Audio ML Engineer (Research)

Description & Requirements

Introduction: A Career at HARMAN Corporate

We're a global, multi-disciplinary team that's putting the innovative power of technology to work and transforming tomorrow. At HARMAN Corporate, you are integral to our company's award-winning success.

• Enrich your managerial and organizational talents - from finance, quality, and supply chain to human resources, IT, sales, and strategy
• Augment your comprehensive skillset with expert training across decision-making, change management, leadership, and business development
• Obtain 360-degree support throughout your career life cycle, from early-stage to seasoned leader

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 an Audio ML Engineer in HARMAN Research, you will help turn that ambition into learning-based technologies that enable adaptive audio behavior across devices and contexts.

Reporting to the Director of Intelligent Audio, you will utilize your demonstrated technical depth in audio systems to develop machine learning models that enable audio systems to perceive, understand, and respond intelligently to our customers and the world around them. This is a hands-on research role that combines scientific rigor, rapid experimentation, and real-world product impact. Success means delivering models that create a perceptible benefit for users and meet product and platform constraints, that product teams can adopt with confidence.

What You Will Do

• Advance Audio ML research: Follow advances in relevant audio ML research fields and apply findings to solve business-relevant challenges.
• Learning-Based Perception Models: Develop ML models for perception-related tasks (e.g., quality prediction, artifact detection, scene/context classification, personalization embeddings, preference modeling).
• Build reliable data and evaluation: Define data collection, labeling, and representative evaluation conditions. Combine objective and perceptual evidence where appropriate.
• Engineer for product constraints: Design models for the intended embedded and cloud deployment paths. Optimize accuracy, latency, memory, compute, and power through methods such as quantization, pruning, and distillation.
• Cross-functional handoff: Partner with DSP, perceptual, and productization engineers to deliver reference pipelines, integration guidelines, and jointly agreed acceptance measures.
• Use modern AI tools: Lead in continuously improving results by applying AI-assisted tools to accelerate experimentation, coding, testing, analysis, and documentation.

What You Need to Be Successful

Essential

• MS or PhD in computer science, electrical engineering, statistics, applied machine learning, or a related field, or demonstrated equivalent experience.
• Relevant experience, typically at least five years of applied machine learning research or engineering experience, including at least two years applying machine learning to audio, speech, acoustics, perception, or related time series signals.
• Evidence of taking an idea from literature or hypothesis through baseline comparison, controlled experiments, reproducible evaluation, runtime optimization, and product integration or a product-ready prototype.
• Strong Python and modern machine learning framework capability, together with audio and signal processing fundamentals, evaluation design, dataset pipelines, and experiment tracking.
• Experience designing for embedded, edge, or cloud constraints and working with real-time engineering partners. You can explain model tradeoffs, limitations, failure modes, and supporting evidence.
• Ability to communicate research results and product implications clearly to specialist, engineering, and product audiences.

Preferred

• Depth in one or more areas such as speech enhancement and recognition, perceptual modeling, spatial or multichannel processing, acoustic scene understanding, source separation, or personalization.
• Experience with embedded inference toolchains, C or C++, model compression, hardware-aware optimization, and model lifecycle tooling.
• Experience documenting model and dataset provenance, intended use, performance, limitations, and relevant privacy or bias considerations.
• Experience with privacy-preserving learning or approved on-device personalization approaches.
• Patents, publications, or shipped machine learning features in consumer, automotive, or professional audio. Demonstrated product impact matters more than credentials alone.

What Makes You Eligible

• Successfully complete a background investigation and drug screen as a condition of employment after an offer.

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.

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Pay Transparency


$ 134,250 - $ 196,900


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.

Benefits

HARMAN 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.

About HARMAN: Where Innovation Unleashes Next-Level Technology

Ever since the 1920s, we've been amplifying the sense of sound. Today, that legacy endures, with integrated technology platforms that make the world smarter, safer, and more connected.


Across automotive, lifestyle, and digital transformation solutions, we create innovative technologies that turn ordinary moments into extraordinary experiences. Our renowned automotive and lifestyle solutions can be found everywhere, from the music we play in our cars and homes to venues that feature today's most sought-after performers, while our digital transformation solutions serve humanity by addressing the world's ever-evolving needs and demands. Marketing our award-winning portfolio under 16 iconic brands, such as JBL, Mark Levinson, and Revel, we set ourselves apart by exceeding the highest engineering and design standards for our customers, our partners and each other.


If you're ready to innovate and do work that makes a lasting impact, join our talent community today!


Important Notice: Recruitment Scams

Please be aware that HARMAN recruiters will always communicate with you from an '@harman.com', '@careers.harman.com' or '@harmanglobal.avature.net' email address. We will never ask for payments, banking, credit card, personal financial information or access to your LinkedIn/email account during the screening, interview, or recruitment process. If you are asked for such information or receive communication from an email address not ending in one of the above email domains about a job with HARMAN, please cease communication immediately and report the incident to us through: View email address on click.appcast.io.


You Belong Here

HARMAN is committed to making every employee feel welcomed, valued, and empowered. No matter what role you play, we encourage you to share your ideas, voice your distinct perspective, and bring your whole self with you - all within a support-minded culture that celebrates what makes each of us unique. We also recognize that learning is a lifelong pursuit and want you to flourish. We proudly offer added opportunities for training, development, and continuing education, further empowering you to live the career you want.


HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. HARMAN strives to hire the best qualified candidates and is committed to building a workforce representative of the diverse marketplaces and communities of our global colleagues and customers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. HARMAN attracts, hires, and develops employees based on merit, qualifications and job-related performance.( )


HARMAN is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process, please contact us at View email address on click.appcast.io . Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with applicable law.