Senior Staff Software Engineer, Audio Systems, XR

About the role

As the Audio System Engineering Lead, you will serve as the systems architect for acoustics, hardware co-design, and audio tuning across Google’s smart glasses and XR wearable portfolio. You will own end-to-end audio quality—both capture and playback—across all operational modes and product form factors. You will bridge the gap between physical acoustics, embedded DSP software, and machine-learning-driven speech enhancement. This role requires navigating high ambiguity, defining technical roadmaps, establishing acoustic tuning methodologies, and aligning multi-disciplinary engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Partner with physical hardware teams to evaluate and select microphones, speakers, amplifiers and optimize microphone array placement/orientation and acoustic chambers under severe spatial constraints.
• Lead and guide the tuning engineering team to define KPIs and optimize playback (DEQ, MBDRC, speaker limiters) and capture (AEC, beamforming, neural wind noise reduction, VAD/AIT) signal processing blocks on resource-constrained embedded architectures.
• Take ultimate accountability for overall audio quality across all XR glasses form factors; establish standardized quality metrics and audio tuning practices.
• Own and drive the long-term technical roadmap and strategy for XR audio systems; decompose ambiguous, highly complex audio challenges into structured, multi-team projects.
• Evaluate, select, and manage key components and IP vendors; drive the integration of advanced audio algorithms (e.g., Acoustic Echo Cancellation, spatial audio, noise suppression) utilizing both in-house research and external vendor technologies.

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Acoustics, Mechanical Engineering (Acoustics focus), Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
• 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.

Preferred qualifications

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

Pay

US: $262,000 – $364,000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits