Software Development Engineer - Location Technologies, Sensing & Connectivity

Apple Inc.; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 150,400 - 277,600; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. is seeking a Software Development Engineer for Location Technologies in Cupertino. You will work on location state estimation, sensor fusion, and on‑device ML to power Maps, Photos, and Siri features with strict privacy constraints.

You will design algorithms that fuse GPS, WiFi, IMU, and barometric data, build production‑quality on‑device models, and optimize code for billions of devices while collaborating across Maps, Siri, Photos, Health, and Safety teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience developing commercial software on resource‑constrained devices.
• Strong programming skills in C, C++, Objective‑C, or Swift with solid CS fundamentals.
• Working knowledge of statistics and probability, including distributions and Bayesian inference.
• Experience evaluating and optimizing system performance: memory, CPU, power, and I/O.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement location state estimation algorithms that fuse multi‑modal sensor data.
• Develop on‑device ML models for place inference, route prediction, and behavioral forecasting.
• Build data processing pipelines that crawl and cluster location data with privacy in mind.
• Integrate algorithms into production code (Objective‑C, Swift, C++) across daemon/frameworks.
• Profile and optimize system performance to reduce CPU, memory, and energy usage.

Skills

C/C++

Obj-C/Swift

Algorithms

On‑device ML

Sensor fusion

Job description

Software Development Engineer - Location Technologies, Sensing & Connectivity

Cupertino, California, United States – Software and Services

Our mission is to personalize the user experience on Apple devices based on where you go, when, and what those places mean to you. You experience our work whenever you see a suggested location in Maps or Calendar, or browse your Memories in Photos or Journal. We’re working for you whenever your phone engages Do Not Disturb While Driving or remembers where you parked. We’re the Location Context team and we build the location intelligence backbone powering Maps Visited Places, Siri location suggestions, and predictive features across the OS. If you love tackling hard problems at the intersection of location state estimation, on‑device machine learning, and privacy‑preserving systems, read on.

• Building location state estimators that fuse GPS, WiFi, IMU, and altimeter data to understand not just where users are, but the floor of a building they’re on.
• Designing ML models to infer the semantics of a place and forecast where the device will go next, entirely on‑device with strict power and memory budgets.
• Developing clustering algorithms and data pipelines that process billions of location events while preserving user privacy.
• Optimizing system performance at massive scale—where a 1% edge case impacts 10 million devices and a power regression of 0.1% matters.
• Collaborating with Maps, Siri, Photos, HomeKit, Journal, and Safety teams to power features that require deep contextual understanding.

Description

In this role, you’ll develop the next frontier of location intelligence, in partnership with teams across sensing, Siri, Maps, and system frameworks. You’ll work on problems from research through production deployment:

• Design and implement location state estimation algorithms that fuse multi‑modal sensor data (GPS, WiFi positioning, accelerometer, altimeter, barometer) to build a rich understanding of user context and mobility patterns.
• Develop on‑device machine learning models for place inference, route prediction, and behavioral forecasting that operate within strict power and memory constraints.
• Build data processing pipelines that aggregate, filter, and cluster real‑world sensor data on mobile devices, balancing intelligence with resource constraints.
• Implement sophisticated algorithms for background location awareness and semantic understanding, then integrate them into production code running on hundreds of millions of devices.
• Collect and analyze real‑world datasets to train models, validate performance, and iterate on algorithm design.
• Rigorously test and dogfood your work; collect metrics across diverse user populations and edge cases. An issue that affects 1% of a billion devices is a big issue.
• Optimize for the full system: CPU, memory, power consumption, and radio usage. Our software needs to provide a high level of intelligence while sipping battery—this is one of the most exciting engineering challenges in mobile computing.
• All work is guided by a dedication to users’ privacy and security: no sensitive data is sent back to Apple or exposed to third parties.

Responsibilities

• Conceptualize, explore, and define new inferential and predictive location‑ and motion‑based capabilities for Apple’s platforms.
• Design and implement location state estimation algorithms, sensor fusion techniques, and ML models for on‑device inference.
• Develop clustering and pattern recognition algorithms to identify significant locations, routes, and behavioral patterns from noisy sensor data.
• Build and optimize data processing pipelines that operate within strict power and memory budgets on mobile hardware.
• Collect, curate, and analyze real‑world datasets of varying size and complexity to validate algorithm performance.
• Integrate algorithms into production code (Objective‑C, Swift, C++), working within daemon and framework architectures.
• Profile and optimize system performance: measure CPU, memory footprint, power consumption, and latency; iterate to improve.
• Collaborate across teams (Maps, Siri, Photos, Health, Safety) to understand requirements and deliver capabilities that enable compelling user experiences.
• Write robust, maintainable code. Test thoroughly. Address edge cases. Build systems that scale to billions of devices.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience developing commercial software, preferably systems‑level or embedded software running on resource‑constrained devices.
• Strong programming skills in C, C++, Objective‑C, or Swift, with a solid foundation in algorithms, data structures, and computational complexity.
• Working knowledge of statistics and probability, including histograms, probability distributions, Bayesian inference, and hypothesis testing.
• Experience evaluating and optimizing system performance: memory footprint, CPU usage, power consumption, and I/O.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep expertise in location technologies: GPS/GNSS positioning, WiFi‑based localization, indoor positioning, sensor fusion for state estimation, or IMU‑based dead reckoning. We especially want to hear from those who built location estimators that fuse multiple sensor modalities.
• Experience with machine learning for time‑series data, spatial data, or behavioral prediction. On‑device ML experience (model size optimization, quantization, power‑efficient inference) is a strong plus.
• Background in signal processing, Kalman filtering, particle filters, or other probabilistic state estimation techniques.
• Experience with clustering algorithms (e.g., DBSCAN, hierarchical clustering) and unsupervised learning applied to spatial or temporal data.
• Track record of shipping production systems that operate at scale under resource constraints (mobile, embedded, or edge computing environments).
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to work effectively across teams with diverse expertise. You’ll partner closely with teams in sensing, connectivity, privacy, and application frameworks, communicating clearly and executing flexibly.
• Experience with performance profiling tools (Instruments, dtrace, etc.) and systematic optimization of CPU, memory, and power usage.
• Experience with large‑scale data analysis for offline algorithm development, model validation, and performance evaluation across diverse user populations.

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. For this role, the base pay range is $150,400 – $277,600, depending on skills, qualifications, experience, and location. You may also receive discretionary bonuses or commission payments, relocation assistance, and participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees can purchase Apple stock at a discount through the Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Apple employees also receive comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and educational expense reimbursement for career‑advancing education.

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. We reflect this in our culture, benefits, and digital tools. We welcome as many perspectives as possible to help you build a career where you feel 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.