XR - Principal Software Engineer at Qualcomm
San Diego, CA
$192,600–$289,000from the description
Aug 9, 2026
San Diego, CA
Nov 8, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A Principal Engineer role within Qualcomm's XR Software organization, focused on architecting and developing platform software for AR, VR, Mixed Reality, and wearable computing products built on Snapdragon. The position spans OS/middleware, embedded software, graphics, AI/ML, and computer vision, requiring both deep technical leadership and cross-functional collaboration with hardware, product, and customer teams to ship commercial XR products.
Senior level · 8+ years · Bachelor's required · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Senior.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
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
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). 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 Aug 11, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (6)
The posting's minimum qualifications offer three degree/experience tiers: BS + 8 years, MS + 7 years, or PhD + 6 years. The degree requirement field reflects the lowest-barrier path (Bachelor's), and the overall years minimum reflects the corresponding 8-year minimum.
The 4+ years of programming language experience is stated as a separate minimum qualification; C++ is listed as the primary language with strong proficiency required, while C, Java, and Python are named as acceptable alternatives in that same requirement.
Android and Linux are presented as interchangeable ('and/or') embedded platform requirements under Required Qualifications.
The role title is 'Principal Engineer' but the scope and experience requirements (8+ years, single-product-area ownership) are consistent with a Senior individual contributor rather than a true org-wide Principal; seniority is assessed accordingly.
Heterogeneous computing (CPUs, GPUs, DSPs, AI accelerators) is called out as a required experience area but names no specific product or tool, so it is not emitted as a discrete skill per the schema rules.
XR/AR/VR/MR platform experience, smart glasses, and wearable devices appear only under Preferred Qualifications.
Read the full posting
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