Principal Multimedia: User Space Engineer - Qualcomm - remote, Spain

Company:

Qualcomm Europe, Inc. Spain Branch Office

Job Area:

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary:

ROLE PURPOSE
Strengthen Qualcomm’s technical leadership in Linux multimedia and user-space technologies, with particular emphasis on GStreamer and PipeWire, while connecting upstream development, platform integration, customer needs, and product readiness.

Job Summary

We are looking for a Principal Engineer with deep expertise in Linux multimedia and user-space software to strengthen Qualcomm’s open source capabilities and technical leadership. The successful candidate will combine hands-on engineering excellence with recognized upstream engagement and the ability to define technical direction across complex, cross-functional initiatives.

You will lead architecture, integration, debugging, optimization, and upstream enablement across multimedia frameworks and Linux user-space stacks on Qualcomm platforms. The role will focus particularly on GStreamer and PipeWire, while working across audio, video, camera, graphics, display, codecs, device integration, and Linux distributions as required by end-to-end use cases.

As a Principal Engineer, you will operate with a high degree of autonomy and influence. You will collaborate with upstream communities, internal engineering and product organizations, customers, and external partners. You will mentor engineers, raise the technical bar, and help translate platform capabilities and customer requirements into sustainable upstream solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for Linux multimedia and user-space architecture on Qualcomm platforms, balancing upstream design, product requirements, maintainability, performance, and security.
• Design, implement, review, debug, and optimize multimedia software, with particular emphasis on GStreamer pipelines, plugins, elements, hardware acceleration, and integration with PipeWire-based audio and video flows.
• Lead end-to-end analysis across applications, frameworks, codecs, graphics/display, camera, audio, kernel interfaces, firmware, and hardware to resolve complex system-level issues.
• Drive upstream contributions through design discussions, code submissions, reviews, testing, release participation, bug triage, and long-term maintenance in relevant communities.
• Work with Linux distributions and build systems to ensure multimedia components are packaged, configured, validated, updated, and delivered consistently across target environments.
• Partner with product, customer engineering, validation, performance, security, and hardware teams to translate requirements into scalable technical solutions and clear delivery plans.
• Create reference implementations, reusable integration patterns, automated tests, continuous-integration coverage, and technical documentation that improve software quality and adoption.
• Represent Qualcomm in upstream communities, technical forums, industry events, and partner discussions, strengthening the company’s credibility and influence in open source multimedia.
• Mentor engineers through architecture reviews, detailed code reviews, debugging guidance, and technical development plans; build broader multimedia expertise across the organization.
• Identify strategic gaps and emerging technologies in Linux multimedia and recommend investments, partnerships, and execution priorities to senior engineering leadership.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Extensive professional experience developing and integrating Linux user-space software, including significant multimedia responsibilities.
• Deep expertise in GStreamer architecture and development, including pipelines, plugins/elements, negotiation, memory handling, synchronization, debugging, profiling, and hardware-accelerated media paths.
• Strong knowledge of PipeWire and Linux audio/video integration concepts, including graph-based media processing, device/session management, and interoperability with applications and frameworks.
• Expert programming and debugging skills in C and C++, plus proficiency with one or more relevant languages such as Python, Rust, or POSIX shell.
• Proven record of meaningful upstream open source contribution, technical review, and collaboration with distributed communities; maintainer or subsystem leadership experience is strongly valued.
• Strong understanding of Linux system architecture and interfaces between user space, kernel drivers, firmware, hardware accelerators, graphics/display, camera, and audio subsystems.
• Experience diagnosing complex performance, latency, synchronization, memory, concurrency, reliability, and interoperability issues across an end-to-end multimedia stack.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical decisions, influence senior stakeholders, and build consensus across organizations.
• Ability to operate independently, lead ambiguous technical work, prioritize effectively, and collaborate across globally distributed teams.
• Willingness to travel globally as needed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Upstream maintainer, reviewer, or recognized contributor experience in GStreamer, PipeWire, or closely related open source projects.
• Expertise in one or more adjacent domains: video codecs, audio, camera, graphics, display, Wayland, DRM/KMS, V4L2, ALSA, PulseAudio compatibility, or WebRTC.
• Experience integrating hardware-accelerated multimedia on Arm-based or embedded platforms, including zero-copy buffer sharing and cross-subsystem synchronization.
• Knowledge of Linux distributions and packaging, particularly Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and/or Yocto/OpenEmbedded.
• Experience with build systems and developer tooling such as Meson, CMake, Autotools, Git, GitHub or GitLab, automated testing, CI/CD, LAVA, and performance-analysis tools.
• Experience engaging directly with customers or partners and turning deployment issues into durable platform and upstream improvements.
• Familiarity with containerized or sandboxed multimedia applications and modern Linux desktop, embedded, automotive, IoT, or edge environments.
• Prior experience with Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms or comparable heterogeneous SoC multimedia architectures.

Level of Responsibility

• Makes critical technical decisions that materially affect program, product, platform, or project success.
• Works independently with minimal supervision and leads complex, multi-stage initiatives in which architecture, planning, problem-solving, and prioritization are essential.
• Influences key organizational decisions and is consulted by senior leadership on multimedia and Linux user-space strategy.
• Communicates highly complex information clearly and uses negotiation, technical credibility, and tact to align large groups and senior stakeholders.
• Provides technical leadership without relying on direct authority and raises engineering quality through mentorship, reviews, standards, and example.
• Balances hands-on individual contribution with architecture leadership, community engagement, and cross-functional execution.

Success Profile

The ideal candidate is a hands-on technical leader who is equally comfortable debugging a difficult media pipeline, shaping an upstream design discussion, guiding an architecture review, or explaining a customer-impacting issue to senior leadership. Success in this role means establishing a sustainable, upstream-first multimedia capability that improves Qualcomm platform quality, accelerates customer and product outcomes, and builds long-term technical credibility in the Linux multimedia ecosystem.

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.

*References to a particular number of years experience are for indicative purposes only. Applications from candidates with equivalent experience will be considered, provided that the candidate can demonstrate an ability to fulfill the principal duties of the role and possesses the required competencies.

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.

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