Senior Staff Software Engineer at Qualcomm
Santa Clara, CA
$185,900–$278,900from the description
Jul 1, 2026
Santa Clara, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior individual-contributor role focused on building and extending machine learning frameworks, hardware co-design, and optimized software (kernels, compilers, model-efficiency tools) that deploy AI models across mobile, edge, automotive, and IoT products. The position involves leading technical development of novel ML architectures, guiding other engineers, and working closely with hardware teams. It suits experienced ML engineers with a strong background in embedded systems, ML frameworks, and low-level OS/hardware interaction.
Senior level · 6+ 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 480 people in the San Diego, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (data scientists). range 360–630
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 $130,990 (middle half $93,420–$164,160). 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 (6)
The job title is 'Machine Learning Engineer' with no explicit seniority level in the title; the title states no level. However, the minimum qualifications (6+ years with a Bachelor's, 5+ with a Master's, 4+ with a PhD), the level-of-responsibility language (significant decision-making, influence over key organizational decisions, technical leadership), and the duties (leading development, overseeing others, novel ML architecture) all support a Senior classification.
The role sits at the boundary between Data Scientist (15-2051) and Software Developer (15-1252): it involves ML modeling and research but also heavily emphasizes building frameworks, kernels, compiler tools, and hardware co-design. 15-2051 was chosen as primary given the ML-centric framing; 15-1252 is a strong runner-up.
All preferred qualifications (ML frameworks, OS/hardware interaction, embedded systems, programming languages, statistics) are listed under 'Preferred Qualifications' and are therefore marked as preferred, not required.
The minimum qualifications specify a degree requirement but allow equivalent experience substitution via the tiered Bachelor's/Master's/PhD structure — the minimum hard gate is a Bachelor's degree.
No work location is explicitly stated in the posting; San Diego, CA (Qualcomm's headquarters) is inferred as the most likely location.
Compensation includes an annual discretionary bonus and RSU grants in addition to the stated base pay range.
Read the full posting
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