
Acoustic Engineer – iPad, Mac & Home Acoustics
Required skills
- acoustic theory
- personal ownership
- acoustic requirements
- risk assessment
Nice to have
- prototyping
- mass production
- high-volume consumer electronics
- overseas manufacturers
- electrodynamic transducer design
- MEMS
Role summary
Apple's iPad, Mac & Home Acoustics team is seeking an Acoustic Engineer to drive audio concepts from ideation to mass production. This role involves owning acoustic design and integration across iconic product families, collaborating deeply with cross-functional teams, and utilizing simulation, prototyping, tuning, and validation to advance compact acoustic systems. The ideal candidate has a passion for audio, fundamental acoustic theory knowledge, and at least 5 years of experience in acoustics engineering with a focus on high-volume consumer electronics. Experience with transducer design, speaker/microphone integration, spatial audio features, acoustic measurement tools, and programming languages like MATLAB or Python is preferred.
Description
As an Acoustic Engineer on this team, you will take innovative audio concepts from early ideation all the way to mass production, shaping how millions of people experience sound every day. You'll own acoustic design and integration across product lines, ensuring the overall audio experience is second to none. This involves deep collaboration with Transducer Design, Product Design, Electrical Engineering, Software, Tuning, Operations, and Reliability teams. Through simulation, prototyping, tuning, and validation, you will push the boundaries of what's possible in compact acoustic systems. Expected international travel is approximately 10%.
Minimum Qualifications
Passion for audio and fundamental knowledge of acoustic theory Eagerness to take on new challenges with personal ownership, learn new skills, and drive tasks from start to finish independently Thrive in cross-functional collaboration, communicating acoustic requirements, assessing trade-offs, and thinking strategically about risk Excellent written and interpersonal skills MS or equivalent work experience, preferably specializing in acoustics 10% international travel
Preferred Qualifications
5+ years in an acoustics engineering role with proven success prototyping, producing, and shipping high-volume consumer electronics with overseas manufacturers Knowledge of electrodynamic transducer design and MEMS, including simulation of transducers and acoustic porting (lumped parameter, FEM/BEM, COMSOL) Hands-on experience integrating speakers and microphones, including designing for water, dust, and chemical resistance Passionate about audio feature development and creative sound design, e.g. beamforming, spatial audio, EQ/filter design, compression/limiting, and using tools like Max MSP and Logic Pro Skilled in acoustic measurement and data acquisition (Klippel, SoundCheck, Audio Precision, or similar), audio signal processing, and 3D CAD Skilled in high-level programming (MATLAB or Python)
Sample Apple interview questions
- 1
Design a typeahead box for a search engine
system designmedium - 2
Design a rate limiter
system designmedium - 3
Architect a key-value store for distributed systems.
system designmedium - 4
Design a system to schedule jobs in a distributed environment
system designmedium - 5
What is an API and how does it work?
technicalmedium
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