System Design & Integration Engineer
Hark
$120,000 - $300,000 / year
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Description
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 are looking for a hands-on System Validation Engineer to join our growing team. In this role, you will be a key contributor in our hardware lab, rigorously characterizing our system's performance, flagging issues early, and building the automated test infrastructure that will help us scale.
As a System Validation Engineer, you will be the critical bridge between our hardware and software. You will champion the end-user experience by ensuring our systems work flawlessly together.
Responsibilities
- Define, measure, and document key system performance metrics, with a strong focus on power consumption, system latency, and overall stability.
- Rigorously test iterative hardware and software releases, tracking regressions and validating performance improvements over time.
- Ensure Hark's hardware designs integrate seamlessly with software. Proactively test real-world use cases to identify, expose, and document system-level bottlenecks before they reach the user.
- Design, build, and maintain automated test setups to streamline repetitive testing processes, improve reliability, and increase overall test coverage.
- Meticulously track and document bugs. Work closely with the design team to triage issues, diagnose root causes at the system level, and verify fixes.
- Partner effectively with diverse teams across the company—including Wireless, Audio, and UX—to validate holistic system performance and ensure product excellence.
Requirements
- Proven hands-on experience in system-level hardware/software validation. You must be comfortable profiling power, diagnosing latency bottlenecks, and troubleshooting complex system interactions.
- Comfortable reading and working with hardware schematics. Hands on with common hardware lab tools. Working knowledge with Qualcomm chipsets and platforms.
- Solid background in firmware bring-up and experience working within RTOS, Linux, or Android environments.
- Strong programming skills in Python, C++, or LabVIEW. You should be able to write scripts to control standard laboratory test equipment, and/or build simple test jigs.
Bonus Qualifications
- Expertise in one of the following subsystems: camera and optical sensor, capacitive sensor, audio, wireless.
- Familiarity with Agile development processes, bug tracking tools (e.g., Jira), and version control.
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.
About this role
Hark is building multimodal AI systems paired with next-generation hardware, and this role sits at the intersection of that work. As System Test & Validation Engineer, you'd operate in the hardware lab as the critical bridge between hardware and software teams, responsible for characterizing system performance across power consumption, latency, and stability. You'd design and build automated test infrastructure, run rigorous validation on iterative releases, and proactively identify system-level bottlenecks before they reach users—working closely with teams across wireless, audio, and UX to ensure the end-to-end experience works flawlessly.
The role demands hands-on expertise in hardware/software validation at the system level. You'll need proven experience profiling power and diagnosing latency issues, comfort reading schematics, and fluency with lab tools and Qualcomm chipsets. A solid firmware background and experience in RTOS, Linux, or Android environments are essential, along with strong programming skills in Python, C++, or LabVIEW to write test scripts and build simple test jigs. Experience with camera sensors, audio, wireless subsystems, or familiarity with Agile workflows would strengthen your candidacy.
This is a full-time, in-office position in San Jose with a base salary range of $120,000 to $300,000, depending on experience and qualifications.
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Pay for this role
$120,000 to $300,000 per year
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