Senior Human Factors Engineer

Apple • Cupertino, CA

21h

About The Position

Apple is looking for a Senior Human Factors Engineer to lead experience definition for intelligent systems and emerging interaction paradigms. In this role, you will shape how people interact with our products by defining experience targets, establishing data strategies that inform design and engineering decisions, and specifying interaction requirements that bridge human needs with technical capabilities and product engineering. You will work at the intersection of human behavior science, systems thinking, and product strategy to ensure our experiences are grounded in evidence and centered on people. This team identifies human factors risks and proposes crucial research throughout all stages of product and technology development. By working closely with engineers and designers, we gain a deep understanding of design and interaction challenges. Through multi-functional collaboration, we define study objectives and develop tailored research plans to address them. Our work influences multidisciplinary engineering teams by delivering actionable insights that drive key decisions. We determine critical data attributes, conduct both qualitative and quantitative analyses, and translate findings into meaningful insights. To communicate impact, we visualize data and present clear, compelling recommendations to all collaborators.

Requirements

• MS or PhD in Human Factors Engineering, Design Research, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, or related field
• 7+ years of industry experience applying design research and/or human factors methods to new product development in technology
• Demonstrated ability to define product experiences end-to-end — from early concept through requirement specification
• Strong expertise in at least two of the following: Design research methods (contextual inquiry, diary studies, participatory design, ethnographic research, survey design), Qualitative research and synthesis for experience strategy, Interaction design for intelligent/adaptive systems, Multimodal interaction (voice, touch, gesture, gaze, spatial), or Human-AI interaction and automation/autonomy frameworks
• Hands-on experience conducting research with early stage prototypes
• Experience building persona frameworks
• Experience defining data requirements for ML/AI-driven user experiences
• Familiarity with privacy-preserving approaches to behavioral data collection
• Track record of shaping product direction at early stages (0-to-1 product definition)

Responsibilities

• Define experience targets, interaction models, and success criteria for new product concepts, translating user needs, cognitive constraints, and behavioral insights into clear specifications that guide engineering implementation.
• Partner with product, design, engineering, and data leadership to shape product vision, influence technical tradeoffs, and ensure experiences are grounded in human-centered rationale
• Provide technical leadership across multiple project teams — mentoring engineers and researchers, representing human factors in system design reviews, developing scalable methods that elevate the team’s ability to define experiences systematically, and strategize communication methods and means to influence project team and leadership decisions.

What This Job Offers

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