Audio Firmware Engineer
About Hark Hark is an artificial intelligence company building advanced, personalized intelligence. One that is proactive, multimodal, and capable of interacting with the world through speech, text, vision, and persistent memory. We're pairing that intelligence with next-generation hardware to create a universal interface between humans and machines. While today's AI largely operates through chat boxes and decade-old devices, Hark is focused on what comes next: agentic systems that interact naturally with people and the real world. To get there, we're developing multimodal models and next-generation AI hardware together - designed from the ground up as a single, unified interface for a new era of intelligent systems. About the Role We're looking for an experienced Audio Firmware Engineer to develop and optimize next-generation embedded audio solutions on Android and SoC platforms. This role spans audio system bring-up, DSP pipeline integration, firmware optimization, and deployment of advanced audio/AI features for consumer devices. You will work across the software stack-from Android audio framework and HAL layers down to DSP-bringing production-quality audio experiences to market. This is hands-on work close to silicon, with direct impact on how every user experiences the product. ResponsibilitiesBring up audio on new hardware in the Android system - codecs, mics, speakers, routing, and low-level platform integrationDesign, implement, and manage audio use cases on SoC platforms across playback, capture, voice, and always-on listening pathsIntegrate and tune audio paths across the Android audio stack (HAL, AudioFlinger, Audio Policy Manager, TinyALSA/ALSA) and the underlying SoC audio frameworksDebug complex audio issues end-to-end using platform logs, working from kernel and DSP traces up through application-level symptomsPartner with the AI team to support audio-driven inference workloads (wake word, ASR, speech enhancement) within latency, power, and memory budgetsCollaborate with hardware, acoustics, and product teams from prototype through production to ship audio that feels effortless to users Requirements3+ years of professional firmware or embedded audio development, ideally on consumer products that have shipped at scaleProficient with C/C++ in resource-constrained, real-time environmentsFamiliar with Android audio architecture: Audio HAL, AudioFlinger, Audio Policy Manager, and TinyALSA/ALSA interfacesHands-on experience with audio tooling and frameworksComfort working across the full audio stack - kernel drivers, DSP firmware, HAL, framework - and debugging issues that span all of itExperience working alongside hardware engineers during board bring-up and reading schematics for audio subsystems Bonus QualificationsWorking knowledge of audio processing algorithms - dynamic range control, echo cancellation, noise suppression, beamforming, and similarDSP optimization experience, including fixed-point development, SIMD and VLIW.Tune audio quality and validate behavior across acoustic conditionsExperience deploying machine learning models on embedded platforms, especially audio models running on DSP or NPUBackground shipping voice-first or far-field audio products Compensation The US base salary range for this full-time position is between $120,000 - $300,000 annually. The pay offered for this position may vary based on several individual factors, including job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include additional components/benefits depending on the specific role. This information will be shared if an employment offer is extended.