Staff Engineer Jobs in California
Staff Engineer jobs in California are among the most active in the country, concentrated in technology, semiconductor design, aerospace, and clean energy across a seniority range from early-career to principal-level. The largest hiring markets are the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, where companies like Apple, Lockheed Martin, and Qualcomm maintain deep engineering workforces and hire staff engineers continuously. The most in-demand specializations include distributed systems, embedded hardware, and machine learning infrastructure. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 1,453+ Staff Engineer jobs
Company:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.Job Area:
Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Hardware EngineeringGeneral Summary:
The Reliability Engineering organization leads the definition and execution of reliability strategy for advanced semiconductor technologies, ensuring robust qualification and technology certification across devices, packages, and systems. The team applies deep expertise in device and interconnect reliability physics—including BTI, TDDB, HCI, electromigration, self‑heating, and wear‑out mechanisms—to assess design and process robustness for complex SoCs and advanced packaging architectures (2.5D/3D, TSV, chiplets). Working cross‑functionally with design, process, test, product, and program teams, the organization anticipates and mitigates reliability risks across the full product lifecycle while balancing performance, power, quality, schedule, and business objectives. As a technical authority, the team establishes scalable reliability best practices, provides expert judgment on critical trade‑offs and EM waivers, mentors engineers, and communicates clear reliability status and risk insights to senior leadership.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 6+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 5+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
Define foundry qualification reliability requirements, and execute to tech certification for complex designs and advanced technologies.
Lead reliability strategy and execution for high-impact products and programs, spanning devices, packages, and systems.
Perform and guide advanced reliability analysis, including aging, wear-out, electromigration, and other mechanism-based modeling, to assess design and process robustness.
Anticipate, identify, and mitigate non-obvious reliability risks across the full product lifecycle.
Drive cross-functional alignment with design, process, test, product, and program teams to meet aggressive schedules without compromising quality.
Establish and improve organizational reliability processes and best practices that scale to future technology generations.
Provide expert technical judgment on critical reliability trade-offs, balancing performance, power, quality, schedule, and business considerations.
Mentor and develop engineers; serve as a trusted technical authority and advisor for reliability across the organization.
Communicate reliability status, risks, and strategic recommendations clearly to senior leadership and executive stakeholders.
Qualifications
10 - 15 years of industry experience in semiconductor reliability engineering, technology development, or product qualification, supporting advanced CMOS nodes (Planar, FinFET, GAA).
Deep expertise in intrinsic device and interconnect reliability physics and failure mechanisms, including BTI, TDDB, HCI, electromigration (EM), self-heating effects, and MOL/BEOL wear-out.
Hand-on experience in designing reliability test structures for test-chips, reliability test structure measurements and interpreting complex reliability data from various reliability mechanisms like EM, BTI and TDDB.
Strong background in advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration reliability, including TSV-based 2.5D/3D integration, chiplet architectures, and backside power delivery schemes.
Demonstrated experience translating device- and process-level reliability data into circuit- and system-level reliability metrics for complex digital SoCs and platform-level decision making.
Drive cross-functional design for reliability collaboration with design, process and reliability teams.
Proven experience in reviewing and approving design waivers for electromigration (EM) violations in SoC designs, including on‑chip metal, bump, and ball interfaces.
Advanced statistical analysis and lifetime modeling expertise (e.g., Weibull analysis, JMP, Minitab, large-data correlation) used to inform qualification sign-off and risk decisions.
Recognized technical leadership with a track record of influencing design, process, and program decisions, mentoring engineers, and driving cross-functional alignment across design, product engineering, test, and foundry teams.
MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, or a related field (PhD preferred), with demonstrated industry impact in reliability or technology development.
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 :
$162,600.00 - $244,000.00The 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 .
Company:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.Job Area:
Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Hardware EngineeringGeneral Summary:
The Reliability Engineering organization leads the definition and execution of reliability strategy for advanced semiconductor technologies, ensuring robust qualification and technology certification across devices, packages, and systems. The team applies deep expertise in device and interconnect reliability physics—including BTI, TDDB, HCI, electromigration, self‑heating, and wear‑out mechanisms—to assess design and process robustness for complex SoCs and advanced packaging architectures (2.5D/3D, TSV, chiplets). Working cross‑functionally with design, process, test, product, and program teams, the organization anticipates and mitigates reliability risks across the full product lifecycle while balancing performance, power, quality, schedule, and business objectives. As a technical authority, the team establishes scalable reliability best practices, provides expert judgment on critical trade‑offs and EM waivers, mentors engineers, and communicates clear reliability status and risk insights to senior leadership.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 6+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 5+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
OR
PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
Define foundry qualification reliability requirements, and execute to tech certification for complex designs and advanced technologies.
Lead reliability strategy and execution for high-impact products and programs, spanning devices, packages, and systems.
