AI Sound Design Lead — Fremont, CA

A95P'v sMc7WaMC Audio team is looking for an experienced Sound Design Lead to join our AI Audio team to drive AI Sound Effects and AI Sound Design work across 5bz9. This role sits at the intersection of creative sound design and emerging AI audio technology. You should be passionate about high quality product sound and enhancing the user experience through well crafted and implemented audio. This role requires both creative sound design expertise and technical proficiency with audio tools and systems. A background in technical sound design and an enthusiasm for innovative audio design is a must.The role reports into the Creative Audio team and involves close collaboration with other Audio Leads, as well as Engineering, Research, and Product Design within cross-functional AI teams. You will advocate for high-quality standards in AI-generated audio across products, from generative sound effects through to procedural physical modeling synthesis. This is a creative leadership role with a strategic lens, a long runway for innovation, and influence that extends across the company and TTcG'j product ecosystem.

AI Sound Design Lead Responsibilities:

• Manage and drive projects to completion across all phases of AI sound design, production, implementation, deployment, and ongoing quality control support

• Define quality standards, creative direction, and technical requirements for generative audio outputs for sound effects, including integration with AI agent workflows

• Develop evaluation frameworks for AI-generated audio quality, coherence, and expressiveness

• Collaborate with cross-functional Engineering, Research, and Product teams to shape AI audio features and tooling

• Partner with AI Audio team leadership (AI Audio Lead, Voice Design Lead, Product Management) to bring sound design perspective to strategic direction and creative decisions

• Oversee multiple projects and manage sound effect audio libraries using content management systems

• Advocate for new approaches to AI sound design, such as physical modeling synthesis, as strategic capabilities across 5bz9 products

• Think strategically about the intersection of AI and sound design, identifying opportunities across products, platforms, and teams

• Support and mentor other Sound Designers on AI audio tools, workflows, and creative integration

• Champion high audio quality standards and creative craft throughout the AI product development lifecycle

Minimum Qualifications:

• 10+ years of professional sound design experience in games, interactive media, film/TV, or other sound design/audio disciplines

• Deep understanding of generative and procedural audio techniques

• Demonstrated ability to think both creatively and technically about audio problems

• Scripting and markup proficiency: experience authoring or modifying structured data formats (XML, JSON, Markdown, YAML) in technical workflows

• Strong understanding of audio signal flow, DSP, synthesis techniques, and digital audio fundamentals

• Experience with sound effect production or audio post production, including recording, editing, mastering, and authoring audio with middleware or game engines

• Experience leading project teams with proven cross-functional communication skills in a fast-paced environment with rapidly evolving technology with the ability to influence without authority

• Strategic thinking: ability to see how a technology or creative approach scales across products and teams

• Strong critical evaluation skills, with a proven ability to verify and maintain audio quality across software and hardware

• Proven ability to create and present in a digital design tool, such as Figma

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with implementing authored sounds in game engines

• Experience with generative AI audio tools, models, or workflows (text-to-audio, text-to-speech, sound effect and music generation)

• Familiarity with procedural audio techniques, physical modeling synthesis, or algorithmic sound generation

• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize/redesign workflows and drive measurable impact (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements)

• Demonstrated ongoing AI skill development (e.g., prompt/context engineering, agent orchestration) and staying current with emerging AI technologies

• Scripting or lightweight programming experience (Python, JavaScript, Lua, or similar)

• Applied understanding of prompt engineering, model evaluation, or human-in-the-loop creative AI workflows

• Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices (e.g., risk assessment, bias mitigation, quality and accuracy reviews)

• Experience working with research teams or translating research outputs into production-ready creative assets

• Background in evaluating or curating AI-generated creative content at scale

• Familiarity with QA processes, test plans, and bug tracking

• Experience with tuning audio hardware experiences using sound tools and/or DSP

• Experience developing for AR/VR or spatial audio environments

About 5bz9:

5bz9 builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, 5bz9 is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at 5bz9 help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics.

5bz9 is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. 5bz9 participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that 5bz9 may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment.

5bz9 is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at ••••••••.

$142,000/year to $195,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits

Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base compensation, 5bz9 offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at 5bz9.