Perceptual Audio Engineer (Research)

Harman; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 134,250 - 196,900; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee discounts on Harman products

Harman University training

Wellness benefits

Tuition reimbursement

Be Brilliant recognition program

Job summary

HARMAN is seeking a Perceptual Audio Engineer (Research) in California to advance perceptual metrics, design listening studies, and build datasets that align with user perception. You will enable continual product improvement across DSP and ML components while maintaining rigorous validation.

The role emphasizes cross-functional collaboration, developing objective metrics, and ensuring no perceptual regressions through CI-style quality gates.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in EE/CS/Acoustics/Psychoacoustics/Statistics or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years in perceptual audio, audio quality evaluation, or related research/engineering.
• Experience with designing listening tests, perceptual metrics, and statistical analyses.

Responsibilities

• Develop perceptual metrics and evaluation methodologies that correlate with human judgments (timbre, artifacts, clarity, spatial realism).
• Design and conduct subjective evaluations (ABX, preference tests, rating studies) and perform statistical analyses.
• Develop ML-based quality prediction or artifact detection to speed iterations; support CI workflows.
• Define acceptance criteria and regression tests to prevent perceptual regressions in productization.
• Build and maintain clean datasets, labeling strategies, metadata, and experiment tracking.
• Collaborate with DSP, acoustics, ML, and system testing teams to reflect user value and edge cases.

Skills

Perceptual audio

Statistics for experiments

Python

MATLAB

ML frameworks familiarity

DSP concepts

Experiment design

Data analysis

Education

MS/PhD in EE/CS/Acoustics/Psychoacoustics/Statistics

Equivalent experience

Tools

Python

MATLAB

Job description

Perceptual Audio Engineer (Research)

About the Role

The Perceptual Audio Engineer (Research) develops the metrics, methods, and evaluation frameworks that connect algorithms to what users actually perceive. You will design listening tests, create perceptual datasets, develop objective and ML-based metrics, and establish quality gates so products can ship without perceptual regressions. Success means that we understand how to create a desired perceptual goal in varying environments and just make it work for every customer.

What You Will Do

• Metrics & Methods Development: Create perceptual metrics and evaluation methodologies that correlate with human preference and quality judgments (timbre, artifacts, clarity, spatial realism, comfort/fatigue).
• User Testing & Listening Studies: Design and execute subjective evaluations (ABX, preference tests, rating studies), including stimulus generation, panel guidance, statistical analysis, and repeatability.
• AI/ML-Enabled Evaluation: Where beneficial, develop ML-based quality prediction or artifact detection that supports rapid iteration (embedded-viable where relevant; cloud‑viable for batch evaluation).
• Perception-to-Product Gatekeeping: Define acceptance criteria and regression tests so OneUX productization can enforce "no perceptual regressions" in CI-style workflows.
• Data & Experiment Discipline: Build and maintain clean datasets, labeling strategies, metadata, and experiment tracking so results are trustworthy and reusable.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with DSP, acoustics, ML, and system testing roles to ensure metrics reflect real user value and cover edge cases.
• AI Tools: Use AI tools to accelerate analysis and reporting while maintaining rigorous validation and traceability.

What You Need to Be Successful

• Education: MS or PhD in EE/CS/Acoustics/Psychoacoustics/Statistics (or equivalent experience).
• Experience: 5+ years in perceptual audio, audio quality evaluation, or related applied research/engineering.
• Perception + Statistics: Strong understanding of psychoacoustics and statistical analysis for human-subject experiments. Experience in using and developing perceptual models.
• Programming: Python and/or MATLAB for analysis and tooling; familiarity working with ML frameworks and basic DSP concepts.
• AI Tools: Experience using AI-assisted tools for data analysis, scripting, and documentation in a reproducible workflow.

Bonus Points if You Have

• Experience with perceptual evaluation for spatial audio, headphone tuning, or automotive cabin audio.
• Experience creating objective metrics that become organizational standards and materially change decision-making speed/quality.
• Familiarity with embedded deployment constraints for ML-based metrics.
• Patents/publications in perceptual audio or audio quality evaluation.

What Makes You Eligible

• Successfully complete a background investigation and drug screen as a condition of employment (post‑offer).
• Ability to work from an office in Northridge, CA. 3+ days per week (hybrid).

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.

Pay Transparency: $134,250 - $196,900

Benefits include paid vacation and holidays, paid sick leave, volunteer leave, paid bonding and caregiver 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.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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 is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process, please contact us at [e-mail]. Requests will be considered on a case‑by‑case basis in accordance with applicable law.