Quality Engineer, Tools and Automation

Apple Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 166,600 - 250,700; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee stock plan

RSU awards

ESPP discount

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Retirement benefits

Employee discounts

Tuition reimbursement

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Apple Inc. in Seattle seeks a Senior Automation & AI Engineer to join our Quality Engineering team, driving backend and services testing with LLMs, AI agents, and intelligent pipelines.

This role blends hands-on test automation architecture with cross‑functional collaboration across engineering and program management. You will architect scalable UI and API test frameworks, apply AI/ML to expand coverage, and integrate models into QA workflows for anomaly detection and fast defect triage in

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS or equivalent.
• 5+ years in test automation.
• Experience with API/server-side automation.
• Experience with Java.
• Experience with databases and SQL.
• Experience creating test plans and QA processes.
• Experience with prompt engineering, model fine-tuning, or integrating LLM APIs.
• Experience with automation tools/test frameworks (Gradle, Maven, JUnit).

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and maintain scalable UI and API test automation frameworks across web, REST/GraphQL, microservices, and backend systems
• Apply LLMs and ML techniques to expand test coverage, automate defect triage, and surface quality insights
• Integrate AI/ML models into QA workflows for anomaly detection, log analysis, and failure classification
• Build and maintain API, contract, performance, and reliability test suites across distributed systems
• Evaluate emerging AI tools and testing methodologies to modernize the QA toolchain
• Isolate and report bugs, document test plans, and write test‑case automation in close collaboration with engineering and program management

Skills

UI test automation

API testing

Selenium

Playwright

Java

SQL

CI/CD

LLM integration

AI/ML in QA

Kubernetes

Docker

OpenAI API

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Gradle

Maven

JUnit

Kubernetes

Docker

Job description

Seattle, Washington, United States Software and Services

We are looking for a highly skilled Senior Automation & AI Engineer to join our Quality Engineering team, bringing deep expertise in backend and services testing with cutting‑edge knowledge of LLMs, AI agents, and intelligent pipelines. This dual‑impact role requires a strong individual contributor who can independently architect world‑class test automation systems while collaborating cross‑functionally with engineering and project management teams. The ideal candidate will have strong analytical and bug reporting skills, with the ability to manage a high volume of changes and reduce manual testing effort through intelligent automation.

Description

Day to day, this role involves bug reporting and isolation, test plan documentation, and writing test case automation – done in close collaboration with engineering and program management. Work spans CI/CD pipelines and web service testing to qualify enterprise‑grade, customer‑facing releases across a high volume of changes.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and maintain scalable UI and API test automation frameworks (e.g., Selenium, Playwright) across web, REST/GraphQL, microservices, and backend systems
• Apply LLMs and ML techniques to expand test coverage, automate defect triage, and surface quality insights
• Integrate AI/ML models into QA workflows for anomaly detection, log analysis, and failure classification
• Build and maintain API, contract, performance, and reliability test suites across distributed systems
• Evaluate emerging AI tools and testing methodologies to modernize the QA toolchain
• Isolate and report bugs, document test plans, and write test‑case automation in close collaboration with engineering and program management

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of experience in test automation
• Experience with API/server‑side automation
• Experience programming in a high‑level language such as Java
• Experience with databases and SQL
• Experience creating test plans and QA processes
• Experience with prompt engineering, model fine‑tuning, or integrating LLM APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Gemini, or on‑device models)
• Experience with automation tools/test frameworks (Gradle, Maven, JUnit)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with UI automation frameworks such as Selenium, Playwright, or Appium
• Experience building RAG pipelines and integrating vector databases
• Hands‑on experience integrating LLM APIs and AI/ML models into QA workflows
• Experience with Kubernetes/Docker
• Contributions to open‑source test automation or AI projects
• 2+ years of experience in AI engineering or QE tooling
• Experience qualifying enterprise‑grade, customer‑facing releases under CI/CD
• Experience collaborating cross‑functionally with engineering and program management to drive quality outcomes

Compensation

Base pay for this role is $166,600 – $250,700, determined by skill, experience, and location. Pay may be adjusted as you grow within the role.

Benefits

Apple employees have the opportunity to become shareholders through discretionary employee stock programs, receive restricted stock unit awards, and purchase stock at a discount via the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Additional benefits include comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and tuition reimbursement for formal education related to career advancement. This role may also be eligible for discretionary bonuses, commission payments, or relocation assistance.

Equal Opportunity

Apple is an equal opportunity employer 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 any other legally protected characteristic. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant.

Accessibility

Apple believes accessibility is a fundamental human right. Our culture, benefits, and digital tools reflect this commitment. Learn about accessibility in our workplace and reasonable accommodations for job applicants.