Hardware Design Engineer – Senior Job at Qualcomm in Austin

Qualcomm Cloud System Hardware Engineering team develops cutting-edge rack level AI inference solutions for next generation liquid-cooled data centers. As part of its rapid expansion, the team is looking for experienced engineers to join and contribute to the next round of innovative AI products that Qualcomm will be bringing to the market.

Job Overview:

Design and develop motherboards/add in cards/modules for Qualcomm new AI System on Chip (SoC)/System In Package (SIP). Primary responsibilities include working with cross functional teams (mechanical, thermal, SI, PTE, regulatory, validation, manufacturing, etc.) for execution of projects from concept to production. Support rack level design and integration of cards, servers and networking switches.

Responsibilities

• Participate in schematics design, PCB layouts, design reviews, component selections, mechanical and thermal designs, and develop test plans.
• Assist in the development of functional specifications for systems, cards, sub-systems, and rack-level architectures.
• Collaborate with internal teams and ODMs to develop and support customer-specific hardware and system requirements.
• Facilitate consensus on technical trade-offs at hardware, software, and chip design levels.
• Support architecture and card designs including accelerator SoCs, memory, I/O, power delivery, electrical/mechanical integration, and PCB definition/design.
• Participate in the design and development of rack-level inference solutions, ensuring alignment with customer requirements and system-level performance goals.
• Assist in the bring-up and debugging of hardware systems, cards, and rack-level configurations.
• Support factory and manufacturing processes, ensuring quality and consistency across rack-level deployments.
• Travel to development and customer sites as needed to support rack-level solution deployment and validation.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE:

Minimum 2+ years in system/card/rack-level development

Rack-Level Experience:

• Familiar with rack-level system integration, including chassis, backplane, cabling, airflow, and thermal management across multiple cards/modules.
• Familiarity with rack-scale power delivery, including PDUs, VRMs, PMICs, and power budgeting across multiple boards.
• Experience with rack-level diagnostics and bring-up, including debug of interconnects, signal integrity across long traces/cables, and system-level validation.
• Understanding of rack-level mechanical constraints, EMI shielding, and compliance with data center deployment standards.
• Collaboration with ODMs/OEMs on rack-level design and manufacturing, including review of mechanical drawings, thermal simulations, and compliance testing.

Board-Level Design:

• Knowledge of PCIe cards, motherboards, daughtercards, and backplane signal and power delivery.

Component Qualification:

• Experience qualifying PMICs, voltage regulators (VRs), clock buffers, flash memory, and connectors for use in complex cards.

Design & Validation:

• Experience in dense, high-layer count PCB designs (8–20+ layers).
• Familiarity with JTAG tools for bring-up and debug.

High-Speed Interfaces:

• Knowledge of high-speed serial I/O (6–10+ Gbps), PCIe Gen5/6, LPDDR4x/5x, DDR4/5, 200/400/800 GbE.
• Experience with long PCB/cable topologies (0.35–1.5 meter), signal integrity, and compliance with current standards.
• Ability to debug at packet/protocol level across link, transport, transaction, and command layers.

Memory & Clocking:

• Experience with LPDDR4x memory technologies, DIMM layout and validation.
• Familiar with clock distribution, power distribution, SMBus, PMBus, SPI, PWM/Tach, and BMC integration.

Tools & Collaboration:

• Ability to drive schematic capture and PCB layout tools (Cadence Allegro, Mentor Expedition).
• Ability to use lab equipment: oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG, SMBus, serial debuggers.

Firmware & Software:

• Good understanding of x86 FW/SW stack and firmware architecture.
• Experience with BMC hardware/software integration and management.

Compliance & Testing:

• Familiarity with regulatory, environmental, and compliance testing for rack-level systems.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• 4+ years hardware engineering/Systems development experience or related work experience.
• 2+ years of experience with circuit design (e.g., digital, analog, RF).
• 2+ years of experience utilizing schematic capture and circuit simulation software.
• 2+ years of experience with hardware design and measurement instruments such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, debug tools, etc.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 2+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 1+ year of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
• PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field.

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.

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.