Senior Software Engineer, Gaming AI Development at Qualcomm
San Diego, CA
$111,300–$166,900from the description
Jun 29, 2026
San Diego, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role sits within a gaming-focused engineering team and centers on building machine learning solutions for gaming applications, as well as adapting conventional game AI techniques to run on dedicated AI hardware within Snapdragon chipsets. The work is cross-functional, spanning hardware, software, and product teams across mobile, PC, and XR devices. It suits engineers with an ML or game development background who want to work at the intersection of AI and real-time gaming.
Mid level · 2+ years · San Diego, CA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 2,500 people in the San Diego, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 1,900–3,250
Applicant volume Heavy — This req sits in a large pool with little in its requirements to thin it, and auto-apply tools fire at everything in the occupation. Applying early and leading with the rare skills below is what gets read.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $163,270 (middle half $128,590–$193,980). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role sits at the intersection of game AI software development and ML/hardware optimization; 15-2051 (Data Scientists) is a plausible runner-up given the ML modeling focus, but the primary deliverable is shipping gaming AI software on Snapdragon hardware, making 15-1252 the better fit.
Location is not explicitly stated in the posting; San Diego, CA (Qualcomm's headquarters) is assumed as the most likely work location.
The minimum qualification accepts a BS + 2 years, MS + 1 year, or PhD with no experience — the lowest common denominator is 2 years, used for the overall years minimum. Degree requirement is set to Bachelor's as the minimum stated path.
Programming language requirement (C, C++, Java, Python, etc.) is listed as a hard gate with 2+ years; C++ is named as the primary skill with the others captured as alternatives, consistent with the gaming/systems context.
CUDA/OpenCL/DSPs appear under Preferred Qualifications and are listed as alternatives to one another within the hardware acceleration requirement.
Game engine familiarity (Unreal Engine, Unity, Frostbite, Snowdrop) and ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, QNN) and graphics APIs (Vulkan, OpenGL ES, DirectX) all appear only in the Keywords section or Preferred Qualifications — none are hard gates.
The pay range ($111,300–$166,900/year) is stated as a broad minimum-to-maximum scale for the job code and location, not a guaranteed offer range.
Read the full posting
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