Data Engineer, Battery Data Platform & AI

Apple • Cupertino, CA

21h

About The Position

This role is for a Data Engineer on Apple's Battery Engineering team, focusing on building data systems and an AI interface for battery engineers. The position involves creating reliable data pipelines for a large battery dataset and developing a natural language interface to change how engineers interact with data. The work directly impacts products used by millions. The role is split into two main areas: expanding the Battery Data Warehouse (BDW) by building pipelines to integrate data from various systems and establishing SLAs, and developing BARD, a natural language interface to BDW that aims to replace traditional dashboards and SQL with conversational interaction, on-demand charting, and real-time analysis. This combines data engineering and AI engineering, requiring a self-directed and collaborative individual who can take ownership and drive projects forward while aligning with team direction.

Requirements

• BS in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
• Experience with Python, SQL, and at least one other high-level programming language
• Experience building production data pipelines (ETL/ELT)
• Software engineering background and strong database fundamentals: data modeling, schema design, indexing, normalization, ACID, and OLTP vs. OLAP
• Hands-on database development (DML, DDL, materialized views, stored procedures); Snowflake (streams, tasks, dynamic tables) a plus
• Hands-on experience with orchestration (e.g., Airflow), batch/stream processing, and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS)
• Deep curiosity about AI and hands-on experience applying it; you keep up with the latest tools, use AI daily (including for coding), and have strong intuition for tokenization, embeddings, context engineering, eval frameworks, and MCP servers, as well as a clear sense of where AI excels and where it doesn't (e.g., generating new code vs. maintaining complex existing code)
• Experience securing AI/LLM systems that process sensitive or regulated data, including prompt injection defense, data handling policies, and audit trail requirements
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences

Nice To Haves

• MS in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field with 3+ years of relevant industry experience
• Familiarity with batteries or other deep-tech / hardware engineering domains

Responsibilities

• Partner with cross-functional and engineering teams to identify data opportunities, define domain ontology, and establish the use cases that drive BDW
• Design, build, and maintain production data pipelines (ETL/ELT) that bring structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data into BDW at the right cadence and reliability
• Build relationships with upstream source-system owners to unlock new data integrations, and establish and enforce pipeline SLAs
• Engineer BARD, the natural language interface to BDW — designing the agentic stack (MCP server, agentic search, domain knowledge, tool design, evals) and its end-to-end user experience
• Partner with infrastructure teams (DBA, IT) to ensure the health of pipelines and the data warehouse
• Apply AI to your own workflow and to the battery organization's problems — bringing strong intuition for context engineering, embeddings, tokenization, and evals
• Deliver data analyses that drive critical decisions in battery research, development, and qualification

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior