Senior ML Data Engineer, MLO

Our team focuses on acquiring, synthesizing, annotating, and ensuring the quality of ML data, driving numerous features in collaboration with R&D teams in Apple’s SWE organization.

Operate and maintain data pipelines to effectively process up to billion-scale multimodal data
Find creative ways to automate workflows or build self service tools, implement a variety of data tools for visualization, compliance and ML enrichment
Help bring frontier generative model and agentic capabilities in our pipelines to further optimize our data operations ; and production-ize synthetic data workflows including orchestration and lineage
Identify opportunities for improvement of internal infrastructure offerings, and influence roadmaps of partner teams to build or improve key components we rely on

7+ years of industry experience as a data engineer serving various ML applications (vision domain preferred)
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Proven experience designing, automating and scaling large data pipelines (petabyte scale desired) using state of the art processing technologies (eg familiarity with Iceberg, BigQuery, Airflow, Spark, etc.)
Expertise in Python, Go or another modern programming language; you are expected to produce high quality, efficient code and participate in code reviews
Strong ability to design and lead a technical roadmap, work with cross functional teams and a diversity of profiles, proven capacity to influence and build alignment
Demonstrated prior experience in delivering large scale multimodal datasets for foundation models
Self-starter, able to handle ambiguity, comfortable in a fast-pace environment, identify risks, mitigate, and autonomously find the right people and tools to get the job done
Proven track record of mentoring and growing engineers, lift the level of software engineering excellence in a ML data ops team typically focused on short term deliveries

Do you believe Machine Learning and AI can change the world? We truly believe it can! We are the ML Data Team of the Intelligent System Experience (ISE) group at Apple. We are responsible for building high quality datasets at scale. Every year, our team produces datasets used in the training of ML and AI-centric features for many Apple products, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and even AirPods. Our work is used in very visible and critical features, from the wallpaper on your iPhone Lock Screen, to your personalized stickers on iMessage, to Apple Intelligence features such as on-device Genmoji and other visual generative models, to the models that highlight the faces and memories of your loved ones in your Photos app.

We’re looking for an exceptional software & data engineer who is passionate about Apple products and values, who has a passion for data operations at scale, is comfortable in a fast paced environment and who is committed to the hard work necessary to continuously improve our ML data pipelines.

We invite you to join us at this exciting time. Grow fast and positively impact multiple critical features from your first day at Apple!

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $181,100 and $318,400, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.

Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses — including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation. Learn more about Apple Benefits

Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

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Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.