ML Engineering Manager - App Store Search

Apple • Cupertino, CA

1d

About The Position

As the ML Engineering Manager for App Store Search, you will lead the design and evolution of the core systems that power Apple's search, personalization, and agentic experiences. Your team will own the architecture, protocols, data flows, indexing, serving, inference, and automation, that ensures these systems are fast, reliable, and built for scale. You will drive the creation of new online and offline components using SOTA technologies, building first ML models where needed or partnering with the Relevance Intelligence team for more advanced iterations. Your leadership will shape the foundation that enables world-class search and agent experiences across Apple products. You will partner closely with product, data science, EPM, and, AB Test teams to ship fast, relevant, and trustworthy results that millions of users rely on every day.

Requirements

• 5+ years leading engineering teams delivering large-scale distributed systems, backend infrastructure, or search platforms.
• MS or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Information Retrieval, or a related field.
• Experience building complex systems involving indexing, retrieval, serving, data pipelines, or ML-driven components.
• Strong execution record across the full engineering lifecycle.

Nice To Haves

• Expertise in large-scale search systems, ranking/retrieval architectures, personalization pipelines, or agentic system design.
• Experience building production ML systems or bootstrapping first version of ML models.
• Strong systems engineering fundamentals, APIs, protocols, distributed systems, data modeling, performance, and reliability.
• Ability to lead cross-functional alignment and balance long-term platform strategy with fast iteration.
• Effective communication and leadership skills; able to drive clarity, prioritize well, and develop engineering talent.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and technical direction for search, personalization, agentic systems, and internal tooling.
• Define and implement core system components, including protocols, data flow, indexing, serving, inference, and automation.
• Lead development of new systems, both online and offline, using state-of-the-art technologies, algorithms, and ML models.
• Build ML models when appropriate, or collaborate with the Relevance Intelligence team for deeper model development.
• Partner closely with product, infrastructure, and cross-functional teams to ensure system robustness, scalability, and long-term evolution.
• Develop and mentor a high-performing engineering team with strong fundamentals and a bias for impact.
• Deliver reliable, production-ready systems with clear execution focus, technical rigor, and user-centered design.

Benefits

• 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees