Senior Research Engineer, Machine Learning Systems

Company: Qualcomm Canada ULC

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Machine Learning Engineering

General Summary:

As a member of Low Power AI solution team, you will play a critical role at deploying AI models on Qualcomm's low power AI accelerator. The position focuses on mapping high level machine learning operators to low level hardware instructions, involving various optimization techniques: graph transformation, scheduling, memory planning, individual operator implementation, quantization, etc. Your expertise at machine learning is expected to enhance inference efficiency and accuracy of different models on Qualcomm's hardware architecture. New Position.

Key Responsibilities

• Explore and prototype novel or emerging ML model architectures optimized for on-device, low-power inference, including vision, audio, and multimodal workloads.
• Drive model–hardware co-design by aligning architectural choices, operators, dataflows, and memory behavior with Qualcomm’s low-power AI accelerators.
• Design, evaluate, and refine quantization, mixed-precision, sparsity, and compression techniques, with careful analysis of accuracy–performance–power trade-offs.
• Develop and optimize computational graphs, including operator fusion, scheduling strategies, and memory-aware execution.
• Conduct rigorous performance and accuracy investigations using profiling tools, hardware counters, and targeted experiments.
• Collaborate closely with compiler, runtime, and hardware teams to convert exploratory prototypes into production-viable execution paths.
• Influence future accelerator features, compiler capabilities, and deployment strategies through technical insights and experimental results.

Required Skills & Experience:

• Strong track record in machine learning research or advanced applied ML development, with demonstrated focus on inference efficiency.
• Deep understanding of ML model architecture, operator behavior, and inference-time performance characteristics.
• Hands-on experience with quantization and reduced-precision inference (e.g., INT8/INT4, FP8/FP4, mixed precision, PTQ/QAT).
• Proven ability to prototype, analyze, and iterate on ideas under strict compute, memory, and power constraints.
• Proficiency in Python and C/C++, with comfort working across modeling, systems, and low-level execution layers.
• Strong background in computer architecture and hardware-aware optimization, particularly for AI accelerators.
• Ability to reason about computational graphs, tensor layouts, and memory movement at a detailed level.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, and 1+ year of experience in Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related area; OR PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field 
• Experience targeting or co-designing for custom accelerators, NPUs, DSPs, or GPUs.
• Familiarity with compiler-assisted ML optimization, graph transformations, or operator scheduling.
• Experience with multimodal or sensor-driven models.
• Evidence of technical leadership, such as driving complex investigations, publishing, patenting, or shaping internal technical direction.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous, research-heavy problem spaces with minimal upfront specification.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field and 2+ 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 1+ year of Hardware Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.

Applicants : Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail  View email address on jobs.jobcopilot.com or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found  here . Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).

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.

To all Staffing and Recruiting Agencies :   Our Careers Site is only for individuals seeking a job at Qualcomm. Staffing and recruiting agencies and individuals being represented by an agency are not authorized to use this site or to submit profiles, applications or resumes, and any such submissions will be considered unsolicited. Qualcomm does not accept unsolicited resumes or applications from agencies. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Qualcomm employees or any other company location. Qualcomm is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/applications.

Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits:

$114,400.00 - $164,400.00

The above pay scale reflects the broad, minimum to maximum, pay scale for this job code for the location for which it has been posted. Even more importantly, please note that salary is only one component of total compensation at Qualcomm. We also offer a competitive annual discretionary bonus program and opportunity for annual RSU grants (employees on sales-incentive plans are not eligible for our annual bonus). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer.

If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers .