Sr Software Architect Perception Systems

Apple, Inc.; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 325,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee stock programs

Relocation assistance

Medical & dental coverage

Retirement benefits

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Apple seeks a Senior Software Architect for the Perception Systems stack in Cupertino, CA. You will own the software architecture for perception runtime, dataflow, and infrastructure that power ML and robotics features across devices.

Lead the end-to-end stack, balance latency, power, and memory, and partner with hardware, software, and product teams. Strong leadership and communication are essential for success.

Qualifications

• 10+ years building production systems software in C/C++, Swift, with deep knowledge of concurrency, scheduling, memory management, and IPC on a modern OS.
• Track record of shipping latency-sensitive or real-time systems to customers with measurable performance.
• Experience designing dataflow or algorithm-graph runtimes across heterogeneous compute.
• Experience designing telemetry, tracing, and profiling into systems and using data to drive improvements.
• Working knowledge of perception/robotics concepts like sensor fusion, time synchronization, and state estimation.
• Experience deploying ML models into production runtimes with quantization and scheduling considerations.
• Demonstrated technical leadership across teams and ability to partner with program managers.
• Clear written and verbal communication with engineers and leadership.
• BS or MS in CS, EE, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• DRI for the end-to-end software architecture of the perception stack, from sensors to downstream consumers, setting long-term technical direction.
• Design and build a real-time, graph-based dataflow runtime across CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine with predictable latency.
• Define system foundations: sensor time sync, calibration, IPC, and data logging.
• Ensure privacy and security are core to the architecture, including secure enclaves.
• Partner with perception/ML engineers to ship prototypes to production on device, balancing latency, accuracy, power, and memory.
• Build telemetry, tracing, profiling, and replay into the stack from day one for measurable performance and stability.
• Drive cross-functional alignment with hardware, software, and platform teams on architecture and timelines.
• Collaborate with program managers to break roadmaps into milestones and re-plan as needed.
• Set engineering standards through reviews and communicate architectural tradeoffs to engineers and leadership.

Skills

C/C++

Swift

Concurrency

Memory management

IPC

Real-time systems

Telemetry

Leadership

Communication

Cross-functional

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Tools

ROS 2

DDS

MCAP

Darwin/XNU internals

Job description

Sr Software Architect Perception Systems

Cupertino, California, United States Machine Learning and AI

Apple is where individual imaginations gather together, committing to the values that lead to great work. Every new product we build, service we create, or Apple Store experience we deliver is the result of us making each other's ideas stronger. That happens because every one of us shares a belief that we can make something wonderful and share it with the world, changing lives for the better. It's the diversity of our people and their thinking that inspires the innovation that runs through everything we do. When we bring everybody in, we can do the best work of our lives.Here, you'll do more than join something: you'll add something. At Apple, we strive to make great products that empower people and improve their lives. We believe recent breakthroughs in AI/ML and robotics have the potential to unlock new experiences that were never possible before, and we are looking for a talented senior software architect to help realize that mission by architecting the perception software stack behind these experiences.

Description

As a member of the team, you'll have the opportunity to work with a team of highly skilled engineers and scientists to bring new experiences to Apple products. We are looking for a senior software architect to be the directly responsible individual for the software architecture of our perception stack: the runtime, data flow, and system infrastructure that turn perception and ML algorithms into a fast, reliable, and secure product. You will set the technical direction for the stack and serve as the team's primary technical partner to hardware, software, and product teams across Apple. This role is a great fit for a systems engineer who has shipped latency-sensitive software at scale, understands perception and robotics well enough to be a true partner to algorithm engineers, and enjoys making the work of many teams fit together into one coherent system.

Responsibilities

• This position requires strong technical and interpersonal skills to handle responsibilities including:
• * Serving as DRI for the end-to-end software architecture of the perception stack, from camera, audio, and other sensor inputs through algorithm execution to downstream consumers, and setting its long-term technical direction.
• * Designing and building a real-time, graph-based dataflow runtime that schedules perception and ML workloads across heterogeneous compute (e.g., CPU, GPU, Neural Engine) with predictable latency.
• * Defining the system foundations that perception depends on, including sensor time synchronization, calibration management, inter-process communication, and data logging.
• * Ensuring privacy and security are core to the architecture, including isolating sensitive sensor processing in secure execution environments.
• * Partnering with perception and ML engineers to bring algorithms and models from prototype to production on device, making principled tradeoffs across latency, accuracy, power, and memory.
• * Building telemetry, tracing, profiling, and record/replay into the stack from day one, so that performance, stability, and regressions can be measured and reproduced against real-world data.
• * Driving cross-functional alignment with hardware, software, and platform teams across Apple on architecture, interfaces, dependencies, and integration schedules.
• * Partnering with program managers to break the roadmap into milestones, deliver against them, and re-plan when requirements change.
• * Setting engineering standards through design reviews and mentorship, and clearly communicating architectural decisions and tradeoffs to engineers and leadership.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years building production systems software in C/C++, Swift, with deep knowledge of concurrency, scheduling, memory management, and IPC on a modern operating system.
• A track record of shipping latency-sensitive or real-time systems to customers, with measurable performance and reliability targets.
• Experience designing dataflow or algorithm-graph runtimes across heterogeneous compute.
• Experience designing telemetry, tracing, and profiling into systems, and using that data to drive performance and stability work.
• Working knowledge of classical perception and robotics (e.g., sensor fusion, time synchronization, calibration, state estimation, tracking, or SLAM/VIO).
• Experience deploying ML models into production runtimes, including quantization, scheduling, and performance tradeoffs.
• Demonstrated technical leadership across team and organizational boundaries.
• Experience partnering with program managers to break work into milestones, deliver against them, and re-plan when requirements change.
• Clear written and verbal communication with both engineers and leadership.
• BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Real-time Linux expertise (e.g., PREEMPT_RT, CPU isolation, cgroups, deterministic scheduling) or RTOS experience.
• Deep experience with Darwin/XNU internals, secure execution environments, or microkernel-based isolation.
• Experience shipping consumer hardware products at scale.
• Experience with robotics middleware and logging (e.g., ROS 2, DDS, MCAP) and record/replay or simulation infrastructure.
• Experience building evaluation pipelines, regression testing, or data feedback loops for ML-driven systems.
• Familiarity with modern learned perception, multimodal models, or agentic AI workflows.

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 $324,800, 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.
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Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.