Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Summary

Apple is where individual imaginations gather together, committing to the values that lead to great work. Every new product we build, service we create, or Apple Store experience we deliver is the result of us making each other’s ideas stronger. That happens because every one of us shares a belief that we can make something wonderful and share it with the world, changing lives for the better. It’s the diversity of our people and their thinking that inspires the innovation that runs through everything we do. When we bring everybody in, we can do the best work of our lives. Here, you’ll do more than join something — you’ll add something.
At Apple AIML Evaluation, you will be part of a team that makes it possible for Apple engineers to innovate ML driven product features rapidly and at scale. The team’s large scale distributed Annotation platform enables current and future Apple intelligence products by generating high quality critical data that facilitates Apple Intelligence and other cutting edge ML technologies.
Imagine what you could do in a team like this, where great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there’s no telling what you could accomplish!

Description

The AIML Annotation Platform team provides frameworks and services for enabling effective data annotations across all of Apple, while protecting user privacy. As a member of the team, you’ll have the opportunity to work with the team of highly skilled engineers to build reliable backend systems.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience shipping scalable micro services, distributed systems, web services and/or data streaming platforms at massive scale with high quality, high availability, high throughput and low latency.
Experience with test-driven development, continuous integration and delivery.
Track record of working hands-on with data — exploring it, finding signals, and surfacing what stakeholders should care about
Experience with data annotation platforms is a plus
Experience with evaluation frameworks and data quality systems is a plus
Ability to discuss technical tradeoffs across the stack, including: system architecture, database design, API design and infrastructure.
A learning attitude to continuously improve self and team.
Excellent communication, problem solving, and critical thinking skills.
Ability to mentor other engineers and level up those around you.

Minimum Qualifications

MS in Computer Science, Distributed Systems, Software Engineering, or related field
Strong computer science fundamentals (system's design, OO, data structures and algorithms)
Experience designing, building, maintaining, and extending production ecosystems at scale.
Experience with server-side programming, particularly Java, Go, (Python a plus). 6+ years of professional software engineering experience preferred.
Strong knowledge of database systems and data modeling, with hands-on experience across SQL, NoSQL, and OLAP data stores.
Experience with cloud-based infrastructure (preferably AWS) and hybrid ecosystems
Experience with agentic coding tools such as Claude Code