Staff Machine Learning Engineer – AI/ML Compiler - Santa Clara, California, United States of America
$160,500 - $240,700 USD yearly
Originally posted 10 August 2026 by the employer.
This role focuses on owning the infrastructure that powers model compilations for the Qualcomm AI Hub.
About the role
This role involves developing and maintaining the compilation pipeline for on-device AI models, specifically for the Qualcomm AI Hub. You will work with PyTorch and ONNX models targeting LiteRT, ONNXRuntime, or QAIRT on Snapdragon SoCs.
What you'll do
- Design, develop, and maintain the end-to-end compilation pipeline for Qualcomm AI Hub Workbench, from PyTorch and ONNX model ingestion through graph optimization to deployable artifacts.
- Build and maintain ONNX-based compilation paths using ONNX IR, including graph transformation passes, op validation, and opset compatibility handling.
- Build and maintain PyTorch compilation paths consuming torch.export output, including dynamic shapes, custom ops, and ATen IR decomposition.
- Contribute to the ONNXRuntime QNN execution provider, focusing on graph optimizations, graph partitioning, and op validation and lowerings.
- Build tooling to analyze, profile, and debug compilation failures, accuracy regressions, and performance degradations.
- Own compilation and validation of models published on Qualcomm AI Hub, ensuring correct conversion and verified performance across supported runtime targets.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience, OR Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 3+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience, OR PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 2+ years of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
- Industry experience in ML infrastructure, compiler engineering, or AI framework development.
- Proficient in Python and C.
- Solid understanding of ML compiler concepts (graph IRs, operator fusion, shape inference, lowering passes, backend partitioning).
- Hands-on experience with one or more compiler stacks such as MLIR, ONNX, or TVM.
- Experience with PyTorch model export (torch.export, torch.compile, FX, ATen IR) and on-device deployment frameworks such as LiteRT, ExecuTorch, or ONNXRuntime.
Nice to have
- Familiarity with SoC-level constraints (memory bandwidth, compute precision, NPU/DSP execution) and hardware-specific runtimes such as QAIRT/QNN.
- Experience building automated CI/CD pipelines for model compilation and validation at scale.
- Proficiency with git and software engineering best practices.
Skills: ML compiler, PyTorch, ONNX, graph optimization, NPU
This role has been open 67 days — well above the 57-day median for Infrastructure/Platform Software roles.
Infrastructure/Platform Software · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
99
|
Median days open
57 d
|
Median salary
$220k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Qualcomm | All employers we track in this specialty (99 roles · 29 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 22 | 99 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 705 | 6114 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 55 d | 57 d (−2 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $220k |
Skills observed across this category: ML compiler, PyTorch, ONNX, graph optimization, NPU
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm (this employer) · 22 open roles · median 54 d
- NVIDIA · 19 open roles · median 54 d
- AMD · 7 open roles · median 46 d
- Intel Corporation · 7 open roles · median 24 d
- Micron Technology · 6 open roles · median 40 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 5 open roles · median 45 d
How we counted: 99 open Infrastructure/Platform Software (AI ML Hardware) roles from 29 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 17 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.