Senior/Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Apple Search & Knowledge Platforms

As a member of our fast-paced group, you’ll have the unique and rewarding opportunity to shape upcoming products from Apple. We are looking for highly motivated machine learning engineers and researchers having strong machine learning and deep learning fundamentals with hands-on experience in fine-tuning deep learning and large language models. This role will have the following responsibilities:

- Conduct research and development on state-of-the-art deep learning and large language models for various tasks and applications in Apple’s AI-powered products

- Developing, fine-tuning, and evaluating domain-specific Large Language Models for various NLP tasks including summarization, question answering, search relevance/ranking, entity linking and query understanding problems

- Conducting applied research to transfer the cutting edge research in generative AI to production ready technologies

- Understanding product requirements, translate them into modeling tasks and engineering tasks

- Stay up to date with the latest advancements and research in deep learning and large language models

Master’s in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related field.
6 years of experience in various state-of-the-art techniques related to LLM fine-tuning in 1 or more of the following areas: Supervised Fine-tuning (SFT) with Rejection Sampling, Preference-based fine-tuning techniques (e.g RLHF, Reward model, DPO, PPO, GRPO etc.), Parameter efficient fine-tuning techniques (e.g LoRA), Hallucination reduction and factual accuracy improvements, Designing and implementing safety guardrails
Experience working with Deep learning or LLM model development for various NLP tasks and RAG applications including prompt engineering, training data collection and generation, model fine-tuning and model evaluation
Experience working with Python and at least one of the deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or JAX.

PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related field.
At least 3 year of experience in various state-of-the-art techniques related to LLM fine-tuning in 1 or more of the following areas:
-Supervised Fine-tuning (SFT) with Rejection Sampling
-Preference-based fine-tuning techniques (e.g RLHF, Reward model, DPO, PPO, GRPO etc.)
-Parameter efficient fine-tuning techniques (e.g LoRA)
-Hallucination reduction and factual accuracy improvements
-Designing and implementing safety guardrails
At least 4 years of experience with large-scale model training, optimization, and deployment
One or more scientific publications in various conferences and journals
Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills with ability to work with cross-functional teams.

The AI, Search & Knowledge Platforms team builds amazing products and services for Apple's customers while serving as a foundational partner to teams across Apple. The team delivers world-class AI, search, and knowledge systems powering Siri, Apple Intelligence, Safari, and iMessage, and operates the foundational platforms and infrastructure that keep these intelligent experiences running at hyperscale.

As part of this group, you will be doing large scale machine learning and deep learning research and development to improve Open Domain Question Answering (using both structured knowledge graph data and unstructured web data) and Summarization as well as developing fundamental building blocks needed for Artificial Intelligence. This involves developing sophisticated machine learning and large language models (LLMs) to understand user queries, retrieve and rank relevant documents across multiple sources and synthesize information across documents to provide user with a direct answer that best satisfies their intent and information seeking needs. Additionally, you will research and develop the state-of-the-art LLMs for summarizing personal data such as emails, messages, and notifications.

You will also work with researchers and data scientists to develop, fine-tune, and evaluate domain specific Large Language Models for various tasks and applications in Apple’s AI powered products and conduct applied research to transfer the cutting edge research in generative AI to production ready technologies.

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 $181,100 and $318,400, 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.