Senior Staff Engineer - Core Platform Storage
Qualcomm · Posted Sep 22
Semiconductor, 5G wireless technology, mobile platform, and AI computing solutions
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About the role
Qualcomm's Engineering Group (Software Engineering) is seeking a Senior Staff Engineer to provide technical leadership in the Core Platform Storage domain. The role involves driving architecture, design, development, and enablement of storage software across multiple Qualcomm chipsets and operating systems, spanning UFS3/4/5, eMMC, NVMe, NAND, SPI-NOR, and SD/SDIO technologies. The ideal candidate combines deep hands-on expertise with system-level thinking, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to influence platform-wide storage direction.
What you will do
- Drive storage software architecture and design across next‑generation Qualcomm multiprocessor chipsets.
- Work closely with Product Management and Program Management to define new feature requirements, scope deliverables, and drive key performance metrics.
- Lead innovation in storage architectures across UFS3/4/5, eMMC, NVMe, NAND, SPI‑NOR, SD/SDIO, and related technologies.
- Provide technical guidance on performance, scalability, reliability, and power optimization across storage subsystems.
- Influence system‑level design decisions spanning hardware, firmware, and software.
- Design, develop, and support device drivers and storage frameworks across multiple operating systems including Linux, Windows, and RTOS.
- Own and contribute to Linux kernel storage subsystems, including block I/O path, schedulers, memory management interactions, and DMA.
- Design and develop file systems, flash management layers, and storage utilities for embedded and external storage devices.
- Develop and maintain complex data structures and flash algorithms to optimize storage performance and endurance.
- Drive Linux upstream and open‑source contributions (Linux, UEFI, Zephyr), ensuring long‑term maintainability and standards compliance.
- Lead failure triage, root‑cause analysis, and system‑level debugging across platforms.
- Leverage kernel debugging tools such as debugfs, ftrace, blktrace, and other instrumentation frameworks.
- Ensure high software quality across the full software development life cycle, from requirements and design through commercialization and post‑launch support.
- Collaborate closely with hardware designers, validation teams, customer engineering, and dependent software teams.
- Act as a technical point of contact for internal and external stakeholders on storage‑related features and issues.
- Support customer enablement and issue resolution for complex storage use cases.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to a team of engineers.
- Support people management activities (for ~5–6 engineers); prior experience leading larger teams is a strong plus.
- Drive project planning, task breakdown, estimation, prioritization, and execution tracking.
- Ensure delivery predictability, quality, and risk mitigation across projects.
Skills used in this role
What the employer is looking for
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in ECE, EEE, CSE, or a related field.
- 12–14 years of experience in embedded systems and device driver development.
- Strong hands‑on experience with storage technologies, including:
- UFS, eMMC, SD/SDIO
- NAND, SPI‑NOR
- NVMe, SDXpress
- Deep expertise in embedded C programming, including:
- Data structures and algorithms
- System‑level programming (file handling, multithreading, synchronization)
- Strong experience with OS kernel and device driver development (Linux / Windows / RTOS).
- Solid understanding of:
- Storage software stacks and block I/O path
- Page cache, buffer cache, virtual memory
- MMU and DMA concepts
- Hands‑on experience with Linux Block Subsystem and I/O schedulers
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.
- Recognized technical expert in storage software and architecture.
- Drives platform‑level impact across multiple products and teams.
- Operates effectively in high‑ambiguity problem spaces with minimal direction.
- Influences technical direction beyond immediate team boundaries.
- Acts as a technical multiplier through mentorship and architectural leadership
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. OR Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 5+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. OR 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 Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience contributing to or working closely with Linux upstream, UEFI, or Zephyr communities.
- Experience with real‑time and embedded operating systems, including Zephyr RTOS.
- Exposure to multi‑SoC platform enablement and customer‑facing storage issues.
- Prior people leadership or mentoring experience at Staff/Senior Staff level.
Benefits and support
- Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer.
- If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process.
- Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process.
- Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities.
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm is a global leader in the development and commercialization of foundational technologies for the wireless industry, including mobile processors, 5G, and on-device artificial intelligence. The company designs and markets digital communications products, semiconductor solutions, and system software used globally across smartphones, automotive solutions, IoT devices, and computing systems. Through extensive R&D and intellectual property licensing, Qualcomm powers a highly interconnected and smarter world.
- Industry
- Semiconductors
- Company size
- 50000+ employees
- Founded
- 1985
- Location
- San Diego, California, USA
- Funding stage
- Public Company
Funding
Public Company · $53M raised
- 2018-11-01Grant
Leadership
President and Chief Executive Officer
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
James H. Thompson
Chief Technology Officer
Chief Marketing Officer
Ann Chaplin
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
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