Sr Software Engineer, Applied AI and Test Automation - Camera Software

Apple Inc.; Cupertino, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 325,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. is seeking a Sr Software Engineer for Applied AI and Test Automation in Cupertino to architect and build advanced camera validation systems.

You will lead production-grade automation across the camera stack, leveraging agentic AI and multimodal evaluation techniques to improve defect detection and release throughput. You will collaborate with QA, camera engineering, and lab teams to prioritize automation, mentor engineers, and ensure robust test orchestration across devices.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering and architecture experience.
• 2+ years building and evaluating modern AI/ML and agentic technologies to solve real-world validation problems.
• Strong track record of designing, building, debugging, and reliably operating effective software test automation solutions.
• Experience automating or validating software against physical hardware, devices, or instrumented lab environments.
• Experience building and operating automated test execution at scale, including CI/CD pipelines and unattended test infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architectural design of next-generation camera validation systems, from prototype through production rollout.
• Design and ship automated validation across the capture path, verifying UI and capture flows.
• Build AI-assisted triage that clusters and attributes test failures accurately.
• Raise reliability of existing test suites by diagnosing flaky and non-deterministic behavior.
• Partner with QA, Camera software engineering, product management, and lab infrastructure to decide automation roadmap.
• Mentor engineers through design reviews and code reviews.

Skills

AI/ML experience

Test automation

Cross-functional collaboration

Mentoring engineers

Python

Swift

Objective-C

C++

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS/AI/EE or related field

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Un Attended test infrastructure

Job description

Sr Software Engineer, Applied AI and Test Automation - Camera Software

Cupertino, California, United States Software and Services

On Apple's Camera Software team, you will work hands-on with the most popular camera in the world and shape the way millions of people capture and experience their photos and videos every day. Our QA test and automation engineers work together to ensure our customers get the camera experience they expect from one of Apple's most iconic technologies.As a Senior Software Engineer on our Camera Software team, you'll work directly with camera testers and engineering teams to build our next-generation camera validation systems. You'll bring your creativity and engineering experience to determine how agentic AI, multimodal vision, robotics, or other novel test automation systems will help us scale the capacity, effectiveness, and impact of the team.

Description

Apple's Camera Software team is looking for an experienced software testing and automation engineer with a proven track record of delivering effective automated software validation systems.As a Senior Software Engineer, you will lead the architectural design and implementation of novel production-quality test automation solutions to make our camera software validation measurably more effective and efficient across every Apple device with a camera. You bring sound problem-solving and architectural judgment, and you challenge assumptions and give feedback constructively. You can reason from the business problem backward and invent new approaches when established techniques fall short. You've demonstrated the ability to rapidly prototype and iterate on ideas, use data to drive decisions, and work exceptionally well with team members to refine, operate, and scale your solutions.To architect and create our world-class camera validation systems, you'll combine your strong software engineering skills with extensive applied experience in areas such as agentic engineering and evals, multimodal AI and visual validation, intelligent test orchestration, robotic device automation, and human-in-the-loop workflows that scale expert review. You'll also draw on your deep engineering experience and a results-oriented mindset to recognize when traditional test automation or manual testing is the better fit for a given validation scenario.This is a rare opportunity to make a major impact on the future of Camera Software quality and to meaningfully contribute to the way millions of people experience Apple's camera technology every day.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architectural design of next-generation camera validation systems, from prototype through production rollout, and drive technical alignment across QA, Camera software engineering, and lab infrastructure.
• Design and ship automated validation across the capture path, verifying that the Camera app's UI and capture flows behave correctly and that the resulting photos and videos carry the expected formats, attachments, and capture metadata, free of obvious visual or structural defects.
• Build AI-assisted triage that turns raw test failures into clustered, de-duplicated, correctly attributed reports that engineers act on with confidence, along with the evaluation harnesses that keep those systems honest.
• Raise the reliability of existing test suites by diagnosing flaky and non-deterministic behavior, eliminating whole classes of failure, and restoring trust in what a failing test means.
• Partner with QA engineers, Camera software engineering, product management, and lab infrastructure teams to decide what gets automated next, and measure the impact and effectiveness of what ships.
• Mentor engineers through design review, code review, and direct, constructive technical feedback.

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering and architecture experience.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience building and evaluating modern AI/ML and agentic technologies to solve real-world validation problems.
• Strong track record of designing, building, debugging, and reliably operating effective software test automation solutions that measurably improved defect detection and/or release throughput.
• Deep knowledge of QA testing methodologies and strategy, with experience in one or more of test-result analytics, automated triage, flakiness measurement, and signal-to-noise improvement in automated reporting.
• Experience automating or validating software against physical hardware, devices, or instrumented lab environments.
• Experience building and operating automated test execution at scale, including CI/CD pipelines and unattended test infrastructure.
• Excellent problem-solving and cross-functional collaboration skills in a fast-paced environment where priorities may shift with the release cycle.
• Experience mentoring engineers and giving clear, constructive technical feedback.
• Strong programming skills in at least one of Python, Swift, Objective-C, or C++.
• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, AI/ML, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent work experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience building reliable agentic or intelligent automation systems, including evaluation frameworks, automated graders, and failure analysis.
• Deep experience with multimodal AI and visual evaluation systems, including vision-language models, computer vision, and automated detection of visual defects in UI or captured output.
• Knowledge of image and video processing applications, camera processing pipelines, photo and video formats, and metadata interpretation.
• Experience automating and testing software on Apple hardware devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, using XCTest/Swift and/or Python/pytest.
• Experience designing and building physical test rigs, robotic actuation, or controlled lighting and scene environments.
• Proven ability to advocate persuasively for a technical position among strong, conflicting opinions.

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.

Learn about accessibility in Apple's workplace

Learn about reasonable accommodations for job applicants

Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.