Machine Learning Engineer — Camera & Photos, Creative Foundations

Apple Inc.; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 171,600 - 302,200; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical and dental coverage

Retirement benefits

Educational reimbursement

Employee stock options

Job summary

Apple Inc. is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer for the Creative Foundations team in San Diego, California. In this role, you will design state-of-the-art image understanding systems, collaborating with product designers and engineers. Candidates should have a strong background in machine learning or computer vision, along with a desire to innovate. The position offers a competitive salary range of $171,600 to $302,200 and comprehensive benefits including medical coverage and stock options.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD required or equivalent experience in a related field.
• Strong portfolio of building and shipping models or publishing research.
• Understanding of modern ML architectures and techniques.

Responsibilities

• Design architectures for image understanding systems.
• Prototype high-potential ideas based on state-of-the-art research.
• Collaborate across disciplines with designers and engineers.

Skills

Machine learning

Computer vision

Image understanding

Software engineering

Education

MS or PhD in Computer Science or related field

Tools

PyTorch

Job description

Machine Learning Engineer — Camera & Photos, Creative Foundations

San Diego, California, United States Machine Learning and AI

We're looking for a Machine Learning Engineer and Researcher to join the Creative Foundations team within Camera & Photos. In this role, you won't just implement models — you'll invent them. You'll work at the intersection of cutting‑edge ML research and the features that hundreds of millions of people use every day to capture, relive, and share their most meaningful moments. This is a role for someone who gets excited about turning a theoretical breakthrough into a magical user experience. You'll bridge the gap between what's possible in research and what's shippable in product — translating state‑of‑the‑art advances in image understanding into intelligent systems that feel intuitive and delightful. We're especially drawn to those with a passion for photography and experience with the visual and creative domains that make this work so meaningful.

Description

As a Machine Learning Engineer on the Creative Foundations team, you will pioneer novel approaches to image understanding — designing architectures, training strategies, and intelligent systems that push the boundaries of what our camera and photo experiences can do. You'll continuously survey state‑of‑the‑art research, rapidly prototype high‑potential ideas, and translate them into shippable features — while also leveraging model introspection and interpretability techniques to deeply understand why models behave the way they do and guide decisions accordingly. You'll collaborate across disciplines with product designers, software engineers, and aesthetic science researchers in an environment that values diverse perspectives, research rigor, and agility in an ever‑evolving ML landscape.

Minimum Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience demonstrating deep ML expertise.
• Experience in machine learning, computer vision, or a related field (academic or industry), with a strong portfolio of building and shipping models or publishing research.
• Deep understanding of modern ML architectures and techniques — including (but not limited to) transformers, diffusion models, contrastive learning, multi‑modal models, and efficient neural network design and optimization.
• Proficiency in ML frameworks such as PyTorch, and comfort working across the full model lifecycle from research exploration using large‑scale data to production deployment.
• Experience with image understanding tasks such as semantic segmentation, scene recognition, image captioning, visual question answering, image aesthetics, or image retrieval.
• Strong fundamental software engineering background

Preferred Qualifications

• A track record of creative problem‑solving — taking an ambiguous challenge and finding an elegant, sometimes unconventional, ML‑driven solution.
• A genuine passion for pushing the boundaries of what's possible with machine learning and a deep curiosity for how intelligent systems can transform everyday experiences.
• Published research at top‑tier venues (CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICML, SIGGRAPH, etc.) is valued — but so is a strong portfolio of impactful shipped features or open‑source contributions.
• Comfort navigating ambiguity and working in a fast‑moving R&D environment where the problem definition evolves alongside the solution.
• A personal connection to photography or visual storytelling — whether through a creative practice, a deep appreciation for the craft, or simply an obsession with what makes a great image.
• Specific computer vision experience in the areas of Semantic Image Understanding, Diffusion for Image Generation, Style Transfer, Computational Photography, Image Enhancement (Super‑Resolution, Denoising, etc.), Aesthetic Quality Assessment, Personalization (Few‑Shot Adaptation)

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 $171,600 and $302,200, 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.

Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.