Research Operations Engineer (Applied Sensing and Health), Sensing & Connectivity

Summary

Join the Applied Sensing and Health team, where innovation meets real-world impact. We develop and ship cutting-edge features that empower users to live healthier, more active lives. Our team has brought to life groundbreaking products including Workout Metrics, Hearing Aid, Crash Detection, Cardio Fitness, Walking Steadiness, Journal and more.

We're seeking a Research Operations Engineer with the technical depth to run world-class research studies across health, fitness, and safety applications — and the strategic instincts to continuously shape and improve how it gets done. That means developing research partnerships, designing and executing study protocols, delivering world-class participant experiences, and coordinating the cross-functional programs that translate research into shipped product.

Description

As a Research Operations Engineer, you will own human-centered research studies end-to-end, from targeted data collections to large-scale operations that directly enable Apple's next-generation health, fitness, and safety features. You'll partner with algorithm scientists, software and quality engineers, and external partners to engineer robust study protocols, execute technically complex studies, optimize for participant experience, perform data analysis, and translate findings into high-impact insights that drive product decisions.

You anticipate problems before they happen, move fast without cutting corners, and manage multiple concurrent efforts with clarity and precision. The strongest candidates are as comfortable driving a complex study to completion as stepping back to redesign the process that got them there — you write the playbook, and improve it when something better is possible.

You bring deep GenAI fluency — not as a credential, but as a lens through which you approach every workflow. You embed tooling directly into operations, build purpose-built automations and agents, and make the whole team more capable in the process.

Preferred Qualifications

5+ years of research operations experience in a fast-paced environment, shipping technical, user-friendly products
Independent self-starter who thrives in ambiguous, rapidly evolving environments
Fast learner of complex hardware, software systems, and unfamiliar technologies
Passion for the intersection of technology with health, wellness, and fitness
Ability to drive change and influence direction without direct authority

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Statistics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Human Factors, or related field
Extensive expertise in designing, executing, and analyzing human-centered research for health, wellness, or fitness products
Track record of using GenAI to build agents, automations, and other tooling that scale research operations
Strong technical skills with the ability to analyze sensor and study data, understand algorithm designs, and convert data into actionable product insights
Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent projects, prioritizing by urgency and impact
Deep problem-solving instincts with a track record of identifying and resolving complex issues independently
Excellent communication skills; able to simplify complex concepts for diverse technical and non-technical audiences