At Sonos we want to create the ultimate listening experience for our customers and know that it starts by listening to each other. As part of the Sonos team, you’ll collaborate with people of all styles, skill sets, and backgrounds to realize our vision while fostering a community where everyone feels included and empowered to do the best work of their lives.
Principal Acoustic Engineer: Passive Acoustics & Transducer Integration
We are seeking a highly skilled Principal Acoustic Engineer to lead the design and integration of passive acoustic elements and mid/high frequency transducer systems across our next-generation audio products.
In this role, you will bridge the gap between advanced acoustic simulation, loudspeaker systems design, and physical transducer development. You will own the passive acoustic domain of loudspeaker architectures including but not limited to: waveguides, horns, slot-loading, load plate, phase plugs, and enclosure elements. A critical part of this role involves solving complex boundary problems, enclosure pressure fields, and optimizing high-, mid-, and wide-bandwidth driver performance and enclosure integration. You will be instrumental in elevating our technical capabilities in high-frequency source manipulation, particularly for soundbars, multi-channel loudspeakers, and unique loudspeaker architectures of the future.
What You Will Do
Passive Acoustic Architecture: Lead the end-to-end concept, design, and optimization of passive acoustic elements including: custom waveguides, horns, ports, slot-loaded geometries, and enclosure acoustic boundaries.
Transducer Integration & Phase Plug Design: Design, simulate, and validate high-frequency driver assemblies and phase plugs. Ensure seamless acoustic coupling between transducers and waveguides to achieve optimal directivity, frequency response, and distortion characteristics.
Source Manipulation & Advanced Geometries: Solve complex acoustic boundary challenges for traditional drivers, collinear designs, asymmetric acoustic designs, to name a few. Must be capable of applying advanced source manipulation techniques for compact, high-performance systems.
Acoustic Simulation & Modeling: Utilize advanced acoustic modeling tools (FEA/BEM) to optimize beamwidth, directivity, and overall acoustic performance prior to physical prototyping. Must then correlate simulation with actual devices with an emphasis on the physical end result.
Strategic Development: Help elevate the team’s internal expertise in high-frequency elements and wide-bandwidth drivers. Leverage and refine our internal automated waveguide design tools. This role should anticipate focus on highly constrained and/or novel acoustic problems.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with audio systems engineers, mechanical engineers, industrial designers, and the broader audio team to integrate acoustic architectures into premium soundbars, All in One loudspeakers (AiOs), and home theater products.
What You Will Need
Education:
Required - A Bachelor's degree of Engineering or Physics
Desired - A Masters Degree of Science/Engineering with an emphasis in audio and acoustics.
Experience: 12+ years of hands-on experience in acoustic engineering, with a proven track record of shipping high-volume consumer audio or premium professional audio products.
Passive Acoustic Expertise: Deep theoretical and practical knowledge of waveguide theory, horn loading, boundary interactions, and port/enclosure design.
Transducer & HF Knowledge: Strong foundation in transducer component design—specifically high-frequency domes, voice coils, phase plug synthesis, and motor topologies.
Simulation Proficiency: Advanced experience with acoustic simulation and multi-physics software (e.g., COMSOL) focusing on coupled transducer-waveguide domains.
Measurement & Validation: Extensive experience with acoustic measurement systems (e.g., Klippel, Audio Precision, SoundCheck) and rapid prototyping techniques (3D printing, CNC) for iterating complex acoustic geometries.
Problem Solving: A strategic mindset with the ability to identify team knowledge gaps and autonomously drive complex, ambiguous design challenges from concept to mass production
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Your profile will be reviewed and you'll hear from us once we have an update. At Sonos we take the time to hire right and appreciate your patience.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or Physics
- 12+ years of hands-on experience in acoustic engineering
- Proven track record shipping high-volume consumer audio or premium professional audio products
- Deep theoretical and practical knowledge of waveguide theory, horn loading, boundary interactions, and port/enclosure design
- Strong knowledge of high-frequency transducer component design, including domes, voice coils, phase plugs, and motor topologies
- Advanced experience with acoustic simulation and multiphysics software such as COMSOL
- Extensive experience with acoustic measurement systems such as Klippel, Audio Precision, or SoundCheck
- Experience with rapid prototyping techniques including 3D printing and CNC
- Strategic problem-solving ability to drive complex, ambiguous design challenges from concept through mass production
- Master's degree in Science or Engineering emphasizing audio and acoustics
Sonos Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Sonos and has not been reviewed or approved by Sonos.
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Healthcare Strength — Multiple medical plan options with in‑network preventive care covered and day‑one eligibility indicate comprehensive healthcare support. Wellness programs and access to mental‑health resources further reinforce depth of coverage.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave applies to both birthing and non‑birthing parents globally, with additional medical recovery time for birthing parents. This breadth positions family support as a clear strength of the package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — An open time off policy in the U.S. and company holidays provide flexible avenues for rest. Paid volunteer time adds further optionality for time away.
Sonos Insights
What We Do
We connect millions of listeners all around the world to the content they want, where and how they want it. Since inventing multiroom wireless audio in 2005, we have continuously innovated the listening experience, designing hardware and software that celebrates sound, empowers our customers, and brings the home to life. Our team is made up of passionate players united by a culture of respect, transparency, collaboration, and ownership who want to inspire the world to listen better.
Why Work With Us
Sonos is a global company that boasts a rich culture of diversity and innovation. With over 1,800 employees distributed across the world, we work remotely from home or an office location (when required). We value a diverse workforce that enables each employee to do the best work of their life and contribute to projects they are passionate about.
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