Software Development Engineer - Automation & Tools

Summary

The people here at Apple don't just build products, they craft the kind of wonder that has revolutionized entire industries. It's the diversity of those people and their ideas that encourages the innovation that runs through everything we do, from amazing technology to industry-leading environmental efforts. Imagine what you could do here. Join Apple, and help us leave the world better than we found it!

A job at Apple is unlike any other you've had. You will be challenged. You will be inspired. And you'll be proud! At Apple, phenomenal ideas have a way of becoming phenomenal products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there's no telling what you could accomplish!

The Field Design Engineering team is looking for a motivated Software Development Engineer with a solid grasp of software development practices and a passion for building great tools. As an Automation & Tools Development Engineer, you will design, develop, and maintain the cutting-edge automation systems and tools used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our engineering processes. A meaningful part of this role focuses on Agentic AI and Applied AI, building LLM-powered features and intelligent services that make our tools measurably more useful. If you are a motivated and technically skilled software engineer with a passion for automation, AI-driven innovation, and shipping impactful engineering solutions, come make a real difference on a world-class team!

Description

This position focuses on developing and maintaining automated systems and applications that streamline and enhance the engineering workflows for the latest iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch hardware. AI-powered features and agentic capabilities are a growing part of what we build, and you will build both traditional automation solutions and AI/LLM-driven experiences. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand their needs, develop innovative solutions, and ensure the reliability and efficiency of our development processes. You will be at the forefront of leveraging AI-powered tools and techniques to improve our automation workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and own automation frameworks and tools that are used across multiple wireless technologies and the globe.
• Build and ship agentic AI features and LLM-powered applications that automate multi-step engineering workflows.
• Own prompt engineering, evaluation, and safety practices for the AI features you ship.
• Integrate the latest AI/ML-powered technologies and tools for code generation and workflow optimization.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Hardware, Software, RF, Systems Engineering) to define requirements and develop solutions.
• Write clean, efficient, and well-documented code using primarily Python, with contributions in Java, Scala, Swift, or Node.js as needed.
• Contribute to and help maintain CI/CD pipelines for automated deployment of tools and applications.
• Troubleshoot and debug complex issues in automated and AI-powered systems.
• Participate in code reviews and help improve our development and evaluation practices.
• Document and communicate technical designs and solutions effectively.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or similar, with relevant software development experience.
• 3+ years of experience building offline-first, responsive web/mobile client applications with modern frameworks (React, Angular, Next.js, Vue, Flutter, React Native, etc.).
• Strong proficiency in Python, including production applications, APIs, and backend services.
• Solid grounding in object-oriented design, debugging, web services principles (HTTP, SSL, REST), and asynchronous/multithreaded programming.
• Working knowledge of SQL (MySQL, Postgres) and/or NoSQL (MongoDB, Cassandra, Couchbase) databases.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and AI/ML tooling applied to user-facing applications and workflow automation, including prompt engineering, tool and function-calling design, and multi-step agent orchestration.
• Experience with Git and CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, etc.), working in an iOS/macOS or Linux environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with agent evaluation and observability, including agent frameworks, LLM orchestration libraries, and open agent protocols.
• Familiarity with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) patterns, vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector, FAISS), and AI safety and guardrail practices for LLM-powered applications.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and messaging middleware (RabbitMQ, Kafka, AWS Kinesis).
• Experience contributing to cloud-based server-side applications in Java, Scala, Node.js, or Go.
• Experience with iOS and macOS development using Swift, including SwiftUI, Combine, Apple frameworks, remote data handling, and unit testing.
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work independently or on a team and build lasting relationships across functions.
• Eagerness to learn and carry a project from idea to finished product in a fast-paced environment.