Hardware System Engineer - AirPods System Technologies

Apple•Cupertino, CA

18h

About The Position

The AirPods System Technologies Team is seeking electrical engineers to help define technologies for future products. The team architects, develops, and delivers features and technologies within the demanding physical and power constraints of AirPods. The Hardware System Engineer develops system-level specifications and analyzes and reviews custom silicon designs from in-house designers and third-party vendors. The role evaluates how sensing and signal-processing subsystems integrate into the broader architecture, investigates technologies for new customer features, and conducts feasibility studies for novel systems during early concept phases. Focus areas include custom-silicon system integration and architecture, interface and data-path efficiency, and the effects of user-facing use cases on system design. The engineer translates end-user features into low-level electrical and architectural specifications across the signal chain, from analog front ends and sensing modules through digital processing and firmware interfaces. The role also requires understanding interactions among system submodules to anticipate and mitigate coexistence issues, while balancing power, physical size, and tradeoffs across engineering disciplines.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent, and 7+ years of proven experience in electronic system design or top-level chip architecture/specification.
Excellent electrical engineering fundamentals, including basic circuits, analog, digital, and power.
Familiarity with working under open-ended constraints and using an understanding of user experience to define electrical requirements.

Nice To Haves

Master's or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
Acquaintance with the ASIC/semiconductor development and manufacturing process.
Familiarity with digital architecture fundamentals such as memory and power-state management.
Understanding of how computer-design tradeoffs affect power consumption.
Ability to work across the full stack, from analog sensing front ends through digital signal processing to how subsystem performance appears in user-facing features.
Knowledge of digital signal-processing techniques and implementation tradeoffs.
Ability to understand tradeoffs among electrical, mechanical, and software domains.
Practical knowledge of communication protocols, especially USB, SPI, I2C, and UART.
Hands-on experience in prototype bring-up, debugging, and functional verification.

Responsibilities

Develop system-level specifications.
Analyze and review custom silicon designs from in-house designers and third-party vendors.
Evaluate how sensing and signal-processing subsystems integrate into the broader architecture.
Investigate technologies that can enable new customer features.
Conduct feasibility studies for novel systems during early concept phases.
Work on system integration and architecture of custom silicon.
Analyze interface and data-path efficiency and evaluate the effects of user-facing use cases.
Translate end-user features into low-level electrical and architectural specifications across the signal chain, from analog front ends and sensing modules through digital processing and firmware interfaces.
Understand interactions among system submodules and project and mitigate coexistence issues at the architectural level.
Balance power, physical size, and tradeoffs across engineering disciplines to arrive at realizable solutions.