MCU subsystems; drive DDS/ROS2 patterns for reliable, real‑time data flow on heterogeneous compute and map and optimize the system.
• Develop the platform roadmap and conduct technical design reviews across perception (VIO/SLAM, 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 and power budgets, and accelerator utilization for on‑device AI.
• Champion safety and reliability practices and interfaces compatible with relevant standards such as ISO 26262 or IEC 61508 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 and partners as the senior technical face of the platform, clarify requirements, guide integrations, and translate learnings into the roadmap.

• 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.

• Opportunity to shape the software heart of a rapidly scaling robotics portfolio used across industrial, commercial, and emerging humanoid form factors.
• Build on a mature developer ecosystem and ship at the edge, globally.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• Master’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 5+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• 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 languages such as C, C++, Java, or Python.

• 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 modern C++ and Python with production experience in ROS2 and DDS, including QoS, discovery, message design, and tracing.
• Depth in physical AI embedded and virtual platforms, SLAM, visual‑inertial odometry, dense or stereo depth, semantic mapping, planning, controls, or manipulation – demonstrable system‑level integration on embedded platforms.
• Strong background in Linux for robotics, real‑time…