Director - AI/ML Engineering

Company:Qualcomm India Private Limited
Job Area:Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what's possible to enable next-generation experiences and drives digital transformation to help create a smarter, connected future for all. As a Qualcomm Software Application Engineer, you will provide technical expertise of software systems through technical presentations in support of business development, product demonstrations, design and development of customer specific requirements, commercialization, and maintenance of Qualcomm products. Qualcomm Engineers collaborate with cross-functional teams and customers to address questions, issues, debugging, or troubleshooting regarding software systems and applications.

Summary:

Role Overview

We are seeking aDirector of AI/ML Engineeringto lead the commercialization ofproduction‑grade AI/ML and GenAI solutionsacrossautomotive and edge platforms. This role ownstechnical strategy, execution, and customer ownershipfor AI systems spanningLLMs, VLMs/LVMs, multimodal AI, and agentic frameworks, deployed onheterogeneous SoCs (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU)under strict performance, safety, and reliability constraints.

The Director will shape theAI roadmap, build and scalehigh‑performing teams, partner withproduct, silicon, and customer engineering, and ensure delivery ofdifferentiated, scalable AI capabilitiesacross infotainment, digital cockpit, ADAS, industrial, and connected‑edge use cases.

Job Title:

Director – AI/ML Engineering (Automotive & Edge AI)

Location:Bengaluru, India
Employment Type:Full‑time

Key Responsibilities

AI/ML Strategy & Platform Leadership

• Define and own theAI/ML technology roadmapaligned with business goals across automotive and edge AI platforms.
• Drive adoption ofLLMs, VLMs/LVMs, multimodal AI, and agentic AI systemsfor real‑world, safety‑critical deployments.
• Influenceplatform and silicon‑level decisionsby translating AI workload requirements into hardware and software capabilities.

Execution & Delivery

• Oversee end‑to‑end delivery ofAI systems from research to production, including model onboarding, optimization, validation, and lifecycle management.
• Ensureperformance, power, latency, memory, and accuracy targetsare met across heterogeneous compute (CPU/GPU/DSP/NPU).
• Establish best practices formodel optimization(quantization, compression, batching, KV‑cache tuning, mixed precision).

Team & Organizational Leadership

• Build, mentor, and scalemulti‑disciplinary AI/ML engineering teams(ML engineers, systems engineers, platform engineers).
• Set technical direction, define career growth paths, and uphold ahigh bar for engineering excellence.
• Foster a culture ofownership, accountability, and innovation.

Cross‑Functional & Executive Collaboration

• Partner closely withProduct Management, Silicon, SDK, Systems, Safety, and Customer Engineeringteams.
• Act as anexecutive technical voicein customer engagements, escalations, and roadmap discussions.
• Translate complex technical topics intoclear, actionable insightsfor senior leadership.

Safety, Quality & Compliance

• Ensure AI systems are designed withsafety‑first principles, including alignment withISO 26262, ASPICE, and functional‑safety expectations.
• Establish robustvalidation, observability, and governance frameworksfor AI behavior in production.

• Minimum Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 25+ years of industry experience in software engineering.
• 20+ years of people management experience, including managing managers or senior technical leads and customers.
• Strong background in AI/ML system design, not just model development.
• Hands‑on experience with ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, ONNX) and edge/embedded deployment.
• Proven ability to deliver large‑scale, production AI systems in complex environments.

​Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in AI/ML, Computer Science, or related field.
• Deep understanding of LLMs, VLMs/LVMs, multimodal and agentic AI architectures.
• Experience with automotive or industrial platforms, embedded Linux/QNX, and real‑time constraints.
• Familiarity with QNN‑like runtimes, inference SDKs, and heterogeneous acceleration.
• Strong customer‑facing experience, including executive‑level technical discussions.
• Track record of influencing product and platform roadmaps through technical leadership.
• Experience in software architecture and design patterns
• Knowledge of architectural approaches for large-scale software applications
• Previous customer-facing experience is advantageous
• Exposure to fine-tuning GenAI models and reinforcement learning considered a plus
• Expertise in inference accuracy, throughput optimization, and edge deployment highly desirable
• Lead system-level problem triage to identify root causes and communicate testing/debugging results to relevant stakeholders

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
Master's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 7+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience.
• 4+ years of work experience with Programming Language such as C, C++, Java, Python, etc.

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 disability-accomodations@qualcomm.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).

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