Product Design Engineer - Beats

Summary

Apple is a place where people come to do the best work of their lives. We obsess over the details to make products that surprise, delight, and provide new ways to interact with the technology that changes our customers’ lives. The tight integration of engineering teams from hardware, software, silicon, and beyond sets Apple apart and provides unique opportunities for impact and innovation.

The Beats Accessories Product Design team is seeking a senior product design engineer to work on the next-generation of products. We work in a highly-collaborative, fast-paced environment with teams across Apple including Industrial Design, Electrical Engineering, Software, and Marketing to define product objectives, create solutions to meet those objectives, and validate the performance of those designs through mass production, all while keeping customer experience at the forefront. Our contributions have broad impacts – from the overall system size and shape down to the smallest details.

Description

We're looking for a Senior Product Designer to lead mechanical design from early concept through mass production. This person will bridge industrial design intent and manufacturable, reliable hardware — owning designs across the full product lifecycle, from prototyping and feature definition through China-based build execution and volume ramp. The ideal candidate combines strong hands-on design skills with deep manufacturing and reliability engineering knowledge, and is excited to mentor junior engineers on the team.

Responsibilities

• Concept & Definition: Drive early-stage prototyping, explore form factors, and define feature sets in close collaboration with industrial design, product management, and engineering leadership.
• Detailed Design: Own detailed design of metal and plastic components — enclosures, brackets, fasteners, and structural elements — ensuring designs meet aesthetic, functional, and manufacturing requirements.
• Tolerance & Reliability Analysis: Perform tolerance stack-up analysis, finite element analysis (FEA), and failure analysis to validate structural integrity, fit, and long-term reliability.
• Systems Integration: Integrate and coordinate mechanical design across multiple subsystems, including acoustics, display, input devices, power electronics, and wireless antennas — ensuring cross-functional compatibility and performance.
• Build & Manufacturing Oversight: Travel to and oversee prototype and production builds at contract manufacturers in China; work directly with vendors and factory teams to troubleshoot design and process issues on the line.
• Production Ramp Support: Support products through EVT/DVT/PVT and into mass production, resolving field and line issues, driving corrective actions, and ensuring design intent is preserved at scale.
• Mentorship: Guide and develop junior and mid-level mechanical engineers, providing technical direction, design reviews, and career mentorship.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS
• 8+ years of mechanical/product design experience, ideally in consumer electronics or similarly complex hardware products.
• Proven track record shipping at least one (ideally multiple) high-volume consumer products from concept to mass production.
• Strong CAD skills (SolidWorks, Creo, NX, or similar) and experience with FEA tools (ANSYS, Abaqus, or built-in CAD FEA modules).
• Deep knowledge of metal and plastic manufacturing processes (CNC machining, sheet metal, injection molding, die casting) and their design constraints (DFM/DFA).
• Hands-on experience with GD&T, tolerance stack-up analysis, and reliability/failure analysis methodologies (root cause analysis, DOE, 8D, etc.).
• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers in China, including on-site build support and vendor management.
• Familiarity with integrating mechanical design around electro-mechanical subsystems (acoustics, displays, input devices, batteries/power electronics, antennas).

Preferred Qualifications

• M.S. or Ph.D. and 6+ years job experience in Product Design, Mechanical Engineering or related field
• Experience with acoustic or RF/antenna co-design considerations.
• Background in industrial design collaboration or human factors.
• Experience with statistical process control (SPC) and yield analysis during ramp.