Windows Audio Engineer

Company

Founded by legendary filmmaker George Lucas in 1983, THX sets performance standards for world-class studios and cinemas, and provides premium audio and video solutions for mobile devices, PCs, home, and automotive. THX develops technologies, products and specifications that perfect the consumer entertainment experience, and enable the artist to deliver their true vision.

Relationship

Reports to VP, Engineering

Specific Responsibilities

Summary

The Windows Audio Engineer will develop innovative spatial audio software solutions for desktop PCs and mobile handsets, web browser-based applications, and device driver + DSP subsystems, in service of an expanding and perceptually distinctive global PC audio marketplace. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Build, test, and reliably deliver platform-centric application, software component and device driver packages, to support our ODM and OEM manufacturing partners
• Prepare mobile, on-device and cloud-based unit and integration test frameworks to ensure consistent performance across all supported platforms
• Partner with UX/UI and audio DSP engineers to refine existing product offerings, to develop new cutting-edge implementations in support of vendor, customer and end-user requirements
• Review existing Windows-centric development workflows to understand and improve compliance with platform-centric best practices, certifications and testing
• Advocate, prove out, and deliver new technologies for perceptual audio, including but not limited to machine learning, personalization, and interactive audio reproduction
• Refine existing and develop new testing and instrumentation applications for internal and external (partner) use
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

• 3+ years experience as a software developer delivering public-facing applications or products
• Deep understanding of the Microsoft Windows audio subsystem and its evolution across multiple builds of Windows 8.1 and 10
• Development experience on desktop PC platforms and applications (macOS 10.x, ChromeOS and Linux are a plus)
• Continuous integration and deployment (CICD) experience across multiple platforms, both for local testing as well as cloud-based build environments
• Experience with test and submission requirements for Windows Update and Store, including but not limited to device driver and UWP application preparation
• Familiarity with platform-centric analytics offerings and their implementation is a plus
• Familiarity with desktop and mobile audio plugin architectures is a plus
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, in service of cross-team and customer-focused documentation for deployment, testing and product support

Education

BA/BS degree in Software Engineering or supporting disciplines, or equivalent work experience.

Personal Characteristics

Preferred Language Skills

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret complex documents. Ability to respond effectively to all types of inquiries. Ability to write speeches and articles using original or innovative techniques or style. Ability to make effective and persuasive speeches and presentations on controversial or complex topics to top management, public groups, and/or boards of directors.

Written and spoken proficiency in US English required; additional language proficiencies, including Mandarin, Cantonese or other CJVK languages are a plus.

Mathematical Skills

Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.

Engineering mathematics proficiency is required, including but not limited to familiarity with integral and differential calculus, linear algebra, discrete maths, and numerical analysis.

Prior experience with desktop applications such as MATLAB, Mathematica, Jupyter notebooks, et al is beneficial, but not required.

Reasoning Ability

Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several variables in unusual situations. Ability to use effective deductive reasoning is essential.

Ability to weigh risks, commercial and/or technical uncertainties, trade offs, and incomplete or changing information to inform team priorities.

Computer Skills

To perform this job successfully, an individual should have familiarity with integrated development and source-control environments, including but not limited to Microsoft Visual Studio and GitHub / Atlassian Bitbucket, shared documents (Google Docs / Adobe Acrobat / Microsoft 365), direct messaging for team communication (Slack / Microsoft Teams), and issue tracking applications (Atlassian JIRA).

Microsoft Azure and/or Amazon AWS skills are a plus.

Certificates & Licenses

No certificates or licenses are required.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Characteristics

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds. While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk.

Travel Requirements

No travel requirements.

To apply for this role, please click “Apply Now,” to submit a resume.

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THX Ltd. is an equal opportunity employer. We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veterans status, or disabilities. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

THX Ltd. does not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party recruiters, including and without limitation, search firms, staffing agencies, fee-based referral services and recruiting agencies. Any resume submitted to any employee of THX Ltd. will be considered unsolicited and deemed gratuitous without having a written vendor agreement in place and only to the extent such agreement covers a specified position. THX Ltd. will not pay a placement fee. Verbal or written commitments from any other member of THX Ltd. staff will not be binding. It is the responsibility of all third-party recruiting/supplemental staffing agencies to know this policy.