Design engineer

Company Description:

We are creating the future of brain-computer interfaces: building devices now that have the potential to help people with paralysis regain mobility and independence and invent new technologies that could expand our abilities, our community, and our world.

Team Description:

The BCI Applications Team is responsible for building Telepathy.app — software that enables people with paralysis to use computing devices with precision and ease, via thought alone. Our team spans a wide range of disciplines, from neuroscience and machine learning to software engineering and interface design. We’re looking for an experienced UI Design Engineer to conceptualize, prototype, and ship novel computing interfaces tailored for BCI. 

Job Description:

• You’re excited to explore an open-ended, multi-disciplinary constraint space where design choices are informed by neural structure, model architecture, radio bandwidth, and more — A slight difference in an animated spring coefficient can change perceptual response time, shifting the alignment of labels and the performance of our decoders — You will actively collaborate with domain experts within and outside the team to understand these constraints and design your way around them

• You have an intuitive sense for what level of fidelity to reach for when navigating this space, be it a conversation, a rough sketch, or a testable prototype

• You’re excited to work within and push the boundaries of an entirely new medium of interaction without the traditional sensory feedback of existing physical input devices (e.g., the kinetic friction of glass along the surface of a trackpad, or the resistive pressure of a spring during a keypress)

• You can empathize with and design for people with a sensory experience that differs from your own, and aspire to build something that feels magical, beyond the local minima of that which “works.” You’ll do whatever it might take to deliver that experience, be it a highly optimized vertex shader or a custom property animator while maintaining an extremely high bar for fluidity and detail throughout

• You have a strong point-of-view, without ego — You may occasionally pursue a hunch that not everyone on the team agrees with, but are relentless about testing, deleting, and learning from ideas which don’t work

Job Responsibilities:

• Design, prototype, build, and ship novel computing interfaces for BCI

• Work with study participants to iterate on and further refine these interfaces

• Collaborate with domain experts in neuroscience, machine learning, and implant engineering to maximize the precision and fluidity of these interfaces within our constraint-space

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, or related field; or equivalent experience

• A portfolio of demonstrated experience designing and shipping features end-to-end (i.e., initial conceptualization → nth prototype → initial release → nth iteration)

• Proficiency in Apple frameworks (i.e., SwiftUI, UIKit/AppKit, and/or Metal) or an equivalent and transferable stack (i.e., React, Three.js, WebGPU). 

• Familiarity with Objective-C, C, and/or C++

Pay Transparency:

Based on California law, the following details are for California individuals only:

California base salary range: 

$143,000—$235,000 USD

For Full-Time Employees, your compensation package will include two major components: salary and equity. Guidance on salary for this role will be determined according to the level at which you enter the organization, with the ability to gain more over time as you contribute. In addition, Full-Time Employees are eligible for the following benefits listed below.

What We Offer:

• An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and most talented experts from different fields

• Growth potential; we rapidly advance team members who have an outsized impact

• Excellent medical, dental, and vision insurance through a PPO plan

• Paid holidays

• Commuter benefits

• Meals provided

• Equity + 401(k) plan *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded

• Parental leave *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded

• Flexible time off *Temporary Employees & Interns excluded

Multiple studies have found that a higher percentage of women and BIPOC candidates won't apply if they don't meet every listed qualification. Neuralink values candidates of all backgrounds. If you find yourself excited by our mission but you don't check every box in the description, we encourage you to apply anyway!

Neuralink provides equal opportunity in all of our employment practices to all qualified employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, military status, genetic information or any other category protected by federal, state and local laws.  This policy applies to all aspects of the employment relationship, including recruitment, hiring, compensation, promotion, transfer, disciplinary action, layoff, return from layoff, training and social, and recreational programs. All such employment decisions will be made without unlawfully discriminating on any prohibited basis.

If you need a reasonable accommodation at any point in the interview process, please let us know. Reasonable accommodations are modifications or adjustments to the application or hiring process that would enable you to fully participate in those processes. Examples of reasonable accommodations include but are not limited to:

• Documents in alternate formats or read aloud to you

• Having interviews in an accessible location

• Being accompanied by a service dog

• Having a sign language interpreter present for the interview