Staff Engineer, Device Drivers (San Diego or Boulder, CO)
$134,800 - $202,200 USD yearly
Originally posted 1 April 2026 by the employer.
Qualcomm CR&D is developing Linux device drivers targeting the AI 100 high-performance inference accelerator.
About the role
Qualcomm CR&D is seeking an engineer to develop Linux device drivers for Machine Learning use cases. The target platform is the Qualcomm high-performance inference accelerator AI 100 and related products.
What you'll do
- Develop code for Linux device drivers targeting the AI 100 inference accelerator and related products. - Support efforts to upstream Linux device driver code. - Implement low-level software in C, including testing and debugging. - Work within structured development workflows utilizing git for source code and configuration management.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field with 4+ years of software engineering experience (or Master's with 3+ years, or PhD with 2+ years). - Experience with Linux kernel driver development, kernel modules, HWMon, sysfs, and debugging techniques. - Experience with PCIe virtualization and SRIOV. - Experience with embedded development in C, and 2+ years of programming experience (C, C++, Java, Python, etc.). - Knowledge of RTOS and SoC architecture, including core, cache, memory, bus architecture, and IOs. - Experience with source code and configuration management tools, including git.
Nice to have
- 4 years of relevant experience. - Experience with the Linux kernel PCIe stack, high-speed interfaces such as PCIe and LPDDR, and high-reliability implementations such as ECC and PCI AER fields. - Experience working with SoC building blocks including interrupt controllers and timers. - Experience with kernel subsystems relevant to isolation and security. - Understanding of DMA, IOMMU, and device assignment in virtualized/isolated contexts. - Proficiency with virtualization, including KVM and guest/host split drivers. - Familiarity with functional simulation of SoC systems including bus subsystems, DMA, PCIe, semaphores, and low-speed peripherals.
Skills: Linux device driver, Machine Learning use cases, kernel driver development, SoC architecture, PCIe virtualization, KVM
This role has been open 200 days — well above the 126-day median for Embedded Firmware Engineering roles.
Embedded Firmware Engineering · Hardware Security
|
Open roles in category
26
|
Median days open
126 d
|
Median salary
—
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Qualcomm | All employers we track in this specialty (26 roles · 10 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 8 | 26 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 735 | 6250 · 144 employers |
| Median days open | 200 d | 126 d (+74 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | — |
Skills observed across this category: Linux device driver, Machine Learning use cases, kernel driver development, SoC architecture, PCIe virtualization, KVM
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm (this employer) · 8 open roles · median 199 d
- NVIDIA · 3 open roles · median 67 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 3 open roles · median 19 d
- STMicroelectronics · 3 open roles · median 39 d
- Alif Semiconductor · 2 open roles · median 121 d
- Ambiq Micro · 2 open roles · median 94 d
How we counted: 26 open Embedded Firmware Engineering (Hardware Security) roles from 10 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 25 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.
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