Staff Product Manager, Robotics Software

Company:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Job Area:
Operations Group, Operations Group > Product Management

General Summary:

Directs a comprehensive product strategy from product conception and definition through end of life. Functions as a central resource with design, process, manufacturing, quality, test, marketing, and distribution as the product(s) and/or product line(s) move through their lifecycle. Formulates and executes long-term roadmaps for cost/profit control. Promotes use of new technologies and industry-leading trends. Directs those involved in the design, modification, and evaluation of all phases of a specific product or group of products. Involvement lasts throughout all stages of a product's lifecycle including modifications, upgrades, and maintenance of the product or product line.

Key responsibilities

• Key lead position for Qualcomm's Linux-based robotics platform strategy, including kernel variants, real-time Linux distributions, robotics-specific build systems, and OS-level abstractions required for deterministic robotics workloads.
• Lead open-source ecosystem engagement, especially with ROS/ROS 2, real-time Linux communities, robotics middleware, and upstream contributors to ensure alignment with industry trends and platform direction.
• Help drive the end-to-end Robotics Software Platform roadmap, covering perception, SLAM, mapping, planning, controls, heterogeneous compute orchestration, and real-time robotics middleware.
• Help drive platform architecture and API definitions across real-time compute, distributed robotics workloads, sensor fusion, AI/ML acceleration, and edge-to-cloud integration.
• Assist in shaping the long-term robotics architecture across Snapdragon platforms-spanning sensor interfaces, mission-critical compute, system determinism, real-time scheduling, containerization, and secure update mechanisms.
• Guide engineering execution across perception, autonomy, middleware, tools, and systems teams to deliver reliable, predictable platform releases across diverse robotic form factors.
• Transform customer, developer, and partner feedback into clear PRDs, KPIs, and launch criteria that shape the evolution of Qualcomm's robotics stack.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with hardware, SoC architecture, systems engineering, cloud services, BD/sales, and ecosystem partners to align platform delivery with customer and market needs.
• Deliver developer-ready assets including SDKs, samples, APIs, documentation, and tooling that accelerate adoption and reduce integration time.
• Represent Qualcomm externally to robotics OEMs, integrators, platform developers, and the global robotics community to drive alignment on roadmap and platform differentiators.

This is an office based position located in San Diego, CA and is expected to comply with the company's onsite work policy

Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, Humanities, or related field.
• 5+ years of Product Management or related work experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 8+ years of Product Management, Technical Product Ownership, or robotics/embedded/AI platform leadership.
• Deep technical understanding of Linux-based robotics systems, including real-time Linux (PREEMPT-RT or equivalent), kernel-level tuning, and robotics OS distributions.
• Strong background in robotics software stacks (perception, SLAM, mapping, planning, controls, middleware).
• Hands-on familiarity with heterogeneous compute architectures (CPU, GPU, DSP, NPU) and mapping robotics workloads onto complex SoCs.
• Demonstrated success driving large, cross-functional engineering programs and representing platform decisions to external customers.
• Experience with ROS/ROS 2, or similar robotics middleware frameworks.
• Ability to convert complex technical challenges into clear, actionable product requirements.
• Background in robotics, autonomous systems, industrial automation, mobile robotics, drones, AMRs/AGVs, or multi-sensor autonomous platforms.
• In-depth experience with open-source robotics ecosystems-ROS/ROS 2, Linux kernel development, Yocto-based builds, real-time Linux, and robotics DevOps pipelines.
• Understanding of perception pipelines, SLAM frameworks, real-time scheduling, AI inference optimization, and distributed robotics architectures.
• Experience defining SDKs, developer toolchains, debugging workflows, reference implementations, and platform documentation for robotics developers.
• Strong executive-level communication skills-capable of aligning engineering, partners, and customers around a unified robotics platform vision.

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 click.appcast.io 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).

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.

EEO Employer: Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or any other protected classification.

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.

Pay range and Other Compensation & Benefits :
$179,200.00 - $268,800.00

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 - and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link.

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