Staff Firmware Engineer - SDR/5G/6G Modem, Modem Technologies

Company:

Qualcomm Israel Ltd.

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Modem Technologies

General Summary:

About the Role

We are looking for a Staff Firmware Engineer to join our Modem Firmware team.

The team is responsible for the control, scheduling, and coordination firmware at the heart of the cellular modem, driving interactions between protocol layers, PHY, RF, hardware, and real-time execution environments.

In this role, you will design and develop timing-critical, real-time firmware that directly impacts modem performance, stability, and power efficiency. You will work on complex modem features from architecture and design through implementation, integration, debugging, and commercialization.

As a senior technical leader within the team, you will also lead a small group of engineers, providing technical direction, coordinating development activities, mentoring team members, and driving the execution and delivery of key modem features, while remaining actively involved in hands-on firmware development.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement cellular modem firmware, including control flows, scheduling, RF control, and state machines.
• Translate system and 3GPP requirements into robust firmware architecture, design, and implementation.
• Develop modem features for SDR, 5G NR, LTE, multi-RAT operation, and emerging 6G technologies.
• Design and optimize latency-sensitive firmware under strict real-time timing, memory, performance, and power constraints.
• Work closely with modem systems, PHY, RF, and hardware teams to define and integrate end-to-end solutions.
• Lead and coordinate the technical work of a small group of engineers, including task planning, technical guidance, mentoring, and execution follow-up.
• Drive technical decisions and ensure alignment across engineers and partner teams.
• Debug and perform root-cause analysis of complex cross-layer issues involving firmware, hardware, RF, and system interactions.
• Drive features through architecture, implementation, bring-up, integration, validation, and commercialization on new modem platforms.
• Provide technical leadership through architecture and design reviews, code reviews, mentoring, and complex technical problem-solving.
• Take ownership of feature execution and delivery, ensuring high-quality solutions are delivered according to project requirements and schedules.

Required Qualifications

• B.Sc. in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent.
• Strong programming skills in C.
• 5+ years of experience in embedded systems or firmware development.
• Strong understanding of real-time embedded systems, including interrupts, concurrency, synchronization, memory and cache behavior, and low-level control logic.
• Proven debugging and root-cause analysis skills across complex hardware/software systems.
• Ability to translate system-level requirements into firmware architecture, design, and implementation.
• Demonstrated ability to technically lead, mentor, and guide engineers while remaining hands-on in design, implementation, integration, and debugging.
• Self-starter with demonstrated initiative, ownership, and technical leadership.
• Demonstrated commitment to delivering high-quality solutions in a fast-paced engineering environment.
• Excellent collaboration and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Strong verbal and written English communication skills.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field and 5+ years of Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.

OR

• Master's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field and 4+ years of Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing real-time firmware for DSP, MCU, or heterogeneous SoC architectures.
• Experience using AI-assisted software development tools such as Claude Code, codex , or equivalent tools to improve development productivity and code quality.
• Experience with cellular modem firmware development.
• Previous experience leading or technically coordinating a small engineering team.
• Experience with modem-to-RF control, RF management, or timing-critical RF control loops.
• Experience with system firmware, scheduler design, control logic, or control-plane implementation.
• Experience interpreting 3GPP specifications and translating requirements into modem software or firmware implementations.
• Experience working close to hardware, including registers, interrupts, DMA, timers, memory, and cache.
• Experience with memory-constrained, compute-intensive, and performance-critical embedded systems.
• Semiconductor industry experience involving real-time embedded development, SoC platforms, or silicon bring-up.
• Proven experience debugging complex hardware/firmware interactions and driving issues from investigation through root-cause identification and resolution.
• Experience with lab and debugging equipment such as protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, probes, or similar tools.

Experience Statement

References to a particular number of years of experience are for indicative purposes only. Applications from candidates with equivalent experience will be considered, provided that the candidate can demonstrate an ability to fulfill the principal duties of the role and possesses the required competencies.

Minimum Qualifications:

•    Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field and 4+ years of Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
OR
Master's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field and 3+ years of Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field and 2+ years of Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.

*References to a particular number of years experience are for indicative purposes only. Applications from candidates with equivalent experience will be considered, provided that the candidate can demonstrate an ability to fulfill the principal duties of the role and possesses the required competencies.

Qualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.

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