Senior AI Architect, Apple Data Platform

Senior AI Architect

The Apple Data Platform team powers data analytics, exploration, and feature engineering that fuel Siri, Search, Music, Maps, iCloud and many other beloved products in the Apple ecosystem. Our mission is to provide engineers and data scientists with an innovative, reliable, secure, and user-friendly platform for ingesting, storing, processing, and interacting with data, ultimately helping teams derive insights that drive product success. As a Senior AI Architect on the Apple Data Platform, you'll play a critical role in shaping and scaling the platform that powers AI application development across Apple. You'll architect, prototype, and drive technical roadmap for generative AI offerings ranging from agent development, model and prompt selection, RAG configuration, evaluation tooling and overall development experience for ML and AI adoption. You will also partner closely with organizational leads on various cross-team initiatives for Apple Data Platform. Join us and be a part of the Data Platform journey at Apple, where your contributions will positively impact Apple's customers and countless teams across Apple.

Responsibilities

• Innovate, research, diagnose, optimize, or prototype features and solutions for key business initiatives
• Provide technical advice to management
• Define and drive the technical vision, roadmap, and strategy for Apple Data Platform's GenAI offerings
• Inspire teams to innovate, invent, and implement scalable solutions for complex data problems
• Collaborate with engineering, product, and operations teams across Apple to ensure effective adoption of GenAI capabilities in high-impact workflows
• Partner with stakeholders to build reusable AI agents that enhance productivity, automate reasoning tasks, and integrate securely with internal systems and tools
• Mentor new hires and fellow engineers, fostering growth in technical depth and platform mindset
• Establish best practices and processes that ensure engineering excellence, operational sustainability, and a seamless developer experience
• Promote a healthy, inclusive, and innovation-driven team culture with a focus on experimentation, learning, and long-term platform impact

Minimum Qualifications

• 15+ years of software development experience in distributed systems and/or ML/AI
• 8+ years of experience as an Architect, guiding teams through complex design decisions and setting high benchmarks for code quality, performance, and scalability
• In-depth understanding of gen AI landscape, and large language models (LLMs) and their applications, including inferencing, embedding, RAG, and knowledge base integration
• Experience building AI agents capable of complex multi-step reasoning and tool usage, with a focus on reliability, traceability, and composability
• Strong programming skills in Python, Java, or similar languages, with an emphasis on AI/ML systems development and platform engineering
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and influence product development through a combination of technical leadership and user-centered thinking
• Passion for operational excellence, automation, and delivering scalable, developer-friendly AI infrastructure
• B.S, M.S. or PhD Degree in Computer Science/Engineering, or equivalent work experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise in AWS Cloud
• Experience in fine-tuning and customizing foundation models to improve task-specific performance and domain alignment
• Hands on experience in using Kubernetes as orchestration layer

Pay & Benefits

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 $212,000 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.

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.