Machine Learning Engineer, On-Device ML – Apple Ads

Summary

Posted:May 05, 2025

Weekly Hours:40

Role Number:200601298

At Apple, we strive every day to create products that enrich people’s lives. Our Advertising Platforms group enables users worldwide to discover new content seamlessly while empowering publishers and developers to promote and monetize their work. Our technology powers advertising in the App Store and Apple News, delivering highly-performant, privacy-first solutions that set new industry standards. We’re seeking an adventurous and strategic leader to drive innovation in Ads Signals Intelligence! This role requires a deep understanding of Ad network behavior and the ability to develop and prioritize an innovation roadmap that spans multiple technical domains. You’ll lead a team that designs, develops, and delivers innovative capabilities, differentiating Apple’s Ad Platforms and driving key business outcomes.

Description

– Design, develop, and optimize on-device machine learning models for learning user preferences within the App Store ecosystem. – Implement, benchmark, and fine-tune deep learning models for efficiency, latency, and power consumption on iOS devices. – Work with Core ML, Metal, and other Apple ML frameworks to deploy models efficiently and securely. – Ensure all ML computations remain on-device, preserving user privacy while maintaining model effectiveness. – Develop and apply Private Federated Learning and Differential Privacy techniques to ensure user data never leaves the device while enabling personalized experiences. – Optimize models for various iOS devices, ensuring performance across different generations and hardware capabilities. – Develop tools and techniques for model compression, quantization, pruning, and hardware acceleration to enable real-time inference. – Stay updated with the latest developments in privacy-preserving AI, on-device learning, and Apple ML advancements.

Minimum Qualifications

• 3+ years in ML engineering with a focus on on-device/mobile ML, preferably iOS.
• Strong proficiency in Swift, Objective-C, and Python.
• Experience with Core ML, Metal, TensorFlow Lite, PyTorch Mobile, or similar frameworks.
• Knowledge of model quantization, pruning, knowledge distillation, and hardware acceleration (e.g., Neural Engine, GPU optimizations).
• Familiarity with iOS development tools, Xcode, and app deployment processes.
• Experience or familiarity with Private Federated Learning and Differential Privacy is a strong plus.
• On-Device Personalization: Experience with learning user preferences without data leaving the device is highly desirable.
• Ability to troubleshoot and debug performance bottlenecks in ML models and iOS applications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with Private Federated Learning and Differential Privacy.
• Experience with Apple Neural Engine optimizations.
• Background in embedded systems or edge computing.
• Knowledge of real-time inference in resource-constrained environments.
• Experience building personalization models that adapt on-device without cloud interaction.

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.