Application and Platform DevOps Engineer

Company: Qualcomm Incorporated Job Area: Information Technology Group, Information Technology Group > IT Engineering General Summary: We are seeking an experienced Application Platform Engineer / Platform DevOps Engineer to design, build, and operate enterprise-grade application platform services. This role is focused on platform engineering and operations, providing scalable, secure, and standardized platforms that enable application teams to build, deploy, and operate their workloads efficiently. You will own the underlying platform infrastructure—including Kubernetes, Jenkins, CI/CD enablement, and shared services—while partnering closely with application development teams, security, and enterprise engineering stakeholders. This role does not involve application development or pipeline authoring for tenants, but instead focuses on platform reliability, automation, governance, and self-service enablement. This role requires full-time onsite work in San Diego, CA (5 days per week). This role is not eligible for Qualcomm immigration sponsorship. Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or related field. OR 1+ year of IT-related work experience with a Bachelor’s degree in a non-technical field. OR 3+ years of IT-related work experience with a High school diploma or equivalent. Completed advanced degree in a relevant field may be substituted for up to one year (Master’s = one year) of work experience. Key Responsibilities Own the design, implementation, and lifecycle management of shared application platforms, including Kubernetes clusters and Jenkins infrastructureOperate enterprise Jenkins as a service, supporting both shared and dedicated controller models with strong tenancy isolation and RBACBuild and maintain secure, scalable Kubernetes platforms for hosting internal applications and CI/CD workloadsDefine and enforce platform standards, guardrails, and best practices for application onboarding and operationsPartner with application teams to enable smooth onboarding, troubleshooting, and production readiness—without owning application code or pipelinesDrive automation-first operations for provisioning, upgrades, patching, and lifecycle management of platform componentsCollaborate with security teams to implement secure-by-default platform architectures, including secrets management, certificate handling, and network controlsEnsure high platform reliability through monitoring, alerting, capacity planning, and incident responseContinuously improve platform scalability, performance, and developer experience Minimum Qualifications 3+ years of relevant IT experience with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field or 5+ years of relevant experience withoutStrong experience in Linux system administration, including troubleshooting, performance tuning, and OS-level security hardeningHands-on expertise with containerization using Docker, including:Image and container lifecycle managementDockerfile authoring and image optimizationContainer networking and runtime troubleshooting Deep understanding of Kubernetes platform operations, including:Control plane and worker node architecturePods, Deployments, Services, Ingress, and networking fundamentalsAuthoring and managing Kubernetes manifests and Helm-based deploymentsCluster upgrades, scaling, backup/restore, and lifecycle management Proven experience administering Jenkins infrastructure at scale, including:Jenkins controller and agent architectureInstallation, upgrades, plugin governance, and configuration managementSupporting shared and multi-tenant CI environmentsContainer-based Jenkins agents on Kubernetes Strong knowledge of CI/CD platform concepts, including:Pipeline enablement frameworks and standardsBuild, test, and deployment automation patternsCI platform reliability and capacity planning Hands-on experience with monitoring and observability platforms such as Splunk and Datadog, including:Platform-level dashboards and alertingSLA/SLO trackingLog analysis and incident troubleshooting Experience provisioning and operating cloud infrastructure, with working knowledge of AWS services such as:EC2, S3, IAM, VPCBaseline cloud security controls and cost monitoring Strong fundamentals in networking, including DNS, IP addressing, routing, load balancing, and connectivity troubleshootingAbility to build automation using Shell, Python, or similar scripting languagesExperience with Git-based version control, including branching strategies and repository governanceExcellent problem-solving skills across platform, infrastructure, and CI/CD layersStrong professional attributes including ownership mindset, operational discipline, collaboration, and accountability Preferred Qualifications Practical experience with platform engineering or DevOps enablement teams in large enterprise environmentsExperience operating microservices platforms on Kubernetes, including:Secure service-to-service communicationPlatform-level observability (metrics, logs, traces)Traffic routing and policy enforcement Hands-on experience with Kubernetes ingress and traffic management, including:Gateway API, NGINX Ingress, KongEnterprise API management platforms such as Apigee Experience with service mesh technologies (Istio or equivalent) for security, traffic management, and observabilityFamiliarity with Kubernetes load-balancing solutions such as MetalLBHands-on experience with HashiCorp Vault for:Centralized secrets managementDynamic credential generationTenant self-service workflows Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or equivalentExposure to security and compliance practices, including:Certificate lifecycle managementIAM and RBACSecrets handling and Kubernetes network policies Familiarity with GitOps-based deployment models and related tooling (Argo CD, Flux, or similar)Industry-recognized certifications such as CKA, CKAD, or equivalentStrong communication skills, with the ability to translate platform capabilities into clear guidance for application teamsDemonstrated commitment to continuous learning and platform modernizationExperience working with Apigee API management platform, including API proxy development, policy configuration, and troubleshooting in enterprise environments. Applicants: 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). To all Staffing and Recruiting Agencies: Our Careers Site is only for individuals seeking a job at Qualcomm. Staffing and recruiting agencies and individuals being represented by an agency are not authorized to use this site or to submit profiles, applications or resumes, and any such submissions will be considered unsolicited. Qualcomm does not accept unsolicited resumes or applications from agencies. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Qualcomm employees or any other company location. Qualcomm is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/applications. EEO Employer: 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. Pay Range and Other Compensation & Benefits: $38.85 - $58.25 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). In addition, our highly competitive benefits package is designed to support your success at work, at home, and at play. Your recruiter will be happy to discuss all that Qualcomm has to offer – and you can review more details about our US benefits at this link. If you would like more information about this role, please contact Qualcomm Careers.