Description & Requirements About the Role The HARMAN Research Intelligent Audio team is working to set a new standard for audio: create experiences that understand the listener, adapt to their environment, and become more personal and useful over time. As a Acoustic Engineer - Research in HARMAN Research, you will turn acoustic science and signal processing into the systems and technologies that make these experiences possible.
Reporting to the Director of Intelligent Audio, you will lead research from modeling and prototyping through evaluation and technology transfer. This is a senior, hands-on individual contributor role for someone who combines scientific depth, engineering judgment, and cross-functional influence. Success means acoustic technologies create a perceptible benefit that product teams can adopt with confidence.
What You Will Do - Advance acoustic research: Follow relevant advances, frame business-relevant technical questions, and turn promising ideas into validated prototypes.
- Design intelligent audio systems: Model, build, test, and tune acoustic systems and signal processing algorithms across relevant devices and listening environments.
- Build evaluation systems: Create repeatable simulation, measurement, and critical listening methods and tests.
- Connect acoustics, machine learning, and perception: Work with Audio ML and Perceptual Audio colleagues to combine physical, algorithmic, data-driven, and human evidence.
- Prepare technologies for product adoption: Work with a cross-functional team of engineers and user experience designers to build reference implementations. Stay engaged as product teams adopt the technology.
- Use modern AI tools: Lead in continuously improving results by applying AI-assisted tools to accelerate experimentation, coding, testing, analysis, and documentation.
- Strengthen shared practice: Communicate results clearly, mentor colleagues, and create methods, tools, and technical assets that teams across HARMAN can reuse.
What You Need to Be Successful Essential - A degree in acoustics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Significant relevant experience, typically at least five years, in acoustic research or engineering.
- Strong foundations in acoustics, signal processing, acoustic systems design, measurement, psychoacoustics, and critical listening.
- Evidence of taking an idea from research question through modeling, prototyping, reproducible evaluation, and product integration or a product-ready demonstration.
- Practical fluency with Python, MATLAB, or equivalent tools for acoustic modeling, measurement, analysis, and automation.
- Ability to explain technical results and product implications clearly, and to influence research, engineering, and product teams without relying on formal authority.
Preferred - Depth in one or more areas such as headphones, loudspeakers, microphones, transducers, active noise control, beamforming, or adaptive signal processing.
- Experience designing for real-time audio systems and explaining hardware, software, latency, compute, and power tradeoffs.
- Experience correlating instrumented acoustic measures with perceptual results and product experience.
- Working knowledge of machine learning methods for audio and the data pipelines used to evaluate them.
- Experience with physical prototyping, 3D CAD, rapid fabrication, or acoustic test fixtures.
- Patents, publications, standards work or shipped audio technologies. Demonstrated technical and product impact matters more than credentials alone.
What Makes You Eligible - Willingness to travel up to 10 percent of the time, domestically and internationally.
- Willingness to work on site at the Northridge, California, office with the flexibility defined for the position.
What We Offer - Access to employee discounts on world-class products from JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, and more.
- Extensive training opportunities through HARMAN University.
- Competitive wellness benefits.
- Tuition reimbursement.
- The Be Brilliant employee recognition and rewards program.
- An inclusive and diverse work environment that encourages professional and personal development.
#LI-DPWHITE1
#LI-hybridPay Transparency
$ 97,500 - $ 143,000
Dependent on the position offered, other forms of compensation are also available, such as bonuses or commission.
Pay is based on a wide range of factors, including, without limitation, skill set, experience, training, location, and business need. While the above range is a reasonable estimate of the wage range for this position, please note the disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographical differential associated with the location where the position may be filled.
BenefitsHARMAN is interested in the health and wellbeing of you and your family and offers a range of benefits designed to support your needs for holistic wellbeing. Benefits and perks may vary depending on the nature of your employment with HARMAN, and may include paid vacation and holidays, paid sick leave, volunteer leave, and paid bonding and care giver 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.
#LI-DPWHITE1
#LI-hybridPay Transparency
$ 97,500 - $ 143,000
Dependent on the position offered, other forms of compensation are also available, such as bonuses or commission.
Pay is based on a wide range of factors, including, without limitation, skill set, experience, training, location, and business need. While the above range is a reasonable estimate of the wage range for this position, please note the disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographical differential associated with the location where the position may be filled.
BenefitsHARMAN is interested in the health and wellbeing of you and your family and offers a range of benefits designed to support your needs for holistic wellbeing. Benefits and perks may vary depending on the nature of your employment with HARMAN, and may include paid vacation and holidays, paid sick leave, volunteer leave, and paid bonding and care giver 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.
