AIML - Site Lead & Lead Researcher, Foundation Models

Apple Inc.; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 205,000 - 374,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical & dental coverage

Retirement benefits

Employee stock plans

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Apple Inc. seeks a Site Lead & Lead Researcher for AFM to guide a team building and advancing foundation models across Apple products. You will drive infrastructure, dataset creation, and model innovation, aligning with Apple’s privacy and on-device goals.

You will mentor engineers and researchers, oversee end-to-end research initiatives, and collaborate across teams to ensure breakthroughs reach millions of users while maintaining high standards of rigor and collaboration.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership of technical teams or research groups with talent development.
• Strong publication record in top ML conferences or proven product-scale DL deployment.
• Proficient in Python and at least one major DL toolkit (JAX/PyTorch/TensorFlow).
• PhD or equivalent experience showing research leadership and depth.
• Excellent ability to communicate complex ideas to technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead researchers and engineers to develop cutting-edge foundation models and apply them to Apple products.
• Define a clear research vision, roadmap, and success metrics aligned with Apple’s priorities.
• Identify high-impact opportunities balancing fundamental advances with near-term product use.
• Mentor team members in research techniques, software engineering, and career growth.
• Collaborate with product teams, hardware designers, and other AI groups to translate research into user-facing features.
• Publish research findings in top venues and present at conferences.

Skills

Leadership experience

Deep learning expertise

Python

Communication skills

Research leadership

Education

PhD in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Python

JAX

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Job description

AIML - Site Lead & Lead Researcher, Foundation Models

Seattle, Washington, United States Machine Learning and AI

We build frontier foundation models that power intelligent experiences at Apple. Our team works across the full training lifecycle: including pre-training foundation models, and developing mid-training approaches that bridge general capability and task-specific performance. What makes our work distinct is that we're engineering models specifically for Apple silicon and optimized for experiences that are private, personal, and deeply integrated into the OS. We're solving frontier problems in reward modeling to resist reward hacking, handling sparse and delayed rewards in agentic settings, and aligning models reliably across the spectrum from open-ended creative tasks to precise, action-taking workflows. If you're drawn to hard problems where the research and the product are inseparable, this is the team.

Description

We are seeking an experienced Site Lead & Lead Researcher to oversee a strategic hub within our Apple Foundation Models (AFM) organization. You will lead a team of engineers and researchers responsible for building and advancing foundation models at Apple. Your leadership will drive infrastructure development, dataset creation, and model innovation with fundamental general capabilities such as understanding and generation of text, images, speech, videos, and other modalities. You will guide the application of these models to transform Apple products while fostering a culture of research excellence and collaborative innovation.As a Site Lead, you will balance strategic oversight with hands-on research direction, ensuring your team tackles the most challenging problems in foundation models while maintaining alignment with Apple's broader AI vision.- Lead and mentor a close-knit and fast-growing team of world-class engineers and scientists tackling some of the most challenging problems in foundation models and deep learning, including natural language processing, multi-modal understanding, and combining learning with knowledge set research direction and strategy for your site.- Identifying and developing novel applications of deep learning in Apple products while maintaining technical rigor and innovation.- Own end-to-end execution of research initiatives from problem formulation through publication, product integration, and impact measurement.- Foster collaboration across teams and stakeholder groups, bridging research, product engineering, and business objectives to ensure breakthrough ideas reach millions of users.- Drive organizational excellence through hiring, career development, and creating an environment where diverse talents thrive and contribute their best work.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of researchers and engineers in developing cutting-edge foundation models and applying them to Apple products
• Define and communicate clear research vision, roadmap, and success metrics aligned with Apple's product roadmap and strategic priorities
• Identify high-impact research opportunities that balance fundamental advances with near-term product applications
• Conduct hands-on research on complex problems, remaining actively engaged in key technical decisions and methodologies
• Mentor team members on research techniques, software engineering practices, and career growth within the field
• Collaborate with product teams, hardware designers, and other AI research groups to translate research into customer-facing features
• Publish research findings in top-tier venues and present work at conferences to represent Apple's research leadership
• Build and maintain a strong culture of experimentation, learning, and inclusive collaboration within your team
• Drive recruitment and retention of top research talent

Minimum Qualifications

• Leadership experience: Demonstrated success leading technical teams or research groups, with evidence of growing talent and delivering results
• Deep learning expertise: Strong publication record in relevant conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, KDD, ACL, ICASSP, InterSpeech) or proven track record in applying deep learning techniques to products at scale
• Programming proficiency: Expert-level skills in Python and one or more deep learning toolkits such as JAX, PyTorch, or TensorFlow
• Advanced degree or equivalent: PhD in Computer Science, related technical field, or equivalent practical experience demonstrating research leadership and technical depth
• Communication skills: Ability to clearly articulate complex research concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences, including executives and product teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with web-scale information retrieval and search systems
• Track record building human-like conversation agents and natural language understanding systems
• Expertise in multi-modal perception for existing products and future hardware platforms
• Background in on-device intelligence and learning with strong privacy protections
• Experience leading research teams through product commercialization cycles
• History of mentoring researchers who have advanced to senior technical or leadership roles
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across diverse teams and organizational boundaries
• Experience with responsible AI practices and ethics in machine learning

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 $205,400 and $374,300, 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.

Learn about accessibility in Apple's workplace

Learn about reasonable accommodations for job applicants

Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.