Hardware Systems Design & Integration Engineer - AirPods

Socket.dev; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple is seeking an experienced electrical engineer to join the AirPods System Integration team in Cupertino. You will help design electronics for small form-factor audio products, pushing boundaries of analog and digital designs, signal and power integrity, and test methodologies.

You will prototype, bring up, debug, and validate hardware in the lab, mentor teammates, and collaborate with cross-functional partners to drive hardware from concept to mass production.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, or equivalent directly-related work experience.
• 5+ years of relevant industry experience designing electronics and/or embedded systems.
• Strong electrical engineering fundamentals, including analog and digital design, signal integrity, and power integrity.
• Hands-on experience with prototyping, bring-up, debug, and validation of electronic systems.
• Proficient in a lab environment with oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, frequency counters, and related instrumentation.

Skills

Analog design

Digital design

Signal integrity

Power integrity

Prototyping

Lab instrumentation

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical Engineering

Equivalent directly-related work experience

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Spectrum analyzers

Frequency counters

Job description

Description

At Apple, new ideas can quickly transform into amazing products, services, and customer experiences. Sound is an essential facet of that experience, and we are committed to making a difference through innovative electronic design. Our team owns the electronics inside small form-factor audio products - pushing the boundaries of physical architecture, wireless and silicon technologies. The AirPods System Integration team turns these ambitions into shipping hardware. We are looking for engineers who want to understand how things work, thrive in ambiguity, and lift the teams around them - people who can dig into a hard problem in the lab and then bring the team along on what they learned and where to go next. If you love building things and shipping products that millions of people wear every day, come help us build the next generation of AirPods.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, or equivalent directly-related work experience
• 5+ years of relevant industry experience designing electronics and/or embedded systems
• Strong electrical engineering fundamentals, including analog and digital design, signal integrity, and power integrity
• Hands-on experience with prototyping, bring-up, debug, and validation of electronic systems
• Proficient in a lab environment with oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, frequency counters, and related instrumentation

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficiency in PCB and flex design (schematic and layout), with a track record of delivering high-quality designs to aggressive timelines
• Working knowledge across several system domains such as SoC integration, power and battery, inductive power, analog and audio, RF, sensors, ESD, or design of test and automation infrastructure that scales across a program — with the curiosity to go deeper wherever the problem demands
• Track record of driving ambiguous, cross-disciplinary problems to root cause when the path forward isn't obvious and comfortable making measured decisions with incomplete data
• Proven ability to build alignment across teams and influence decisions with cross-functional partners, contract manufacturers, and executive stakeholders
• Experience taking hardware from proof of concept toward mass production, with exposure to contract manufacturing partners a plus
• Design validation experience spanning bench characterization through factory test coverage,
• Experience mentoring engineers and fostering a team environment where ideas from any level are welcomed, challenged, and made better
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex electrical trade-offs to non-EE audiences — from industrial designers to executives