Tech Lead / Staff Engineer

Job Summary

The Tech Lead / Staff Engineer is the most senior individual contributor on the team. This person owns the systems architecture on firmware side, contributes to definition of inter-processor communication (IPC) design and holds final code review authority over all team deliverables.

This is the technical conscience of the team. The Tech Lead makes the build-versus-reuse decisions, owns the technical debt ledger, and is the first escalation point when failures cross subsystem boundaries. They set the engineering bar, define the architectural patterns the rest of the team works within, and are accountable for the long-term health of the software stack.

Responsibilities

• Own the AP software architecture: define subsystem boundaries and integration contracts across the full stack, and maintain architecture documentation through hardware development phases.
• Lead key design decisions including IPC design, build-versus-reuse trade-offs, and technical debt prioritization; ensure decisions are documented and visible to the wider team.
• Identify and de-risk architectural concerns before they enter the build; drive early prototyping where needed to validate critical design assumptions.
• Set and uphold engineering standards across the team: hold final code review authority, define quality expectations, and mentor engineers at all levels.
• Own the technical debt ledger and ensure remediation is planned and visible; keep engineering quality as a first-class concern alongside delivery commitments.
• Serve as the primary technical interface between software, firmware, and hardware teams; own resolution of issues that cross subsystem boundaries.
• Represent the software architecture in programme-level reviews; ensure integration contracts are validated at each hardware milestone.
• Lead Android BSP bring-up and platform integration activities, including kernel, HAL, and DSP/audio stack; ensure GKI and VNDK/Treble compliance is maintained throughout.
• Oversee OTA/MDM integration and platform security compliance, ensuring the AP software stack meets applicable security boundary requirements.

Qualifications Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field. Advanced degree or equivalent industry experience welcomed.

Professional Experience

• 10+ years of Android platform or BSP development experience, with at least 5 years working at the kernel/HAL/framework boundary on commercial devices.
• Demonstrable experience shipping production Android devices on Qualcomm SoCs through full hardware lifecycle.
• Proven ability to design and implement cross-processor IPC mechanisms and shared-memory transports in multi-SoC embedded environments.
• Track record of technical leadership on complex, multi-team embedded Linux or Android program.

Technical Skills

• Deep expertise with Qualcomm SoCs (QCS/QCM/Snapdragon family) including BSP toolchains and firmware integration.
• Android framework internals: system services, HAL architecture (HIDL/AIDL), Treble/VNDK enforcement, and GKI kernel compliance.
• Strong debugging skills across the full AP stack: kernel panic analysis, ANR triage, crash dump (tombstone/ramdump) analysis, and systrace/perfetto profiling.
• Proficiency with inter-processor communication design patterns: shared memory, RPMsg/glink, virtio, and custom transport layers.
• Familiarity with FIPS 140-3 cryptographic boundary requirements and their constraints on Android platform architecture.

Domain Knowledge (Preferred)

• Exposure to LMR is a strong plus.
• Experience with 5G/LTE modem integration on Android: RIL, telephony framework, and multi-SIM/carrier handling.Hands-on experience with RF coexistence frameworks (WLAN/BT/cellular) and antenna sharing architectures.
• Familiarity with certification-driven development constraints.

Soft Skills

• Exceptional analytical and debugging ability; comfortable isolating failures that span hardware, firmware, and multiple software layers.
• Communicates technical complexity clearly to both engineering peers and non-technical program stakeholders.
• Proactively identifies architectural risks and coverage gaps; raises concerns early with supporting evidence.
• Operates with a high degree of autonomy while maintaining alignment with program priorities and the Engineering Manager.

AI Skills

• Embraces AI tools as part of day-to-day engineering work; integrates coding assistants, automated analysis, and generative tooling into regular workflows to improve the quality and pace of own output.
• Makes informed judgement calls on AI-generated recommendations; validates suggestions against system constraints, platform requirements, and engineering context before acting on them.
• Relies on agentic AI to handle repetitive and time-consuming tasks, increasing personal efficiency and preserving focus for higher-complexity engineering and design work.