Qualcomm

Qualcomm

Designs, manufactures, and licenses wireless semiconductors

Wireless Software Engineer - Modem Technologies Software

Full-Time
$103k - $154.6k/yr

+ Annual discretionary bonus + Annual RSU grants

Mid
Bachelor's
Boulder, CO, USA
In Person
No H1B Sponsorship

About the job

Requirements
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
Responsibilities
  • Design, implement, and optimize real-time embedded modem software across protocol layers, drivers, and platform services while meeting strict latency, memory, and power constraints.
  • Apply data-structure and algorithm design to build efficient, scalable firmware components.
  • Own end-to-end feature delivery, including requirements, architecture, implementation, unit and integration testing, on-target bring-up, and maintenance.
  • Pioneer AI-native development practices by integrating AI coding agents into daily workflows, establishing agent rules and prompt patterns, and reducing development and debug cycle time.
  • Build and maintain AI-assisted tooling for code review, static analysis, test synthesis, and automated crash and log triage over the modem codebase.
  • Debug and root-cause complex, multi-layer issues on target hardware using AI-assisted analysis of logs, traces, and RAM dumps.
  • Collaborate with systems, hardware, test, and integration teams to deliver production-quality modem firmware.
  • Contribute to code reviews, design reviews, and continuous improvement of engineering standards, including standards for responsible and effective AI use in the software development lifecycle.
  • Mentor peers on embedded fundamentals and AI-native engineering techniques.
Desired Qualifications
  • Strong command of data structures and algorithms, including time and space complexity in memory- and cycle-constrained environments.
  • Deep understanding of operating systems concepts, including scheduling, concurrency, interrupts, memory management, interprocess communication, real-time constraints, and real-time operating system internals such as QuRT, ThreadX, FreeRTOS, or similar.
  • Programming proficiency in modern C and C++, including C++17 and beyond, performance optimization, cache-aware design, and lock-free or thread-safe patterns.
  • Experience with embedded software on digital signal processor and Arm architectures, including SIMD/vectorization, DMA, and low-power design.
  • Experience debugging on target hardware using JTAG, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, crash-dump or RAM-dump analysis, and log parsing.
  • Familiarity with device drivers, hardware abstraction layers, boot flows, and hardware/software co-design.
  • Experience using AI coding assistants and agentic tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cline, and Claude/GPT-based agents to generate, refactor, and review embedded C/C++ at scale.
  • Ability to build and maintain AI-augmented developer workflows, including prompt libraries, agent rules, retrieval-augmented context over large firmware codebases, and MCP-style tool integrations.
  • Experience applying large language models to crash triage, log summarization, root-cause analysis, and automated defect classification in complex embedded systems.
  • Interest in AI-assisted test generation and verification, including unit and integration test synthesis, fuzzing harnesses, and coverage-driven test expansion for modem software.
  • Ability to critically evaluate AI output, validate generated code against timing and memory budgets, and enforce safety and correctness in real-time firmware.
  • Experience fine-tuning models, prompt engineering, or building tooling around code models; familiarity with embedding and vector search over source repositories.

About the company

Qualcomm designs and licenses semiconductor technologies for wireless connectivity used in mobile devices, cars, and IoT. Its products include system-on-chips and RF components, plus a large portfolio of patents that it licenses to other companies. The company combines end-to-end semiconductor design with IP licensing to serve mobile, automotive, and IoT markets. Its goal is to expand wireless technology adoption by delivering standards-based silicon solutions and monetizing its intellectual property to support ongoing connectivity innovation.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

San Diego, California

Founded

1985

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Qualcomm's Q3 2026 revenue hit $9.9 billion, with automotive up 61% year-over-year.
  • Chinese handset revenues bottomed in Q3 2026, then management expects double-digit sequential growth.
  • Lumentum's ECOC 2026 optical demo spotlights Qualcomm in future AI data-center interconnects.

What critics are saying

  • Apple still plans proprietary modems, shrinking Qualcomm's handset attach rate after 2027.
  • Qualcomm disclosed 143 California WARN layoffs in 2026, signaling ongoing cost pressure.
  • Apple exits modems and weakens QTL, forcing Qualcomm into commodity Android dependence.

What makes Qualcomm unique

  • Qualcomm's renewed Apple patent license begins April 1, 2027, preserving royalty leverage.
  • Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 runs 30-billion-parameter models on-device with TSMC 2nm.
  • PickNik's MoveIt acquisition ties Qualcomm to robotics developers across Dragonwing and Arduino.

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Benefits

Premium-free health coverage

Onsite health & fitness centers

Retirement programs

Disability & life insurance programs

Tuition reimbursement

Product discounts

Flexible time off

Parental leave

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

↑ 2%

1 year growth

↑ 1%

2 year growth

↑ 0%
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Qualcomm has renewed its global patent licence agreement with Apple, extending their licensing relationship. The renewed agreement takes effect on 1 April 2027, though Qualcomm did not disclose its duration or financial terms. The companies' previous global patent licence agreement began on 1 April 2019 for six years and included an option for Apple to extend it by another two years. Separately, Qualcomm unveiled two new flagship Snapdragon mobile platforms designed around on-device agentic AI experiences. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 are positioned for personalised on-device AI agents. Meta's newly announced VR Glasses run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite processor and are slated to launch in spring 2027 for $1,299.99.

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Lumentum partners with Corning and Qualcomm on AI optical tech demo, stock up 155% YTD

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Yahoo Finance
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Qualcomm unveils two new Snapdragon chips targeting on-device agentic AI for smartphones

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MarketScreener
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Qualcomm to acquire PickNik Robotics to advance open-source physical AI ecosystem

Qualcomm Technologies has announced an agreement to acquire PickNik, a robotics software company and steward of MoveIt, one of the world's most widely adopted open-source robotics manipulation frameworks. The acquisition aims to strengthen Qualcomm's commitment to fostering an open robotics ecosystem. MoveIt will remain open-source and is expected to offer streamlined integration with Qualcomm's Dragonwing robotics platforms and Arduino platforms. This integration is designed to enable developers to more easily leverage edge AI and heterogeneous computing for building intelligent robots. Qualcomm intends to continue supporting MoveIt across third-party hardware platforms whilst maintaining its community-driven development approach. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

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Qualcomm unveils 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 AI chip for premium Android phones

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