Hardware System Engineer - AirPods System Technologies
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 8, 2026. First seen by Alion on Nov 6, 2026. Apple scores A on the Alion truth index.
The AirPods System Technologies Team is looking for electrical engineers who are eager to help define technologies that will be fundamental to our future products. Our team is responsible for architecting, developing, and delivering features and technologies that fit within the most challenging physical and power envelopes in a way that only Apple can.
Description
As part of the team you will be responsible for developing system-level specifications, analyzing, and reviewing designs for custom silicon - from both in-house designers and third-party vendors - as well as evaluating how sensing and signal processing subsystems integrate into the broader architecture. You will seek out and investigate new technologies that can be leveraged to deliver groundbreaking new features to our customers, and you will work through feasibility studies for novel systems during early concept phases.
Specific focus areas include system integration and architecture of custom silicon, analysis of interface and data path efficiency, and the evaluation of user-facing use cases as they impact all of these. You will be responsible for comprehending end-user features and translating them into low-level electrical and architectural specifications across the full signal chain - from analog front ends and sensing modules through digital processing and firmware interfaces.
Knowledge of how various submodules of a complete system architecture interact is critical for projecting and mitigating coexistence issues at the architectural level. Working within the tiny power and physical envelope that AirPods demand requires careful consideration of every microwatt and every square millimeter. Nothing comes for free, so you will need to understand and navigate all the tradeoffs across various engineering disciplines to come to a realizable solution.
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent
7+ years of proven experience in electronic system design, or in top-level chip architecture / specification
Excellent EE fundamentals: basic circuits, analog, digital, power
Familiarity working with open ended constraints and relying on understanding the user experience to define electrical requirements
Preferred Qualifications
Masters or Ph.d in Electrical Engineering or equivalent
Acquaintance with the ASIC / semiconductor development and manufacturing process
Familiarity with common digital architecture fundamentals such as memory and power state management
Understanding of how computer design tradeoffs affect power consumption
Ability to traverse the full stack - from analog sensing front ends through digital signal processing up to how subsystem performance manifests in user-facing features
Knowledge of digital signal processing techniques and implementation tradeoffs
Ability to understand tradeoffs amongst the electrical, mechanical, and software domains
Practical knowledge with various communication protocols (especially USB, SPI, I2C and UART)
Hands-on experience in prototype bring-up, debugging and functional verification is extremely beneficial