Sr. Software Engineer, AI, Search & Platforms

Staff/Sr. Software Engineer, AI, Search & Knowledge Platforms

Santa Clara, California, United States Machine Learning and AI

Our team builds the foundational systems that power search across Apple - from Siri to Apple Music to the App Store and beyond. We develop agentic orchestration frameworks, configuration management infrastructure, services and APIs that enable product teams to deliver fast, reliable, and intelligent search experiences to hundreds of millions of users.

We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer to design and build the distributed systems that underpin search at Apple scale. You will work at the intersection of large-scale backend infrastructure and agentic orchestration — creating frameworks that coordinate complex, multi-step search workflows across services. Your work will directly impact how quickly and reliably Apple products can deliver search results to users worldwide.

As part of a platform team, you will have the opportunity to work with many other teams across the organization and across the company. You will also participate in many key technical decisions that will shape the future of search at Apple.

• Design and implement distributed frameworks for agentic orchestration – systems that coordinate autonomous, multi-step workflows across heterogeneous services
• Build and evolve configuration management infrastructure that allows teams across Apple to safely and rapidly tune search behavior at scale
• Own the reliability and performance of platform-level services handling high-throughput, low-latency search traffic
• Define technical direction for framework APIs and abstractions consumed by multiple product teams
• Collaborate with teams across Apple (Siri, Music, App Store, and others) to understand their needs and translate them into scalable platform capabilities
• Identify and resolve systemic performance bottlenecks, reliability risks, and architectural gaps
• Mentor engineers on the team and contribute to a strong engineering culture

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, focusing on backend development
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages such as Go, Rust, C++ or Java is required
• Deep understanding of distributed systems – consensus, fault tolerance, consistency models, and graceful degradation
• Experience designing and operating large-scale backend services (high QPS, low-latency requirements)
• Track record of leading cross-team technical initiatives from design through delivery
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong focus on collaboration and collaborative problem solving

• Experience building orchestration or workflow execution frameworks (e.g., DAG-based execution engines, agent-based systems, or task schedulers)
• Familiarity with configuration management at scale – feature flagging, dynamic config propagation, rollout safety
• Experience with search or information retrieval systems
• Exposure to agentic AI patterns – tool use, planning, multi-agent coordination
• Contributions to platform or infrastructure teams where your users are other engineers

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 $203,300 and $305,600, 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.

Note:

Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.

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.