Company:
Engineering Group, Engineering Group ASICS Engineering
General Summary:
Qualcomm is a global technology leader driving innovation in wireless communications, AI, computing and connected systems. Our engineering teams develop industry-leading silicon, software, FPGA prototyping platforms, emulation systems and validation solutions that enable the next generation of mobile, automotive, AI and edge computing products. The Tijuana design center is a growing part of that engineering footprint, working shoulder to shoulder with teams in San Diego and across our general sites on the same leading-edge SoC programs.
We are looking for a senior technical leader to establish and grow SoC Systems Validation Engineering at our Tijuana site. This is a hands-on leadership role at the Senior Staff or Principal level: you will set the technical direction for system validation content, own delivery commitments for the silicon programs the site supports, and build a local team of validation and debug engineers from an initial core group into a self-sufficient organization. On the post-silicon side, you will lead bring-up, system-level validation, failure analysis and silicon debug in the lab, along with power, performance and concurrency characterization across CPU, DDR, NoC and peripheral subsystems. You will also own the infrastructure behind that work: test content frameworks, automation, CI/CD pipelines, lab enablement and the analysis tooling that turns raw failures into root cause.
You will interview and hire, mentor engineers at every level, define the local skills ramp, partner with university and industry recruiting channels in the region, and represent the Tijuana team in program reviews with architecture, design, firmware and software counterparts in other sites.



Own the system validation strategy for the SoC programs supported from Tijuana, from validation planning and coverage definition through sign-off criteria and exit reviews.
Set the technical bar for test content, debug methodology and automation, and personally lead the hardest debug efforts rather than delegating them.
Drive hardware and software co-debug across SoC architecture, firmware, drivers, kernel and hardware interfaces, taking issues to root cause and to a verified fix.
Apply AI-assisted workflows and automation to triage, failure clustering and regression analysis so that engineering effort concentrates on genuinely new failures.
Commit to and deliver the site's validation milestones: pre-silicon readiness, tape-out support, first-silicon bring-up, characterization windows and production release gates.
Establish and run the site's lab operations for validation: equipment planning, board and platform inventory, remote lab access, and safe, efficient shift coverage during bring-up.
Report status, risks and quality metrics to program and engineering leadership with enough specificity that decisions can be made from them.
Recruit, interview and hire validation, debug and infrastructure engineers for the Tijuana team, from new graduates through senior staff.
Mentor engineers on silicon debug, low-level software and system architecture, and grow the next layer of technical leads within the site.




Set clear goals and expectations, give direct and regular feedback, and support career growth and retention in a competitive regional talent market.
Build the site's engineering culture: documentation, design and code review discipline, post-mortems on escapes, and knowledge sharing across shifts and sites.
Act as the single technical point of contact for the Tijuana SVE team with architecture, design, verification, firmware, software, emulation and product engineering teams in other sites.
Partner with EDA, emulation and instrumentation vendors on tooling, methodology and escalations.
Represent the site in methodology forums, drive reusable content and flows back into the wider organization, and adopt what other sites have already proven rather than rebuilding it locally.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or a related technical field, with 10 or more years of relevant industry experience; or a Master's degree with 8 or more years.
Deep experience in SoC or system validation, silicon bring-up and system debug, with direct ownership of at least one silicon program from pre-silicon readiness through production release.
Strong low-level programming skill in C/C++ and Python on Linux, including bare-metal or driver-level work.
Professional working proficiency in English and in Spanish, sufficient to lead a local team and to work daily with counterparts in the United States and other global sites.
Legal authorization to work in Mexico and the ability to work on site in Tijuana with lab access.
Master's or PhD in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or a related field.
Experience s

📌 Manager, SoC Systems Validation Engineering (Tijuana)
🏢 QUALCOMM
📍 Tijuana