General Summary:
The Customer Project Engineer is the primary technical leader and single point of contact for all engineering topics across all programs with a designated OEM customer. In this highly visible role, you will interface directly with the OEMs engineering executives and Qualcomms senior technical and business leadership.
You will:
- Develop a deep understanding of the OEMs roadmap, vehicle and backend architecture, requirements, and constraints
- Master Qualcomms automotive and ADAS product portfolio from a systems and platform perspective
- Lead and coordinate all technical aspects of business acquisition, delivery execution, and post-SOP maintenance
- Represent the voice of the customer in internal forums, escalating needs and driving alignment across Qualcomm engineering, product management, program management, and sales
This is a hands-on, senior technical leadership role requiring strong ADAS domain expertise, system thinking, and excellent communication skills.
Key Responsibilities
Customer Technical Leadership
- Act as the chief technical counterpart to the OEMs engineering leadership for all ADAS and related programs.
- Serve as the main technical point of contact covering SoC, platform software, algorithms, tools, and system integration topics.
- Build and maintain strong, trusted relationships with the customers engineering executives, architects, and program leads.
Customer Roadmap System Architecture
- Develop and maintain a detailed understanding of the customers:
- ADAS/AD roadmap and feature roadmap
- E/E and compute architecture (in-vehicle and backend/cloud)
- Safety, security, cybersecurity, and regulatory requirements
- Anticipate customer needs and translate them into Qualcomm platform requirements, features, and solutions.
Business Acquisition RFQ/RFI Support
- Lead the technical workstreams for RFIs/RFQs and advanced engagement discussions with the OEM.
- Define technical solution proposals based on Qualcomms product portfolio, including SoCs, software stacks, SDKs, and reference platforms.
- Work closely with sales, product management, and program management to build competitive, feasible, and compelling technical offers.
Program Execution Delivery
- Provide overarching technical leadership for all active programs with the OEM, across all phases (concept, development, validation, SOP, and maintenance).
- Coordinate and synchronize Qualcomm internal engineering teams (HW, SW, systems, safety, security, tools, test) to meet customer milestones.
- Drive resolution of critical technical issues, ensuring timely escalation and clear communication to both customer and Qualcomm management.
- Support design reviews, technical workshops, joint debugging sessions, and on-site integration activities as needed.
Voice of the Customer Internal Alignment
- Represent the customers priorities, constraints, and pain points in internal reviews, roadmap discussions, and management meetings.
- Provide structured feedback to product management and engineering on gaps, competitive pressure, and future requirements.
- Ensure internal stakeholders understand customer commitments, program risk, and required trade-offs.
Technical Thought Leadership Mentoring
- Act as a technical role model: hands-on, detail-oriented, and able to deep-dive into complex system issues when required.
- Guide and mentor cross-functional Qualcomm teams working on the customer, helping them prioritize and solve problems effectively.
Contribute to internal best practices for customer engagement and ADAS solution definition.
Required Qualifications- 10+ years of experience in senior engineering roles in the ADAS / AD domain at an OEM, Tier-1, semiconductor, or relevant technology supplier.
- Strong background in automotive systems engineering with focus on:
- ADAS/AD functions and perception / sensor fusion / planning control
- Compute platform architecture (SoC, GPU/DSP, accelerators)
- Embedded SW stacks (OS such as QNX/Linux/Android, middleware, frameworks, toolchains)
- Proven experience as a customer-facing technical leader, such as chief engineer, system architect, technical program lead, or equivalent.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams without direct authority in a complex matrix organization.
- Solid understanding of automotive safety and quality frameworks (e.g., ISO 26262, ASPICE, cybersecurity standards) and their impact on architecture and execution.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills in English (German strongly preferred), capable of engaging both engineering and executive audiences.
- Strong problem-solving skills, data-driven and structured, with ability to remain calm and decisive under pressure.
- Willingness to travel regularly to customer and Qualcomm sites (domestic and international).
Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelor''s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. ORMaster''s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field and 7+ years of Software Engineering or related work experience. ORPhD 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.
- Experience working directly with major global OEMs on large-scale ADAS/AD platform programs.
- Deep familiarity with one or more of the following domains:
- Computer vision / AI / sensor fusion on automotive platforms
- HW/SW co-design and performance optimization on SoC-based ADAS ECUs
- Cloud-backend integration for AD/ADAS data and function updates
- Prior experience at Qualcomm, a major semiconductor vendor, or a Tier1 integrating high-performance automotive SoCs.
- Masters degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or related field.
Personal Attributes
- Technically curious and hands-on; able to deep dive into logs, traces, and system behavior when needed.
- Outspoken and confident, yet collaborative and respectful; able to challenge and be challenged by both customer and internal teams.
- Strong ownership mindset, acting as CEO of the account from a technical perspective.
- Able to balance strategic, long-term roadmap thinking with tactical, day-to-day execution.
