Camera Mixed-Signal IC Validation Engineer - Camera Hardware (m/f/d)

Summary

The Camera Hardware Engineering group is responsible for the design, development, and innovation of camera hardware across all Apple products. Our goal is to deliver superior camera hardware that enables a best-in-class camera experience. We are looking for an enthusiastic, high-energy engineer to help us take on tomorrow's challenges.

You will join a team that sets the standard for excellence, creativity, and innovation, in an environment that cultivates partnership and thinking about old problems in new ways. Will you help us design the next generation of Apple products?

Description

This is a hands-on role centered on the validation of custom analog and mixed-signal silicon used in camera modules. You will own the question “is this part ready for the product?”, proving that the device meets its specification, proving that it works in the system, and working at the boundary of vendor requirements to find incorrect implementations before they reach customers.

You will follow the device across its full life, from requirements definition and first silicon bring-up, through characterization, module and system integration, to post-mass-production release. That means understanding how complex camera system architectures translate into analog, mixed-signal, and IC-level requirements, then building the validation plans, test setups, and automation that verify each of them across process, voltage, and temperature.

To do this, you will build the validation infrastructure yourself: evaluation boards and test fixtures, bench setups, and Python-based automation that drive the device through its register map, power states, and operating modes. You will use these tools to characterize silicon in the lab and to debug it in the system.

The engineers who succeed here have a critical, skeptical mindset and a genuine desire to break things. They read a datasheet looking for what is missing. They assume every specification has a corner nobody has tested. Whether working on first silicon or a production device, they push the hardware past its operating envelope, through edge cases and abuse conditions, and are not satisfied until they have exposed its weaknesses. Finding a bug in the lab is a win, because it is one less bug in a customer’s hands.

You will work closely with mechanical, optical, firmware, product/test, and camera systems engineers, and directly with silicon vendors, to evaluate performance specifications and optimal HW/SW/FW partitioning and interfacing.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute validation and characterization plans for custom camera ICs, from first silicon bring-up through post-mass-production release.
• Validate silicon against specification across process, voltage, and temperature corners, and correlate results to simulation and datasheet claims.
• Deliberately push ICs beyond their specified limits through supply transients, unexpected power sequences, and abuse cases.
• Verify register maps, trim settings, calibration flows, and power-up/power-down behavior, including unintended or undocumented states.
• Build the validation hardware needed to test the device: evaluation boards, test fixtures, and in-system debug setups.
• Develop Python and/or MATLAB frameworks for automated test, data collection, and analysis, so that validation is repeatable and scalable.
• Review vendor designs, datasheets, and implementations against camera system requirements to find issues early.
• Root-cause failures, document them clearly, and drive fixes with vendors through to closure.
• Support integration of the silicon into camera modules and products, working with firmware, mechanical, optical, and systems teams.

Minimum Qualifications

• Strong understanding of analog and mixed-signal fundamentals: amplifiers, data converters, feedback and stability, power delivery, and noise.
• Hands-on lab experience testing, characterizing, and debugging analog or mixed-signal circuits and ICs.
• Experience finding bugs or failure modes in hardware through stress, margin, or out-of-spec testing.
• Experience with Python and/or MATLAB for lab automation or data analysis.
• Working knowledge of schematic and PCB design tools such as Altium Designer, Allegro, or KiCAD, sufficient to build evaluation boards and test fixtures.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work directly with silicon vendors and cross-functional partners.
• Proficiency in the English language is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Electrical or Computer Engineering.
• Post-silicon validation or bring-up experience on custom analog/mixed-signal ICs, including identifying defects not caught by the supplier.
• Experience developing validation test plans and test coverage for ICs, including PVT corner characterization.
• Experience with serial interfaces and register-level device control (I2C, SPI, MIPI), and with building automated test frameworks around them.
• Experience with actuator drivers (VCM, OIS), LED flash drivers, camera PMICs, or power converters.
• Circuit simulation with SPICE-based tools, including correlation of simulation to measurement.
• Familiarity with C/C++ for embedded systems or RTL for FPGA platforms.
• Experience with small form-factor, flex, or rigid-flex designs.

At Apple, we’re not all the same. And that’s our greatest strength. We draw on the differences in who we are, what we’ve experienced, and how we think. Because to create products that serve everyone, we believe in including everyone. Therefore, we are committed to treating all applicants fairly and equally. We will work with applicants to make any reasonable accommodations.

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

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