Staff Machine Learning Research Engineer, App Store Search

Description The ASE Search team is a vital part of Apple ecosystem, powering search for App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Podcasts, Books, iTunes and more, on a wide set of platforms such as iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, Safari, and 3rd party devices. Driven by passion for the extraordinary rather than the easy, our team of problem solvers, is dedicated to helping users discover media and content in exciting new ways. We are looking for extraordinary and motivated machine learning researchers and engineers to join us in our journey. As a Senior/Staff Machine Learning Research on the ASE Search team, you will lead the design and development of next-generation search and conversational discovery features for Apple's ground breaking devices and platforms.

3+ years of relevant industry experience building large-scale ML & data systems Familiarity with search or recommendation systems, conversational engines, or related domains Strong knowledge of generative AI systems including Large Language Models, Transformers, Reinforcement Learning, RAG, and agentic patterns such as ReAct, Chain-of-Thought, Tool Use, and Multi-Agent orchestration Experience with one or more distributed ML training frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Ray, or JAX, and inference engines like TensorRT or vLLM Technical leader with exceptional communication skills and a track record of solving complex, ambiguous problems in a highly collaborative environment

MS or Ph.D. in Computer Science or related subject area Proven ability to build & scale Search & Conversational systems, applying 7+ years of hand-on experience across the full product stack - including query understanding, semantic retrieval, multi-stage ranking, indexing, intent classification, and context-aware generation. Deep expertise in Search & Conversational systems, bringing in 7+ years of hands-on experience building capabilities such as query understanding, retrieval, ranking, indexing, autocomplete, intent resolution, and context-aware generation across multiple domains. Proficient in developing robust big data pipelines in Scala or Python using distributed processing frameworks like Apache Spark. Familiarity with scalable, reliable distributed backend services including Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, and container orchestration Familiarity with A/B experimentation and data-driven product development