Principal Applied Research Engineer/Scientist
Apple · Cupertino, CA · Machine Learning and AI
About this role
Apple is hiring a principal-level Applied Scientist in the machine learning function based in Cupertino, CA. The posting calls out experience with LLMs, Machine Learning, Performance Optimization, AI Agents.
- Role
- Applied Scientist
- Function
- machine learning
- Level
- principal
- Track
- Tech leadership
- Location
- Cupertino, CA
- Department
- Machine Learning and AI
- Posted
- Mar 14, 2026
More roles at Apple
Job description
from Apple careersAt Apple, we don’t just build products; we create experiences that enrich the lives of billions. You have the unique opportunity to seamlessly integrate foundational AI research with world-class hardware and software, bringing cutting-edge technology to billions of users. Your work will have a far-reaching impact, setting precedents for how autonomous, deeply personalized AI technologies enrich lives across our entire product ecosystem.
We are seeking a Principal Applied Research Engineer to drive breakthrough innovation across self-improving systems, agentic memory, and deeply personalized autonomous multi-agent systems. You will shape next-generation intelligent architectures that learn continuously, retain and reason over persistent memory, coordinate across agents, and translate frontier research into scalable product experiences. This unique opportunity places you at the forefront of innovation, working on projects that redefine user experiences through advanced machine learning.
<h3>Minimum Qualifications</h3>MSc or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field; or equivalent practical experience delivering zero-to-one LLM productization.
Deep expertise in transformer-based LLMs and multi-modal foundation models, with a focus on integrating text, vision, and audio with cross-modal attention.
Hands-on mastery across the model lifecycle, including pre-training, fine-tuning, performance optimization, and safety alignment.
Expertise in designing AI agents for complex reasoning while navigating the unique challenges of on-device compute constraints.
<h3>Preferred Qualifications</h3>Demonstrated ability to influence high-level architecture decisions and effectively advocate for novel research directions to product leadership.