Hardware Systems Design & Integration Engineer - AirPods

Summary

Every day, hundreds of millions of people reach for AirPods to tune into their world. Behind that seamless, effortless experience is some of the most advanced electrical and mechanical integration in consumer hardware - world-class acoustic performance, custom silicon, sensor fusion, and incredible battery life.

Our team owns the end-to-end electrical design of AirPods. We are seeking a Senior Technical Lead to define what comes next. In this role, you will define system-level architecture, push the boundaries of physical architecture, wireless systems, and custom silicon, and set the technical standard for extraordinary cross-functional teams.

If you thrive on technical rigor and the challenge of turning complex engineering into products the world wears daily, your next chapter is here.

About the role

In this role, you will be the hands-on Electrical Engineering Lead for an AirPods program, owning the system architecture, design, and development from initial concept through mass production. You will drive critical trade-offs—applying rigorous engineering principles to design, optimize, and validate hardware within tight volumetric, thermal, and power constraints. As both lead engineer and mentor, you will resolve architectural ambiguity, guide the team through complex technical challenges, and align electrical design across cross-functional partners, operations, and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Drive system-level electrical decisions and contribute to product definition in partnership with cross-functional engineering teams, executing with a high level of product ownership
• Get hands-on with prototype bring-up, debug, and system validation — building validation plans that prove performance in the lab and guarantee quality at the factory
• Define and drive manufacturing test requirements; partner with contract manufacturers and operations to enable a smooth ramp to high-volume production
• Lead and organize complex, multi-disciplinary investigations across electrical, mechanical, and software domains, often with incomplete data and drive them to root cause and durable resolution
• Translate complex technical trade-offs into clear narratives for cross-functional partners, contract manufacturers, and executive audiences; build alignment and drive decisions, including the hard calls
• Own schematic design, layout direction, and design reviews for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits, delivering to program milestones
• Mentor peers, share best practices, and help raise the technical bar and culture of the team
• Travel occasionally to support builds and manufacturing activities

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, or equivalent directly-related work experience
• 8+ years of relevant industry experience designing electronic and/or embedded systems
• 3+ years experience in technical leadership
• Deep electrical engineering fundamentals across analog, digital, power, and signal integrity, with a track record of leading complex system decisions to closure
• Experience driving high-volume consumer product development cycle end-to-end, from architecture through mass production
• Demonstrated ability to track, prioritize, and drive closure on multiple concurrent open issues in a fast-paced environment, keeping cross-functional partners aligned on status and risk.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with wearables/hearables design and manufacturing
• Technical foresight: experience productizing new technologies in high-volume applications
• Autonomous execution: experience turning high-level direction into concrete plans, driving tough problems forward, and holding peer engineers accountable for delivery
• Comfortable making measured decisions in ambiguity with incomplete data, while balancing engineering constraints
• Excellent communication and executive presence, regularly surfacing critical topics and adjusting depth according to audience