Director, Intelligent Audio

HARMAN International; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 173,000 - 254,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee discounts

Training opportunities

Wellness benefits

Tuition reimbursement

Diversity and inclusion

Job summary

HARMAN International seeks a Global Leader of Intelligent Audio to guide a high-performing applied research team and shape a North Star for intelligent audio technology. You will translate research into flagship products with AI-enabled workflows and robust testing practices.

Lead from within, grow the team, partner with UX, Product, Eng, and Strategy, and communicate progress and risk to executives while driving real-time implementations across platforms.

Qualifications

• 8–10+ years in audio tech and AI for audio, with impact.
• Strong audio fundamentals and applied AI experience; able to set direction across specialists.
• Experience leading technical teams and communicating a complex vision to executives.
• Ability to explain builds, evaluations, and improvements in quality, speed, and scale.

Responsibilities

• Define applied research strategy for intelligent audio and translate into commercial tech.
• Deliver prototype-to-product transfers using AI-enabled workflows and cross-functional collaboration.
• Build adoption across UX, Strategy, Product, Engineering, and business leaders.
• Grow a high-performing team, coach talent, and set rigorous standards.
• Advise executives on investment priorities and progress with clear risk views.

Skills

Electrical Engineering

Computer Science

Acoustics

Signal Processing

Team Leadership

Applied AI

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Acoustics, or related field

Tools

C/C++

AI frameworks

Job description

About The Role

The Global Leader of Intelligent Audio leads a high-performing applied research team and shapes an ambitious North Star: set a new standard for intelligent audio technology. We are looking for a leader with the passion and technical imagination to expand what audio can do in the era of Artificial Intelligence and the drive to turn that vision into products. You will build on HARMAN's research and audio heritage to create contextual, personalized, adaptive, and interactive device experiences, with excellent sound as the goal and AI as a powerful enabler. This hands-on, lead-from-within role is about shaping a focused team, its culture, and how it works rather than running a large, established organization. Success means shipping platform-ready capabilities in flagship products and establishing AI-enabled tools, testing practices, and workflows that improve how audio is built, tuned, and measured.

What You Will Do

• Set the technical direction: Own the applied research strategy for intelligent audio at HARMAN. Turn research into commercial-ready technologies that enable audio systems to perceive, understand, and respond intelligently to our customers and the world around them.
• Deliver product ready technology: Set a new standard for research delivery by using AI-enabled workflows to move from concept to validated prototype and product transfer far faster than traditional methods allow. Work with AI experts and technical project management to continually reinvent how the team specifies, builds, tests, and learns as AI capabilities and R&D practices advance, while preserving technical rigor and audio quality.
• Build adoption across HARMAN: Partner with UX, Strategy, Product, Engineering, and business leaders, using proactive cross-business influence to align roadmaps and move mature research into real-time implementations that product teams can adopt with confidence.
• Grow a high-performing team: Lead from within, shape the team and its culture, coach technical talent, recruit where needed, set clear standards for scientific and engineering rigor, and keep the team current through practical learning and modern tools.
• Define and communicate success: Advise executive and product leaders, translating emerging technologies into technical choices, investment priorities, and clear views of progress and risk. Track outcomes such as perceptible audio improvement, shorter prototype and test cycles, adoption in product platforms, and growth in team capability.

What You Need to Be Successful

• A degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Acoustics, Signal Processing, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Significant relevant experience, typically 8-10+ years, or an equivalent track record of exceptional impact, leadership, and achievement in audio technology and AI for audio, including delivery of novel technology into products.
• Strong audio fundamentals and applied AI experience, with the judgment to set direction across specialists rather than personally master every audio discipline.
• Demonstrated use of modern AI methods to improve audio systems and research workflows, with a habit of exploring rapidly evolving AI capabilities in new ways. You can explain what you built, how it was evaluated, and how it improved quality, speed, scale, or product outcomes.
• Experience leading and developing technical teams, influencing across organizational boundaries, and communicating a complex technical vision to senior stakeholders.
• Practical fluency with algorithm development and modeling tools, plus the systems understanding to guide real-time implementation and hardware/software tradeoffs.
• A desire to change the world of audio experiences across Consumer, Pro and Automotive

Preferred

• Experience across more than one audio domain, such as consumer, automotive, or professional audio.
• Breadth in areas such as beamforming, spatial rendering, signal processing, perceptual audio, sensing, embedded systems, connected devices, speech pickup or generation, or automated dataset collection.
• Experience with C/C++, modern AI frameworks, perceptual studies, or statistical analysis of subjective tests.
• Knowledge of industry standards and platforms such as Dolby Atmos, Bluetooth LE Audio, and Auracast.
• An advanced degree, patents, or publications. Demonstrated product impact matters more than credentials alone.

What Makes You Eligible

• Successfully complete a background investigation and drug screen as a condition of employment (post-offer).

What We Offer

• Access to employee discounts on world-class products (JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, and more)
• 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

Pay Transparency

$ 173,250 - $ 254,100

Dependent on the position offered, other forms of compensation are also available, such as bonuses or commission.

Pay is based on a wide range of factors, including, without limitation, skill set, experience, training, location, and business need. While the above range is a reasonable estimate of the wage range for this position, please note the disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographical differential associated with the location where the position may be filled.

Benefits

HARMAN is interested in the health and wellbeing of you and your family and offers a range of benefits designed to support your needs for holistic wellbeing. Benefits and perks may vary depending on the nature of your employment with HARMAN, and may include paid vacation and holidays, paid sick leave, volunteer leave, and paid bonding and care giver leave. Employees may also be eligible to participate in comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, fertility support and adoption assistance, Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan with employer match, short and long term disability coverage, life insurance, and more.

You Belong Here

HARMAN is committed to making every employee feel welcomed, valued, and empowered. No matter what role you play, we encourage you to share your ideas, voice your distinct perspective, and bring your whole self with you – all within a support-minded culture that celebrates what makes each of us unique. We also recognize that learning is a lifelong pursuit and want you to flourish. We proudly offer added opportunities for training, development, and continuing education, further empowering you to live the career you want.

About HARMAN: Where Innovation Unleashes Next-Level Technology

Ever since the 1920s, we've been amplifying the sense of sound. Today, that legacy endures, with integrated technology platforms that make the world smarter, safer, and more connected.

Across automotive, lifestyle, and digital transformation solutions, we create innovative technologies that turn ordinary moments into extraordinary experiences. Our renowned automotive and lifestyle solutions can be found everywhere, from the music we play in our cars and homes to venues that feature today’s most sought‑after performers, while our digital transformation solutions serve humanity by addressing the world’s ever‑evolving needs and demands. Marketing our award-winning portfolio under 16 iconic brands, such as JBL, Mark Levinson, and Revel, we set ourselves apart by exceeding the highest engineering and design standards for our customers, our partners and each other.

HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. HARMAN strives to hire the best qualified candidates and is committed to building a workforce representative of the diverse marketplaces and communities of our global colleagues and customers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, 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. HARMAN attracts, hires, and develops employees based on merit, qualifications and job-related performance.(www.harman.com)