Program Manager Hardware Engineer

John R. David

Acoustic Engineer, Product Owner Technical Program Manager

ad5s0t@r.postjobfree.com www.linkedin.com/in/jakdawgus

+1-415-***-**** 15 Langton St, San Francisco, CA 94103

PROFILE

Audio professional with background in acoustics, systems engineering, product development and design validation. Experienced in all phases of the product lifecycle, with a track record of shipping high quality software and hardware products. Systems thinker, natural leader and problem solver, able to convey complex topics clearly and exercise influence at all levels of an organization.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Transducer and loudspeaker design

Professional audio tools and systems

Product Management and Product Ownership from inception to NPI to EOL

Leadership through influence at all levels

Audio testing using SoundCheck, B&K, Audio Precision, MLSSA, etc.

High-Freq. HATS measurement

Rapid prototyping and testing

Critical listening and psychoacoustics

EDUCATION

B.A., Physics and Music (3.68 GPA)

magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

Bates College, Lewiston, ME

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

User Experience Design (Cooper)

Team Management, Product Management (UC Berkeley/Haas)

Perpetual Audio Coding, DSP for Audio Effects, Decision Analysis, Intellectual Property Law, Human-Computer Interaction (Stanford)

Audio for Android (Qualcomm)

DTV, MPEG2/4, IPTV (KNK Seminars)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Consulting Engineer 10/2018 to Present

Independent consultant in audio systems design and testing, loudspeaker and transducer engineering, acoustics, and content creation for spatial audio using Dolby Atmos and other immersive audio formats.

Recent projects include designing a complete set of automated test sequences on the Audio Precision APx515 for Parasound’s audio power amps, integrated amps and phono stages; acoustic integration, validation and HATS testing for VR/AR at Meta; Dolby Atmos remix production for a legendary rock musician; consultation to design a Dolby Atmos reference mix room; design of a commercial sound system for mixed-use PA and recording; technical oversight of multiple stages at a music festival; design of home theater and whole-home audio systems; live event FOH mixing; acoustic problem-solving.

Senior Product Manager 6/2018 to 10/2018

Antares Audio Technologies LLC, Santa Cruz, CA

Led the creation and modernization of internal product planning and resourcing tools.

Designed and implemented a lean structure and format to capture all product and platform requirements using Atlassian JIRA and Confluence.

Built a new resource-tracking system using SmartSheet, yielding significant improvements in planning accuracy and estimation of ship dates.

Collaboration with QA on improved test suite and streamlined release qualification.

Introduced Agile/Scrum techniques to complement established waterfall methods.

Product Manager 8/2012 to 9/2017

Dolby Laboratories Inc., San Francisco, CA

Directed and prioritized all phases of product definition, development, and deployment of software and hardware products used to create and distribute Dolby Atmos soundtracks for consumer playback.

Agile/Scrum Product Owner; translated broad requirements into concise, actionable user stories. Provided day-to-day prioritization for the team.

Regularly reported progress on KSP’s and MVP requirements; built short and long-term release roadmaps presentation to senior management.

Defined requirements for UI/UX and underlying technologies, using test-driven design approach to speed design validation and finalize QA release qualification.

Drove hands-on prototype evaluation, test design and beta user engagement.

Arranged and led discussions with top-tier cinema and broadcast post professionals in their facilities in Hollywood, the SF Bay area, Europe, the UK and Asia.

Drove alignment of stakeholders within Dolby to ensure cross-functional buy-in and support, advocating continuously for the customer, the product and the team.

Built training plans and created presentation materials for use by worldwide Applications, Engineering, Sales, and Marketing teams.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE, CONTINUED

Manager, Applications Engineering, DSP Implementation (Dolby Labs 5/2008 to 8/2012)

Led global support for all DSP source code and object code SDK licensees, who are the cornerstone of Dolby’s business model.

Hired and managed team of 8 high-performing EE and CS engineers; provided training in technical and business topics.

Traveled extensively to semicon’s in Taiwan, Korea, Japan and India to gather customer input and provide technical training.

Expanded team’s capabilities to support two new growth areas: professional audio licensing, and iOS/Android applications.

Directed technical and licensing policies with impact for a truly global network of customers and partners.

Applications Engineer, DSP Implementation/Systems (Dolby Labs 3/2005 to 5/2008)

Delivered expert engineering support to DSP source and object code recipients, and systems engineers applying Dolby IP.

Designed specialized circuit boards for interfacing with HDMI equipment and feeding in or extracting multichannel test signals.

Provided internal review of pre-release software APIs, audio-systems design requirements, test vectors and other SDK components.

Provided expertise on industry standards: ATSC A52, IEC60958/61937, HDMI, DVB/ATSC, MPEG1/2/4, 12C,12S.

Drove evaluation of over 75 new SOCs and devices with Dolby technology; solved complex interdisciplinary issues for customers.

Systems Engineer/Project Manager 1/1998 to 2/2005

Boston Acoustics Inc., Peabody, MA

Led cross-functional teams developing active and passive speaker products, from first definition and prototyping to mass production. As Systems Engineer, designed acoustic, mechanical, and electrical systems to achieve class-leading sonic performance, and also held ultimate responsibility for the complete BOM, signing off on all mechanical, electrical and test-spec documentation, as well as responsibility for aspects such as DFM, RoHS, environmental testing, RFI compliance (FCC) and safety compliance (UL/CE).

Traveled extensively to Asian manufacturing sites to approve first off-tool parts, oversee startup, failure analysis and QA operations.

Deployed a proprietary automated acoustic testing system with a CM who had never done acoustic measurements at scale.

Modeled systems in LEAP, performed acoustic measurements and ran subjective evaluations during design process. Utilized B&K 2012, Audio Precision, MLSSA, Listen Inc. SoundCheck, the DBX RTA system and other tools to verify design performance.

Lead inventor for high-power tweeter pivot/heatsink apparatus (U.S. Patent #6,792,125 awarded 9/14/2004) and co-inventor for signal-dependent loudness compensation system (U.S. Patent #7,171,010 awarded 1/30/2007).

Transducer Engineer (Boston Acoustics 1/1998 to 7/2000)

Developed and optimized transducers for applications from SPL-competition subwoofers to high-end tweeters.

Utilized ANSYS Finite-Element Analysis, LEAP and other computer-modeling tools to optimize for performance/cost.

Specified material, dimensional and electrical requirements through iterative prototyping to fine-tune Thiel-Small parameters.

Defined test requirements for high-power handling, thermal and humidity cycling, UV exposure, salt spray and other testing.

Conducted test unit tear-down and failure analysis following the required tests, with a goal of ensuring best-in-class reliability.

Systems Engineer 3/1997 to 1/1998

Analog and Digital Systems (a/d/s/), Wilmington, MA

Designed and tested high-performance stereo and surround loudspeaker systems featuring traditional dynamic drive elements and dipolar electromagnetic ribbons for the venerable a/d/s/ and Apogee Acoustics brand names.

PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Elected committee member, Audio Engineering Society, SF Bay Area chapter. Full member, IEEE.

Musical interests include acoustic and electric guitar, West African percussion, acapella singing and electronic music production.

Event producer; Technical Director for annual Summer music festival, lasting four days across four stages.

Mountain biker, hiker, rock climber, events planner, occasional DJ, community builder, lover of life.

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