Principal Hardware Engineer

HARMAN International; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work environment

Employee discounts and training

Tuition reimbursement

Wellness benefits

Be Brilliant rewards

Inclusive environment

Job summary

HARMAN Luxury Audio Cambridge is seeking a Principal Hardware Engineer to design and deliver high‑end audio hardware for luxury products. You will lead multi‑discipline collaboration with engineers, industrial designers, and production teams to create premium amplifiers and components.

You'll apply deep expertise in discrete analog electronics, PCB design with Altium, and audio measurement techniques to ensure exceptional sound quality and reliability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
• Minimum of 8 years of system-level development experience in high-performance consumer audio.
• Experience with discrete analog electronics and audio hardware design principles.
• PCB design using Altium and conducting detailed reviews of PCB and schematics.

Responsibilities

• Develop new hardware for luxury audio amplifiers and components in a small multi-disciplinary team.
• Understand schematics and ensure proper system design and function.
• Develop test plans and conduct hardware testing for luxury-class audio and reliability.
• Prepare and present project reports, design reviews, and technical documentation.
• Drive innovation by staying current with technology trends in audio system design.
• Ensure all designs meet quality, compliance, and performance standards.

Skills

Altium PCB design

Discrete analog electronics

Audio measurement techniques

Hardware testing

Schematic & PCB reviews

Python test procedures

EMC and noise mitigation

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

LTSpice

PSpice

LabVIEW

Oscilloscope

Job description

HARMAN’s engineers and designers are creative, purposeful and agile. As part of this team, you’ll combine your technical expertise with innovative ideas to help drive cutting-edge solutions in the car, enterprise and connected ecosystem. Every day, you will push the boundaries of creative design, and HARMAN is committed to providing you with the opportunities, innovative technologies and resources to build a successful career.

A Career at HARMAN

As a technology leader that is rapidly on the move, HARMAN is filled with people who are focused on making life better. Innovation, inclusivity and teamwork are a part of our DNA. When you add that to the challenges we take on and solve together, you’ll discover that at HARMAN you can grow, make a difference and be proud of the work you do everyday.

Have you heard of JBL, Arcam, Mark Levinson, Revel or Harman/Kardon, some of the world’s leading audio brands? The market we are leading in, is fast paced, fun and dynamic. https://www.harmanluxuryaudio.com

Five prestigious brands – JBL Synthesis, Mark Levinson, Revel, Lexicon and Arcam – come together to offer the most advanced high-performance audio systems available. From the finest stereo listening to state‑of‑the‑art multichannel home theater systems, the HARMAN Luxury Audio Group delivers pure, uncompromised sound. The consumer audio industry is fast paced, fun and dynamic and you will join our Luxury Audio department based in Cambridge, UK, in the position of:

Principal Hardware Engineer – Luxury Audio

About the Role:

As a Principal Hardware Engineer within the Luxury Audio Engineering Group, you will have the opportunity to work within the legendary Mark Levinson brand and join a team of world‑class engineers. Mark Levinson’s audio circuit designs are fully discrete with no integrated circuits in the audio path ensuring the highest level of audio performance. Mark Levinson utilizes true luxury‑class design and engineering that delivers amplifiers and audio components for the refined cost‑no‑object HiFi enthusiast. Take a look at our latest line of high end audio products. Help us shape what’s next.

Your Team:

You will report to the Director, of Engineering, Mark Levinson, and be part of a cross‑functional team including industrial designers, hardware engineers, mechanical engineers, software engineers, and production teams.

What You Will Do:

• Work within a small multi‑disciplinary team to develop new product hardware for luxury audio amplifiers and components.
• Understand schematics and work to ensure proper system design and function.
• Develop test plans and conduct rigorous hardware testing of platforms to ensure a luxury‑class user experience, superior audio performance, and reliability.
• Prepare and present project reports, design reviews, and technical documentation.
• Drive innovation in audio system design by staying up to date with the latest technological advancements and industry trends.
• Ensure all designs meet stringent quality, compliance, and performance standards.
• Bring your attention to detail and a passion for achieving excellence in audio quality.

What You Need to be succesful:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent work experience in a related technical discipline.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience working in system‑level development of high‑performance consumer audio systems.
• Previous experience working on discrete analog electronics
• Understanding of analog audio hardware design principles and digital audio hardware design including A/D and D/A.
• PCB design using Altium and the ability to carry out detailed design reviews of the PCB and schematic. PCB best design practices for EMC and noise.
• Debug hardware using test equipment.
• In‑depth knowledge of audio measurement techniques.

What is Nice to Have

• Experience with serial communication protocols including RS-232, I2C, SPI, I2S, and USB.
• Knowledge of high‑resolution audio formats, streaming technologies, and audio compression techniques.
• Familiarity with Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, and Internet protocols (TCP/IP).
• Circuit simulation, LTSpice and/or PSpice.
• EMC compliance and testing experience.
• Experience developing, writing, and debugging automated test procedures (Python, Audio Precision Basic, C#, NI Labview/TestStand).
• Previous experience in the HiFi audio industry.

What Makes You Eligible

• Be willing to travel up to 10%, domestic and international travel.
• Be willing to work in an office in Waterbeach / Cambridge, UK (subject to government guidelines).
• HARMAN will only be able to employ those who have the right to work in the UK. We are unable to offer visa / sponsorship support for this role.

What We Offer:

• Flexible work environment, allowing for full‑time remote work globally for positions that can be performed outside a HARMAN or customer location.
• Access to employee discounts on world‑class Harman and Samsung products (JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, etc.).
• Extensive training opportunities through our own HARMAN University.
• Competitive wellness benefits.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• "Be Brilliant" employee recognition and rewards program.
• An inclusive and diverse work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development.

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HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmitive Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard torace, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.