Upstream Product Manager Jobs in Spring Valley, CA

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Operations Group, Operations Group > Product Management

Qualcomm is seeking an experienced Staff Product Manager to define and drive Linux platform roadmap across Snapdragon-based AI PCs, Edge AI systems, developer platforms, and enterprise computing solutions.

In this role, you will be responsible for product planning, roadmap development, ecosystem engagement, distribution enablement, and commercialization of Linux-based software platforms spanning AI development, enterprise computing, and edge AI. You will work closely with engineering, OEMs, independent software vendors, Linux distribution partners, open-source communities, enterprise customers, and strategic partners to deliver industry-leading Linux experiences optimized for Snapdragon platforms.

The successful candidate will combine strong technical knowledge of Linux ecosystems with customer-focused product management skills and the ability to influence cross-functional teams. The role requires translating market and customer needs into platform requirements, upstream plans, partner priorities, and executable product roadmaps.

• Define Linux product roadmaps for Snapdragon AI PCs, workstations, edge AI systems, enterprise devices, and developer platforms.
• Gather customer, ecosystem, and market requirements to identify product investments, platform gaps, and differentiation opportunities.
• Create product requirements documents, use cases, customer scenarios, and business justifications for Linux platform initiatives.
• Drive prioritization decisions that balance customer value, upstream readiness, engineering feasibility, schedule, cost, and business objectives.
• Align Linux platform requirements across hardware, firmware, kernel, operating system, middleware, AI software, developer tools, and enterprise services.

• Define and drive the Linux upstreaming strategy for kernel, device drivers, firmware interfaces, graphics, multimedia, connectivity, security, power management, virtualization, and AI acceleration components.
• Partner with engineering teams to establish upstream-first plans that improve long-term maintainability, reduce downstream fragmentation, and accelerate ecosystem adoption of Snapdragon platforms.
• Drive alignment between upstream community requirements, commercial product schedules, customer commitments, and Snapdragon platform roadmaps.
• Track upstream readiness, dependencies, gaps, risks, and acceptance criteria across Linux subsystems and product generations.
• Collaborate with maintainers, open-source communities, Linux Foundation initiatives, and ecosystem partners to advance Qualcomm technologies in broadly adopted open-source projects.

• Define the requirements to enable industry-leading Linux distributions on Snapdragon platforms, including Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Debian, Fedora, SUSE Linux Enterprise, and other strategic enterprise or community distributions.
• Lead technical and product engagements with distribution vendors and communities to align platform support, certification, release schedules, installation experiences, update mechanisms, security maintenance, and lifecycle expectations.
• Drive a consistent, production-ready Linux experience spanning installation, boot, kernel, drivers, graphics, multimedia, networking, AI acceleration, developer tooling, manageability, observability, security, and supportability.
• Develop joint enablement plans with OEMs, distribution partners, ISVs, and enterprise customers.

• Drive Linux enablement initiatives for AI developers across desktops, workstations, AI PCs, and edge computing platforms.
• Define requirements for AI frameworks and runtimes such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, ONNX Runtime, llama.cpp, and containerized AI workflows.
• Partner with engineering to optimize local AI inferencing and application development across CPU, GPU, NPU, and heterogeneous compute resources.
• Define enterprise-grade requirements for manageability, observability, telemetry, security, remote diagnostics, virtualization, containers, orchestration, software updates, and fleet operations.

• Collaborate with Linux distribution partners, OEMs, ISVs, cloud providers, system integrators, open-source communities, and enterprise customers.
• Translate customer and partner feedback into actionable platform requirements, upstream priorities, and roadmap recommendations.
• Support customer design wins and strategic engagements through clear product positioning, solution definition, and execution planning.
• Represent Qualcomm in customer briefings, partner discussions, industry events, developer conferences, and open-source forums.
• Monitor developments across Linux, Arm computing, AI platforms, cloud-edge infrastructure, enterprise deployment, and competing platform ecosystems.

• Partner closely with software engineering, hardware engineering, architecture, program management, business development, marketing, sales, quality, security, and customer engineering teams.
• Drive cross-functional alignment on product vision, scope, milestones, dependencies, risks, and success metrics.
• Communicate roadmap priorities, market insights, customer requirements, and execution status to technical and executive stakeholders.
• Influence complex decisions without direct authority and resolve competing requirements using customer impact, data, and business priorities.

• Experience defining software products, platform roadmaps, technical requirements, and cross-functional execution plans.
• Experience working with Linux operating systems, open-source software ecosystems, and upstream development models.
• Experience driving Linux upstreaming or working with upstream kernel, driver, firmware, graphics, multimedia, networking, security, or platform software communities.
• Experience enabling one or more major Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Debian, Fedora, SUSE Linux Enterprise, or an equivalent enterprise or community distribution.
• Working knowledge of Linux kernel architecture, device drivers, board support packages, distribution integration, package and release processes, and upstream contribution workflows.
• Experience collaborating with software engineering teams, open-source communities, distribution partners, OEMs, ISVs, or customer-facing organizations.
• Strong analytical, written, verbal, and executive communication skills, with demonstrated ability to lead through influence.

• Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• Experience contributing to or leading Linux upstreaming initiatives and working with subsystem maintainers or open-source foundations.
• Experience with enterprise Linux certification, distribution release planning, long-term support models, security response, and commercial support requirements.
• Knowledge of Linux graphics and compute stacks, AI/ML frameworks, containers, Kubernetes, virtualization, Arm-based platforms, and heterogeneous compute architectures.
• Experience commercializing Linux platforms across AI PCs, workstations, edge appliances, enterprise devices, robotics, or embedded systems.
• Experience defining enterprise-grade platform capabilities including manageability, observability, telemetry, security, lifecycle management, and fleet deployment.
• Demonstrated success managing complex products across globally distributed engineering and business teams.

This role will help shape Qualcomm's Linux platform direction across AI PCs, enterprise computing, edge AI infrastructure, and next-generation Snapdragon platforms. The Staff Product Manager will connect upstream technology strategy, distribution enablement, customer requirements, and cross-functional execution to deliver scalable, maintainable, and commercially compelling Linux solutions.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related technical field.
• 5+ years of Product Management or related work experience.
• Completed advanced degrees in a relevant field may be substituted for up to two years (Master’s = one year, Doctorate = two years) of work experience.

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).

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.

$179,200.00 - $268,800.00

The 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).
• Our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play.