Spatial XR Hardware Lead Architect

Job description

Minimum qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in hardware architecture for consumer electronics, including 6 years in system architecture for XR platforms.
• 8 years of experience working on shipped products with a focus on imaging or display optics and multi-camera perception suites.
• 5 years of experience in technical leadership.
Preferred qualifications:
• Master's degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or a related field (e.g., Optics, Sensors, Audio/DSP).
• Experience as Lead System Architect for commercial HMDs, smart glasses, or spatial computing platforms.
• Experience architecting spatial computing pipelines (VIO/SLAM, eye-tracking, passthrough) and sensor constraints.
• Expertise in ISP/DSP acceleration, MIPI, temporal sync, and split-compute under tight thermal constraints.
• Proficiency in optical simulation (Zemax/Code V/LightTools), lens design, polarization, metrology, and display calibration.
• Proven ability to align Mechanical, Electrical, Thermal, Silicon, and Perception/Graphics engineering teams.
About the job
Be part of a team that pushes boundaries, developing custom silicon solutions that power the future of Google's direct-to-consumer products. You'll contribute to the innovation behind products loved by millions worldwide. Your expertise will shape the next generation of hardware experiences, delivering unparalleled performance, efficiency, and integration.
As the Immersive XR Hardware Lead Architect, you will serve as the principal technical authority driving the end-to-end hardware architecture for next-generation immersive XR devices. This individual contributor (IC) technical leadership role owns the core architectural definitions and system integration strategies across Google’s immersive product portfolio.
You will specialize in the critical intersection of advanced optical systems and high-performance spatial perception pipelines, balancing trade-offs across visual immersion, tracking fidelity, latency, thermal envelopes, weight, cost, industrial design, and power efficiency.
For decades, the computing revolution has reshaped our world driven by
breakthroughs in compute, connectivity, mobile, and now, AI. Google's XR
team is at the forefront of the next major leap – the convergence of AI and
XR. This is more than just new devices – it's about reimagining how we
interact with the world around us. We're building a future where
lightweight XR devices like smart glasses and headsets pair with helpful AI
to augment human intelligence, offering personalized, conversational, and
contextually aware experiences.
Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.
US: $236000 - $329000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google .
Responsibilities
• Architect end-to-end XR headsets, optimizing trade-offs across FOV, resolution, compute, power, and form factor.
• Integrate advanced optical engines and micro-displays (uOLED, MicroLED, Fast-LCD) to optimize visual quality, efficiency, and contrast.
• Architect IPD adjustment and eye relief mechanisms for fit and visual performance, and define sensor suites for 6DoF tracking, eye/hand tracking, depth estimation, and video pass-through.
• Optimize camera placement, illumination, and low-latency sensor pipelines to maximize tracking accuracy and minimize latency.
• Lead alignment across cross-functional teams (e.g., Mechanical, Electrical, Thermal, Silicon, Firmware, Perception, Graphics, Product, and UX); mentor engineers to maintain high standards of architectural precision.
Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form .