Applied AI Engineer

Apple Inc.; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 184,700 - 277,600; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. seeks an Applied AI Engineer to craft, implement, and operate AI solutions that directly impact Apple Sales and customers. You will build agentic AI systems, integrate LLMs, and translate research into production features.

Expect collaboration with platform teams to deploy SDKs and APIs, and to drive innovative AI capabilities across business domains. The role emphasizes strong Python, ML frameworks, and hands-on experience with LLMs.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science or related quantitative field with 3+ years in applied AI, ML, or modeling.
• MS with 6+ years in applied AI, ML, or modeling considered.
• Strong prototyping, validation, and productionization skills.
• Experience translating research into scalable AI solutions.
• Comfort with full research-to-production spectrum and ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Work at intersection of applied AI and business operations to create scalable AI features.
• Design and develop agentic AI systems for reasoning, planning, and action.
• Translate research into production-ready tools with SDKs and APIs.
• Prototype and evaluate novel approaches bridging research and production.
• Build scalable pipelines for multi-modal agent input and memory.
• Collaborate with data science, engineering, and sales ops to embed context-aware intelligence.
• Lead decisions on infrastructure components with safety checks and model monitoring.
• Collaborate with business teams to embed AI into weekly cadences.

Skills

Python programming

LLM/GenAI

LangChain

REST APIs

Problem solving

Education

PhD in Computer Science

MS in a related field

Tools

LangChain

LlamaIndex

Vector databases

APIs development

Job description

Cupertino, California, United States Sales and Business Development

Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, new ideas have a way of becoming outstanding products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job, and there's no telling what you could accomplish. Apple’s Sales organization generates the revenue needed to fuel our ongoing development of products and services. This, in turn, enriches the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. We are, in many ways, the face of Apple to our largest customers.

Description

Apple's US Decision Intelligence (DI) team is looking for a talented individual who is passionate about crafting, implementing, and operating AI solutions that have a direct and measurable impact on Apple Sales and its customers. We’re looking for a hands‑on Applied AI Engineer with strong software development skills and a passion for applying LLMs and Agentic workflows to real‑world business problems. You will strengthen our team’s capabilities in machine learning, and foundational AI development. This role will drive innovation in building scalable ML and AI solutions that enhance our internal AI products intelligence, improve automation, and expand our AI‑driven capabilities across business domains. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise in machine learning, statistical modeling, and AI framework development with strong problem‑solving and interpersonal skills, ensuring effective collaboration and measurable impact in a fast‑paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Work at the intersection of applied AI and business operations — translating frontier engineering research into practical, scalable features for AI products.
• Design and develop agentic AI systems that reason, plan, and act across tools and modalities.
• Translate research into production‑ready tools by partnering with platform engineers to productionize your methods into SDKs and APIs.
• Prototype and evaluate novel approaches, combining research exploration with hands‑on engineering to translate innovations from concept to production.
• Build scalable pipelines for multi‑modal agent input, memory, and semantic routing.
• Work closely with partner teams to build, iterate, and adapt innovative solutions in a dynamic, product‑focused environment.
• Partner closely with data science, engineering, and sales ops to embed context‑aware intelligence in decision‑making tools.
• Lead technical decision‑making on infrastructure components, embedding safety mechanisms (e.g., autonomy sliders, grounding checks, model monitoring).
• Collaborate closely with business teams to incorporate AI into their weekly cadences.

Minimum Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, AI, or a related quantitative field with 3+ years of experience in applied AI, machine learning, or statistical modeling; or MS with 6+ years of experience in applied AI, machine learning, or statistical modeling.
• Experience with rapid prototyping, reproduction, and validation of research ideas.
• Proven ability to translate complex research ideas into scalable, production‑level AI solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to work across the research‑to‑production spectrum: you have taken experimental or prototype code and made it robust, scalable, and usable by others.
• Comfort with ambiguity. Ability to architect a full orchestrator and business context layer for sales.
• Proficiency in Python (FastAPI, LangChain, or similar frameworks), context engineering, and RESTful API design.
• Ability to build relationships and collaboration opportunities within Channel Sales and with other orgs i.e. AIML, SWE etc.
• Communicate results and insights effectively to partners and senior leaders, as well as both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Hands‑on experience with LLM APIs, embeddings, vector databases, and agentic workflows.
• Proven experience working with LLMs and GenAI frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex, etc.).
• Solid grounding in data structures, async programming, and pipeline orchestration.
• Ability to balance competing priorities, long‑term projects, and ad hoc requirements in a fast‑paced, dynamic, constantly evolving business environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong experience articulating and translating business questions into AI solutions.
• Hands‑on industry experience shipping LLM‑powered products or features.
• Experience with personalization, recommendation systems, or commerce intelligence.
• Experience with anomaly detection and causal inference models.
• Sound communication skills - adept at messaging domain and technical content, at a level appropriate for the audience. Strong ability to gain trust with stakeholders and senior leadership.
• Familiarity with embedding, retrieval algorithms, agents, and data modeling for vector development graphs.
• Other complementary technologies for distributed systems architecture and asynchronous messaging, agent communication, and catching like RabbitMQ, Redis, and Valkey are preferred.
• Experience working with monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, Weights & Biases).

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 $184,700 and $277,600, 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.

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.