Senior Backend Platform Software Engineer - Special Projects
Apple
Software Engineering
Cupertino, CA, USA
USD 181,100-318,400 / year + Equity
Posted on Dec 17, 2025
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.
As an engineer in the Special Projects group, you will have an opportunity to be part of an innovation-focused organization within Apple that is building tooling for model evaluation. These platforms serve the integrations between robotics, generative AI, and data analysis. You will be able to work on highly ambitious, high-reward, and impactful projects in the early stages of development. This team has a strong focus on building useful tooling and shipping innovative user experiences for our cross-functional partners. Our ideal team member is fearless when it comes to trying new things and is willing to iterate on ideas. We value team members who can quickly prototype, iterating all the way to high-quality implementations. Moreover, we value team members who can collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams across the organization.
- As a member of this team, you will use your background to build any subset of the following (but not be limited to):
- Backend and infrastructure systems using your deep expertise in Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies.
- You will help design, scale, and operate our platforms.
- You will own core infrastructure components, influence architectural decisions, and partner closely with cross-functional teams to ensure our systems are reliable, secure, and highly performant.
- Implement Python tooling and large systems for user-facing applications to help accelerate model evaluation, testing, and validation.
- Integrate with various models to scale up and improve capabilities of systems that employ ML.
- Strong Python development experience.
- Strong experience with infra, cloud-native platform engineering, and Kubernetes deployment.
- Experience with relational database systems.
- Experience with large-scale web development.
- Passion for software system architecture, API design, and developer experience.
- Industry experience bringing AI systems from advanced research to production.
- Excellent team collaboration skills.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
- BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science or a related field.
- Experience with React.js and web UI frameworks is a plus.
- Experience with ML systems and model evaluation is a plus.
- Experience with robotics, embodied AI, or LLMs is a plus.
Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant.