Staff ML Infrastructure Engineer
Apple
- Location
- Onsite (Cupertino, California)
- Employment
- Full-time
- Level
- Senior Level
Posted 6 days ago
About the Role
Join Apple's AI Platform team to build and own the data infrastructure layer for large-scale model training and generative AI applications. You will set the technical direction for systems handling data ingestion, versioning, lineage, and high-throughput loading to enable intelligent experiences across Apple products.
Skills
Machine Learning Infrastructure
Distributed Data Systems
Python
Rust
Performance Engineering
Data Pipelines
Columnar Data Formats
Lakehouse Formats
Machine Learning Workflows
Generative AI
Data Loading
Data Lineage
Data Governance
Technical Leadership
Mentoring
Kubernetes
Full job details
Join a team at the forefront of ML infrastructure and generative AI, where data and model workflows come together to enable the next generation of intelligent experiences on Apple products and services. We build robust systems that connect scalable data pipelines with advanced ML workflows, accelerating the development of real-world AI applications. Our work spans the full ML lifecycle, from experimentation to deployment, and you’ll play a key role in shaping how AI models are built, optimized, and scaled. We develop a platform for ML data and features that powers advanced GenAI applications. This includes embeddings (generation, evaluation, ANN search, multimodal support), AI Ops, efficient inference, and a modern feature platform designed to streamline experimentation and drive innovation. We’re looking for engineers and researchers passionate about generative models, data-centric ML, and intelligent systems across diverse real-world use cases. With the autonomy to experiment, the scale to make an impact, and the support to take ideas from prototype to production, you’ll work alongside a world-class team to build intelligent, flexible systems that make ML development faster, more reliable, and more creative.
The Apple AI Platform team gives Apple's ML engineers and researchers the data systems and large-scale compute they need to build and ship models at Apple's bar for quality and privacy. Our team owns the data layer that large-scale model training depends on: ingestion, versioning, lineage, and governance on the way in, and high-throughput data loading into the training fleet on the way out. As a Staff ML Infrastructure Engineer, you will set the technical direction for that platform and own its hardest system-level problems, the architecture other engineers and teams build on.
10+ years of work experience in machine learning infrastructure, distributed data systems, or a related field. 10+ years of experience building and shipping large-scale data or ML infrastructure and platforms in production. Extensive experience architecting and delivering large-scale distributed data or ML infrastructure that multiple teams or products depend on in production. A track record of setting technical direction and driving it to delivery across teams, not just within a single component. Deep systems engineering: strong Python plus a systems language (Rust strongly preferred; C++ or Go acceptable), and hands-on performance engineering for I/O-bound workloads (Arrow, zero-copy, memory mapping, async I/O, high-throughput object storage). Deep familiarity with columnar and lakehouse formats (Parquet, Iceberg, Delta, or Lance) and the judgment to choose between them at scale. Strong working knowledge of the end-to-end ML workflow and how training and inference consume data, enough to architect data systems that serve them. Familiarity with modern ML and generative techniques (transformers, diffusion, retrieval-augmented generation, fine-tuning) at the level needed to design for those consumers. Demonstrated ability to design highly available, easy-to-use systems and to mentor and elevate the engineers around you. Strong collaboration and communication, with the ability to align multiple teams around a technical direction. B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
Experience defining data or ML platform architecture that was adopted across an organization. Deep experience with the data-loading and dataset-access layer of a modern ML framework (PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow). Distributed data-loading frameworks for ML: Ray Data, NVIDIA DALI, WebDataset, or Mosaic StreamingDataset. Experience feeding data to GPU or TPU fleets at scale and keeping them saturated. Data lineage and governance systems: DataHub, OpenLineage, Unity Catalog, or equivalent. Contributions to or operational experience with Spark, Daft, Polars, or DuckDB internals. Containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
Description
The Apple AI Platform team gives Apple's ML engineers and researchers the data systems and large-scale compute they need to build and ship models at Apple's bar for quality and privacy. Our team owns the data layer that large-scale model training depends on: ingestion, versioning, lineage, and governance on the way in, and high-throughput data loading into the training fleet on the way out. As a Staff ML Infrastructure Engineer, you will set the technical direction for that platform and own its hardest system-level problems, the architecture other engineers and teams build on.
Minimum Qualifications
10+ years of work experience in machine learning infrastructure, distributed data systems, or a related field. 10+ years of experience building and shipping large-scale data or ML infrastructure and platforms in production. Extensive experience architecting and delivering large-scale distributed data or ML infrastructure that multiple teams or products depend on in production. A track record of setting technical direction and driving it to delivery across teams, not just within a single component. Deep systems engineering: strong Python plus a systems language (Rust strongly preferred; C++ or Go acceptable), and hands-on performance engineering for I/O-bound workloads (Arrow, zero-copy, memory mapping, async I/O, high-throughput object storage). Deep familiarity with columnar and lakehouse formats (Parquet, Iceberg, Delta, or Lance) and the judgment to choose between them at scale. Strong working knowledge of the end-to-end ML workflow and how training and inference consume data, enough to architect data systems that serve them. Familiarity with modern ML and generative techniques (transformers, diffusion, retrieval-augmented generation, fine-tuning) at the level needed to design for those consumers. Demonstrated ability to design highly available, easy-to-use systems and to mentor and elevate the engineers around you. Strong collaboration and communication, with the ability to align multiple teams around a technical direction. B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience defining data or ML platform architecture that was adopted across an organization. Deep experience with the data-loading and dataset-access layer of a modern ML framework (PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow). Distributed data-loading frameworks for ML: Ray Data, NVIDIA DALI, WebDataset, or Mosaic StreamingDataset. Experience feeding data to GPU or TPU fleets at scale and keeping them saturated. Data lineage and governance systems: DataHub, OpenLineage, Unity Catalog, or equivalent. Contributions to or operational experience with Spark, Daft, Polars, or DuckDB internals. Containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).