Electrical Engineer, System Power Architect, Spectacles, L5

Location: Los Angeles, Canada | Palo Alto, Canada

Department: Spectacles

Employment Type: Full time

About Snap Inc

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

About the Role

Snap Inc is a camera company believing that the camera + AI will help people share the moment in 3D and blend the digital world with reality. By building fun AR experiences and products, we’re helping people express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. Spectacles is home to our hardware products with a world-class R&D team pushing the boundaries of what a camera can be, specifically overlaying computing on the real world. Next Generation Spectacles are our first pair of glasses that bring augmented reality to life. We’re looking for an Electrical Engineer, System Power Architect, Spectacles, L5 to join Team Spectacles! Working from our hardware design centers in either Palo Alto or Santa Monica, CA, you’ll join the Snap Lab Hardware Engineering group responsible for the system power model to deliver first-in-class consumer electronics hardware for AR innovation. As System Power Architect, you’ll own the development and maintenance of a comprehensive system-level power model that accurately predicts consumption across all hardware and software in Spectacles AR glasses. You’ll characterize power for diverse loads like SoCs, AR displays, cameras, wireless, sensors, and integrate battery models for runtime estimates. Collaborating with product, architecture, silicon, software, and submodule teams, you’ll define use cases, provide early power feedback, benchmark prototypes, debug issues, and drive optimizations to ensure power efficiency powers our creative AR vision. Our "Default Together" policy reflects our belief that in-person collaboration 4+ days per week builds our culture faster and serves our community best. At Snap, diverse backgrounds and voices create innovative products improving how people live and communicate. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to opportunities regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, disability, sex, gender, age, sexual orientation, military status, or other protected classifications. Compensation: Zone A (CA, WA, NYC) $190,000-$284,000; Zone B $181,000-$270,000; Zone C $162,000-$241,000 annually, plus RSUs.

What You'll Do

• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve a system-level power model predicting power consumption across hardware components and software activities in various operational states and use cases
• Characterize and model power consumption for system loads including SoCs, CPUs, GPUs, memory, AR displays, wireless radios, sensors, and peripherals in Spectacles AR glasses
• Integrate battery models (ESR) into use-case based runtime estimates, HW system DCR, and grounding requirements
• Collaborate with product and system architecture teams to define use cases and translate them into quantifiable power profiles for next-generation Spectacles
• Extract and integrate pre-silicon power estimates for chips under development, providing feedback for AR hardware architecture choices
• Partner with silicon design, software, firmware, display, camera, wireless, audio, and thermal teams to gather power data and identify optimization opportunities
• Conduct hands-on benchmarking and validation of power and performance data from prototypes, debugging discrepancies to refine model accuracy
• Provide data-driven insights and recommendations for power reduction strategies and design optimizations in camera and AR technologies
• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for power models, assumptions, methodologies, test procedures, and analysis reports
• Support Snap's mission to push boundaries of AR glasses by ensuring first-in-class power efficiency for real-world computing overlays

Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years of post-Bachelor’s electrical engineering or hardware engineering experience
• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field and 5+ years of post-grad electrical engineering experience
• 3+ years of post PhD in a relevant technical field
• Knowledge of system architecture and subsystem metrics impacting performance for SoCs, cameras, connectivity, cellular, PMICs, and batteries
• Knowledge of power management concepts and power delivery
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Experience working in hardware design centers in Palo Alto or Santa Monica, CA

Preferred Qualifications

• MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering or related field
• Demonstrated experience developing and shipping consumer electronic products at scale
• Experience with integrated circuit design such as VHDL or analog design
• Knowledge of layout strategies to meet Power Delivery Network impedance targets or deriving power impedance masks
• Excellent process development and documentation skills

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• System-level power modeling
• Battery modeling and ESR integration
• Power consumption characterization for SoCs, CPUs, GPUs
• AR display and camera power analysis
• Wireless radios and connectivity power optimization
• PMIC and power delivery network design
• Pre-silicon power estimation
• Cross-functional collaboration with silicon, software, and hardware teams
• Hands-on prototyping, benchmarking, and validation
• Debugging power discrepancies
• Data-driven power optimization strategies
• Excellent documentation and process development
• Knowledge of VHDL or analog IC design
• Power impedance targeting and layout strategies
• Strong communication skills
• AR hardware experience
• Consumer electronics shipping at scale
• Creative problem-solving in fast-paced environment

Our Benefits

• Paid parental leave
• Comprehensive medical coverage
• Emotional and mental health support programs
• Compensation packages with equity in the form of RSUs sharing in Snap’s long-term success
• Work in innovative hardware design centers in Palo Alto or Santa Monica, CA
• "Default Together" policy fostering dynamic collaboration 4+ days per week in office
• Opportunities to contribute to AR innovation with Spectacles and Snapchat
• Support for diverse backgrounds in a creative, fun-loving culture

Compensation

$190,000-$284,000 annually

This position is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.

"Default Together" Policy: At Snap Inc, we practice a "default together" approach and expect team members to work in an office 4+ days per week.

Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.