#Software Engineer - WLAN at Qualcomm
Santa Clara, CA
$111,300–$166,900from the description
Jul 14, 2026
Santa Clara, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A hands-on firmware engineering role focused on WLAN HAL-PHY development for next-generation chipsets, including 802.11be and beyond. The work involves writing and owning low-level C/C++ firmware for resource-constrained embedded processors, leading architecture decisions, supporting silicon bring-up, and diagnosing complex RF and system performance issues. The team integrates AI coding assistants and LLM-based toolchains into daily firmware development workflows, and engineers are expected to use and help refine those tools.
Senior level · 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 250 people in the San Diego, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 110–380
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
What the occupation pays Median $166,860 (middle half $131,418–$198,246). 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 job title is simply 'Software Engineer' with no level modifier, so advertised seniority is Unspecified. However, the role description clearly expects deep hands-on technical expertise, architectural ownership, mentorship of junior/mid engineers, and independent problem ownership — all hallmarks of a Senior-level role. The stated experience encouragement ('up to 7 years') and the $111K–$167K pay band are also consistent with Senior.
The Preferred Qualifications section lists '2+ years of experience with Database Management Software' and '2+ years of experience with API' — these appear to be boilerplate Qualcomm template fields that are incongruous with the actual firmware/WLAN role described in the body of the posting. They have been omitted from the skills list as they do not reflect genuine requirements for this role.
AI coding assistants (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor) and LLM-based workflows are described in the responsibilities as active daily requirements ('expected to use… as part of their daily development loop'), so they are treated as hard gates despite being novel tooling. MCP server toolchains are listed in the 'What you'll use' narrative section rather than a formal requirements block, so they are treated as preferred.
Git/Perforce appears only in the Preferred Qualifications section with a 1-year minimum, so it is treated as preferred.
The posting does not specify a city, but Qualcomm Atheros is headquartered in San Diego, CA, and the role is on-site firmware/lab work — San Diego CBSA is the best inference.
No immigration sponsorship is available for this role, as explicitly stated.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): embedded firmware development.
Read the full posting
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