Senior Staff Software Engineer, Audio Systems, XR

Google•San Jose, CA

3d•$262,000 - $364,000

About The Position

Google is seeking a Senior Staff Software Engineer to serve as the Audio System Engineering Lead and systems architect for acoustics, hardware co-design, and audio tuning across its smart glasses and XR wearable portfolio. The role owns end-to-end audio quality for capture and playback across operational modes and product form factors, bridging physical acoustics, embedded DSP software, and machine-learning-driven speech enhancement. The engineer will define technical roadmaps and acoustic tuning methodologies, guide multidisciplinary engineering teams, and manage project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables. The work includes designing, developing, testing, deploying, maintaining, and enhancing software solutions. The role is part of Google's XR effort to develop lightweight glasses and headsets that pair with AI for personalized, conversational, and contextually aware experiences. In-person interviews are part of the hiring process.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Acoustics, Mechanical Engineering with an acoustics focus, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
At least 8 years of industry experience in audio systems engineering, acoustics, physical acoustic design, audio system tuning, or digital signal processing for consumer electronics or wearable devices.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or PhD in Acoustics, Electrical Engineering, Audio Signal Processing, or Psychoacoustics.
Demonstrated experience tuning playback production pipelines, including EQ, MBDRC, speaker protection, and loudness optimization, and capture pipelines, including AEC, beamforming, and noise suppression.
Proven track record of architecting, tuning, and shipping audio systems for high-volume commercial wearable products such as smart glasses, AR/VR headsets, TWS earbuds, smart speakers, or hearables.
Deep expertise in physical micro-acoustics, including acoustic cavity design, porting, acoustic mesh impedance, transducer characterization, and lumped-element or FEA acoustic modeling.

Responsibilities

Partner with physical hardware teams to evaluate and select microphones, speakers, and amplifiers, and optimize microphone-array placement and orientation and acoustic chambers under severe spatial constraints.
Lead and guide the tuning engineering team in defining KPIs and optimizing playback and capture signal-processing blocks on resource-constrained embedded architectures.
Take ultimate accountability for audio quality across XR glasses form factors and establish standardized quality metrics and audio-tuning practices.
Own and drive the long-term technical roadmap and strategy for XR audio systems, and decompose ambiguous, complex audio challenges into structured, multi-team projects.
Evaluate, select, and manage key components and IP vendors.
Drive integration of advanced audio algorithms, including acoustic echo cancellation, spatial audio, and noise suppression, using in-house research and external vendor technologies.
Manage project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables; design, develop, test, deploy, maintain, and enhance software solutions.