Perform and guide advanced reliability analysis, including aging, wear-out, electromigration, and other mechanism-based modeling, to assess design and process robustness.
Anticipate, identify, and mitigate non-obvious reliability risks across the full product lifecycle.
Drive cross-functional alignment with design, process, test, product, and program teams to meet aggressive schedules without compromising quality.
Establish and improve organizational reliability processes and best practices that scale to future technology generations.
Provide expert technical judgment on critical reliability trade-offs, balancing performance, power, quality, schedule, and business considerations.
Mentor and develop engineers; serve as a trusted technical authority and advisor for reliability across the organization.
Communicate reliability status, risks, and strategic recommendations clearly to senior leadership and executive stakeholders.
Qualifications
10 - 15 years of industry experience in semiconductor reliability engineering, technology development, or product qualification, supporting advanced CMOS nodes (Planar, FinFET, GAA).
Deep expertise in intrinsic device and interconnect reliability physics and failure mechanisms, including BTI, TDDB, HCI, electromigration (EM), self-heating effects, and MOL/BEOL wear-out.
Hand-on experience in designing reliability test structures for test-chips, reliability test structure measurements and interpreting complex reliability data from various reliability mechanisms like EM, BTI and TDDB.
Strong background in advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration reliability, including TSV-based 2.5D/3D integration, chiplet architectures, and backside power delivery schemes.
Demonstrated experience translating device- and process-level reliability data into circuit- and system-level reliability metrics for complex digital SoCs and platform-level decision making.
Drive cross-functional design for reliability collaboration with design, process and reliability teams.
Proven experience in reviewing and approving design waivers for electromigration (EM) violations in SoC designs, including on‑chip metal, bump, and ball interfaces.
Advanced statistical analysis and lifetime modeling expertise (e.g., Weibull analysis, JMP, Minitab, large-data correlation) used to inform qualification sign-off and risk decisions.
Recognized technical leadership with a track record of influencing design, process, and program decisions, mentoring engineers, and driving cross-functional alignment across design, product engineering, test, and foundry teams.
MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, or a related field (PhD preferred), with demonstrated industry impact in reliability or technology development.
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 :
$162,600.00 - $244,000.00The 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 .
See All 1,453+ Staff Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Staff Engineer JobsStaff Engineer Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Staff Engineer Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Google119
- Northrop Grumman76
- Waymo33
- General Motors32
- Tesla28
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software87
- Electronics & Hardware68
- Banking & Financial Services39
- Automotive36
- Medical Devices19
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in staff engineer jobs across California.
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a closely related technical field
- Seven or more years of hands-on engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership
- Proven ability to define technical strategy and drive architecture decisions across multiple teams
- Deep expertise in at least one core discipline such as systems software, hardware design, or platform engineering
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and influencing engineering culture at an organizational level
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills with product, design, and business stakeholders
Staff Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a staff engineer in California?
Becoming a staff engineer in California typically requires a bachelor's or master's degree in engineering or computer science followed by several years of progressive experience leading technical projects. California does not require a state-issued license for software or systems staff engineers, though hardware and civil-adjacent roles may involve Professional Engineer registration through the California Board for Professional Engineers. Most California employers promote into staff roles from senior engineer positions based on demonstrated scope of impact and cross-team influence.
Which companies hire staff engineers in California?
Employers hiring staff engineers in California right now include Google, Northrop Grumman, and Waymo, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. California's concentration of technology headquarters, defense contractors, and semiconductor firms means staff engineer demand stays consistent even when broader hiring slows.
Which California cities have the most staff engineer jobs?
San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View have the most staff engineer openings in California. The Bay Area leads because of its density of technology headquarters and venture-backed companies, while Los Angeles draws from aerospace, entertainment technology, and a growing startup ecosystem, and San Diego's strength in wireless communications and biotech hardware sustains consistent demand for senior individual contributors.
Are there remote staff engineer jobs in California?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 61% of staff engineer openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, reflecting how much of the work involves architecture, code review, and cross-team coordination that can happen asynchronously. Roles requiring hands-on lab work, hardware bring-up, or embedded systems development are more likely to require on-site presence.
How can I get hired as a staff engineer in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic path is landing a senior software or systems engineer role first, then building cross-team impact that justifies a staff-level promotion. Large California employers like Apple, Google, and Intel run university hiring programs and new-grad rotational tracks that feed the senior-to-staff pipeline. Strong open-source contributions, a portfolio showing systems-level design decisions, or experience as a tech lead in a smaller California company can accelerate the timeline considerably.
Where can I find and apply to staff engineer jobs in California?
You can find and apply to staff engineer jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current California openings from employers actively hiring. Search for roles that match your specialization and experience level, then apply directly to the ones that fit.
See All 1,453+ Staff Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Staff Engineer Jobs