System Validation Lead (Premium Mobile Platforms) - San Diego, California, United States of America
$174,400 - $261,600 USD yearly
Originally posted 5 October 2026 by the employer.
This role focuses on content quality, validation frameworks, and system-level validation enablement for Premium mobile and AI accelerator platforms.
About the role
What you'll do
- Define and drive system-level validation strategy for complex SoC programs.
- Develop comprehensive validation plans spanning pre-silicon and post-silicon phases.
- Own end-to-end content strategy, roadmap, execution, readiness reviews, and delivery milestones.
- Lead debug of complex silicon, emulation, firmware, and software issues.
- Drive root-cause analysis and corrective action plans for critical product issues.
- Drive cross-functional execution across multiple global sites.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
- 8 years of experience in SoC validation, bring-up, architecture validation, firmware, or system software.
- Strong understanding of modern SoC architectures including CPUs (ARM architectures), Memory subsystems (DDR/HBM/LLCC), Interconnects and NoC, Power management systems, Security and virtualization architectures, and Peripheral subsystems.
- Proven experience with pre-silicon and post-silicon validation.
- Strong debugging and root-cause analysis skills.
- Demonstrated technical leadership across geographically distributed teams.
Nice to have
- Experience leading validation for flagship mobile, compute, AI, automotive, or server-class SoCs.
- Expertise in system-level content development and validation frameworks.
- Experience with emulation environments.
- Knowledge of performance, power, reliability, and production-screening methodologies.
- Experience leveraging automation, analytics, and AI-based engineering productivity solutions.
- Track record of driving large cross-functional programs from concept to production.
Skills: system validation, pre-silicon, post-silicon, SoC architectures, debug, AI accelerator platforms
This role has been open 3 days — well below the 41-day median for Post-Silicon Validation roles.
Post-Silicon Validation · Silicon Validation
|
Open roles in category
401
|
Median days open
41 d
|
Median salary
$174k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Qualcomm | All employers we track in this specialty (401 roles · 63 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 34 | 401 |
| Open roles in the wider Silicon Validation & Test family | 132 | 2199 · 111 employers |
| Median days open | 26 d | 41 d (−15 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $174k |
Skills observed across this category: system validation, pre-silicon, post-silicon, SoC architectures, debug, AI accelerator platforms
Who's hiring in this category
- AMD · 56 open roles · median 51 d
- Micron Technology · 41 open roles · median 35 d
- Qualcomm (this employer) · 33 open roles · median 28 d
- Graphcore · 22 open roles · median 113 d
- NVIDIA · 21 open roles · median 28 d
- Microchip Technology · 20 open roles · median 66 d
How we counted: 401 open Post-Silicon Validation (Silicon Validation) roles from 63 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 9 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 Silicon Validation & Test family row. Figures refresh nightly.