Job Details

Machine Learning Engineer – Recommendations & Personalization (Feature Engineering)

Seattle, Washington, United States

Machine Learning and AI

Summary

Posted: Jun 06, 2025

Weekly Hours: 40

Role Number: 200590567

The Apple Services Engineering team is one of the most exciting examples of Apple’s long-held passion for combining art and technology. We are the people who power the App Store, Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Books. And we do it on a massive scale, meeting Apple’s high expectations with high performance, to deliver a huge variety of entertainment in over 35 languages to more than 150 countries. Our scientists and engineers build secure, end-to-end solutions powered by machine learning. Thanks to Apple’s unique integration of hardware, software, and services, designers, scientists and engineers here partner to get behind a single unified vision. That vision always includes a deep commitment to strengthening Apple’s privacy policy, one of Apple’s core values. Although services are a bigger part of Apple’s business than ever before, these teams remain small, flexible, and multi-functional, offering greater exposure to the array of opportunities here. Come join us to build large-scale personalized recommender systems for Apps & Games, Video, Fitness+, Podcast and Books Recommendations. See your work touch the lives of billions of Apple users worldwide.

The Commerce & Growth Intelligence team at Apple Services Engineering is at the forefront of delivering cutting-edge innovations that shape the entire lifecycle of a user’s journey—from account creation to marketing, personalized offers, subscription ranking, churn modeling, lifetime value optimization, and beyond. We’re solving problems of unprecedented scale and complexity, leveraging the latest advancements in machine learning and AI, including large language models (LLMs). Our team thrives in a dynamic and collaborative environment, where impactful ideas become transformative products and experiences for millions of customers worldwide.

Description

In this role, you will be responsible for operationalizing machine learning models—from building real-time and batch inference pipelines to optimizing system performance, reliability, and experimentation velocity. You’ll help bridge the gap between research and production by developing the infrastructure, tooling, and monitoring required to ship ML-driven features safely and efficiently.

If you are an engineer who enjoys scaling ML solutions, building production-grade services, and driving experimentation across billions of users, this is your opportunity to make a meaningful impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with ML researchers and product teams to transition models into production, ensuring reliability, scalability, and low latency.
• Design and implement robust inference services using object-oriented languages (e.g., Java, Scala, C++) that operate at scale across Apple platforms.
• Build and manage data pipelines and model execution frameworks to support both batch and streaming use cases.
• Develop tooling and infrastructure for model deployment, versioning, rollback, and online evaluation.
• Lead A/B testing efforts, including integration, metric tracking, experiment validation, and performance analysis.
• Collaborate with infrastructure teams to improve observability, alerting, and model health monitoring.
• Drive continuous improvement in latency, throughput, fault tolerance, and overall system reliability.

Minimum Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field—or equivalent industry experience.

• 2+ years of experience in production machine learning systems, especially for personalization or recommendations.

• Proficiency in object-oriented programming languages such as Java, Scala, or C++.

• Experience building and maintaining large-scale distributed systems for ML workloads.

• Deep understanding of ML model deployment pipelines, runtime optimization, and system integration.

• Familiarity with A/B testing frameworks, experimental design, and online evaluation.

• Experience with big data and stream processing frameworks like Spark, Flink, or Kafka.

• Strong focus on system reliability, latency, and observability in production environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in batch and real-time inference serving, including autoscaling and traffic management.

• Background in content recommendation systems, search ranking, or user engagement optimization.

• Experience with CI/CD workflows for ML systems, including safe model rollouts and shadow testing.

• Exposure to containerized deployments and orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker).

• Prior experience working on consumer-scale media products (apps, games, books, music, or video).

Pay & Benefits

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 $135,400 and $204,000, 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. (https://www.apple.com/careers/us/benefits.html)

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 (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf) .

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 (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf) .

Apple will not discriminate or retaliate against applicants who inquire about, disclose, or discuss their compensation.

Apple participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations as required by law.Learn more about the E-Verify program (https://www.apple.com/jobs/pdf/EverifyPosterEnglish.pdf) .

Apple is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. Reasonable Accommodation and Drug Free Workplace policy Learn more .

Apple is a drug-free workplace. Reasonable Accommodation and Drug Free Workplace policy Learn more .

Apple will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law. If you’re applying for a position in San Francisco, review the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance guidelines applicable in your area.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.