On-device ML Infrastructure Engineer (ML User Experience APIs)

Summary

Posted: Mar 19, 2025

Weekly Hours: 40

Role Number:200595560

The On-Device Machine Learning team at Apple is responsible for enabling the Research to Production lifecycle of cutting edge machine learning models that power magical user experiences on Apple’s hardware and software platforms. Apple is the best place to do on-device machine learning, and this team sits at the heart of that discipline, interfacing with research, SW engineering, HW engineering, and products. The team builds critical infrastructure that begins with onboarding the latest machine learning architectures to embedded devices, optimization toolkits to optimize these models to better suit the target devices, machine learning compilers and runtimes to execute these models as efficiently as possible, and the benchmarking, analysis and debugging toolchain needed to improve on new model iterations. This infrastructure underpins most of Apple’s critical machine learning workflows across Camera, Siri, Health, Vision, etc., and as such is an integral part of Apple Intelligence. Our group is looking for an ML Infrastructure Engineer, with a focus on ML user experience APIs. The role is responsible for developing new ML model conversion & authoring APIs that will be a part of coremltools (CoreML’s authoring/conversion toolkit). The role also requires interacting with ML authoring frontend (like PyTorch) to capture graphs from the frontend, and efficiently import these graphs into CoreML stack. The conversion and authoring APIs also include feedback APIs, whereby ML engineers can evaluate/visualize the converted models to evaluate functionality/performance.

Description

As an engineer in this role, you will be primarily focused on developing APIs in coremltools to enable ML engineers to efficiently author/convert ML models to CoreML, including any feedback APIs to help them evaluate the CoreML programs. The conversion APIs also include optimizations to enable peak performance on Apple devices, such as quantization, compression, distillation, etc. The role requires a good understanding of ML modeling (architectures, training vs inference trade-offs, etc.), and a good understanding of designing Python APIs and packages. We are building the first end-to-end developer experience for ML development that, by taking advantage of Apple’s vertical integration, allows developers to iterate on model authoring, optimization, transformation, execution, debugging, profiling and analysis. The core ml tools authoring and conversion APIs are the entry-point to the rest of the infrastructure stack. Key responsibilities: Develop APIs in coremltools for ML engineers to efficiently convert models from ML frontends (such as PyTorch, JAX) into CoreML’s model representation. Develop APIs in coremltools for ML engineers to author/tailor programs to achieve peak performance on Apple devices (e.g., quantization, distillation, custom operations, etc.) Develop APIs, and tools for ML engineers to evaluate and converted/authored programs.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors in Computer Sciences, Engineering, or related discipline.
• Highly proficient in Python programming, some familiarity with C++ is required.
• Proficiency in at least one ML authoring framework, such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, MLX.
• Strong understanding of ML fundamentals, including common architectures such as Transformers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of ML optimization techniques (like quantization, distillation, etc.) is a strong plus.
• Experience with any on-device ML stack, such as TFLite, ONNX, etc.
• Experience with designing Python APIs and production deployment of python packages is a strong plus.
• Experience with MLIR/LLVM or any compiler toolchains is a strong plus.
• Good communication skills, including ability to communicate with cross-functional audiences.

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 $143,100 and $264,200, 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.