Senior Staff Engineer Jobs in San Diego, CA
Senior Staff Engineer jobs in San Diego are actively hiring across Sorrento Valley, Torrey Pines, and downtown's Little Italy tech corridor, with strong demand in defense technology, biotech, and software infrastructure. Employers actively posting roles include Qualcomm, Shield AI, and Dexcom. Scan the live roles below and apply to whichever ones fit.
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Company:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.Job Area:
Engineering Group, Engineering Group > PPT Systems EngineeringGeneral 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 Systems Engineering Team member you will research, design, develop, simulate, and/or validate systems-level software, hardware, architecture, algorithms, and solutions that enables the development of cutting-edge technology. Qualcomm Systems Engineers collaborate across functional teams to meet and exceed system-level requirements and standards.
Qualcomm's System Performance Team is responsible for optimizing and validating performance for Qualcomm Snapdragon Chipsets across all business units such as Server, Mobile, and Compute, Automotive, and IOT.
In the role of System Performance Engineering Lead, you will lead collaboration with software, hardware, and architecture teams to optimize power, performance, and thermal behavior of the system, primarily focused on Qualcomm's business unit needs. You will leverage your advanced systems knowledge and experience to research, simulate, and validate performance and ensure product thermal and electrical requirements are met. You will be responsible for leading activities to achieve engineering excellence across multiple projects.
Key Responsibilities
- Identify sustained and transient thermal and electrical requirements and lead investigations around limits management hardware architectures and protection mechanisms
- Define and develop next generation thermal and limits management strategies for Qualcomm products, with a priority on server business unit needs
- Define and conduct thermal and limit systems testing and validation on silicon and system-level platforms
- Work closely with power and performance teams to optimize thermal and power trade-offs
- Define and document thermal, performance and power analysis plans and updates for system use-cases across multiple workloads (CPU, GPU, AI/ML) as well as concurrent scenarios
- Identify areas of performance optimization in the SoC for both Software and Hardware architectures
- Direct triage of complex performance issues to determine root-cause and present results to internal and external stakeholders
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams (product management, hardware, and software engineering, etc.) to implement optimal power, performance, and thermal solutions.
- Provide technical management, mentor and guide engineers to successfully execute multiple programs.
- Plan tasks, prioritize activities and track progress.
- Define and develop automation and leverage generative AI tools for the team to operate more efficiently
- Prepare clear and concise reports and recommendations for product teams up to senior executives to help drive business decisions and next generation architecture choices
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Computer Engineering
- 10+ years of practical post-silicon experience of power and performance analysis of complex SoCs
- Strong communication and collaboration skills.
- Self-starter and able to work independently.
- Experience with industry power and performance benchmarks along with system interaction and dependencies
- Working experience in computer hardware and architecture
- Experience working with server thermal and/or electrical requirements
- Understanding of memory hierarchy, and system interconnects
- Understanding of ARM SoC concepts and architecture specifications like SMMU, GIC, Coresight-PMU, and various bus interface protocols
- Knowledge and experience in ARM v8 and v9 specifications
- Understanding of system power/performance analysis tools and techniques
- Knowledge of SW Power management stacks and scheduler behavior
- Strong programming and scripting skills (Python, C/C++)
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).
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 :
$186,700.00 - $280,100.00The 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 .
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Find Senior Staff Engineer JobsSenior Staff Engineer Job Market in San Diego
Who's Hiring
- Qualcomm199

- Shield AI120

- Dexcom32

- Murata America32M
- Northrop Grumman32

Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software72
- Telecommunications64
- Electronics & Hardware64
- Medical Devices16
- Aerospace & Defense16
Senior Staff Engineer Jobs in San Diego: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a senior staff engineer job in San Diego?
Focus your search on San Diego's defense and aerospace contractors clustered around Miramar and Kearny Mesa, the biotech and life sciences firms concentrated in Torrey Pines and Sorrento Valley, and the software and cloud infrastructure companies based downtown and in Carmel Valley. Candidates who combine deep systems or platform engineering experience with cross-functional leadership stand out most in this market, as San Diego employers consistently prioritize engineers who can own architecture decisions end-to-end.
Which companies hire senior staff engineers in San Diego?
Employers hiring senior staff engineers in San Diego right now include Qualcomm, Shield AI, and Dexcom, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of October 2026. San Diego's hiring mix leans heavily toward defense contractors, biotech and medical device firms, and high-growth software companies, giving senior staff engineers a wide range of industry contexts to choose from.
Are there remote senior staff engineer jobs in San Diego?
Yes, though availability depends heavily on the discipline, since senior staff engineers in hardware, lab, or defense-adjacent roles are almost always required on site, while those in cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, and software architecture work remotely far more often. About 11% of senior staff engineer openings tied to San Diego are remote or hybrid as of October 2026, with most flexibility concentrated in pure software and data platform roles. Defense and biotech positions in San Diego typically require full on-site presence.
How can I get a senior staff engineer job in San Diego with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in San Diego is building foundational engineering depth through mid-level roles at the city's many defense primes, biotech firms, or software companies before stepping into staff-level scope. San Diego's large contractor ecosystem, including firms around Kearny Mesa and Miramar, frequently hire engineers at the senior level who then grow into staff responsibilities internally, making those employers a strong target for candidates building toward the role. Demonstrating ownership of a system or architectural decision, even at smaller San Diego startups in Carmel Valley or Little Italy, can accelerate that trajectory significantly.
Which industries hire the most senior staff engineers in San Diego?
The sectors hiring the most senior staff engineers in San Diego are Technology & Software, Telecommunications, and Electronics & Hardware, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of October 2026. San Diego's combination of a large naval and defense presence, a world-class biotech corridor in Torrey Pines, and a growing software infrastructure scene makes it one of the more diversified markets for senior engineering talent on the West Coast.
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