Machine Learning Researcher, Foundation Models

Apple Inc

Confirmed live yesterday High trust

Quick summary

Work type: On-site
Location: New York, NY
Salary: $150,400–$277,600 / yr
Posted: 79 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live yesterday
Nearby: 99+ roles within 25 mi

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Competitive pay

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $235k

This role $214k

$132k most similar roles pay here $325k

This role pays less than 63% of similar roles. Most pay $203,850–$265,512 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $214k versus about $235k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

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About Apple Inc

Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company known for designing and manufacturing consumer electronics, software, and online services, including the iPhone, Mac, iPad, and App Store. Industry: Consumer Electronics & Software

Apple Inc currently has 1984 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $175,000–$277,600 across 1590 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Machine Learning Researcher, Foundation Models

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As an AIML - Machine Learning Researcher, Foundation Models, you will join a fast-growing team of engineers and scientists to develop frontier foundation models integrated into the operating system. You will work across the full training lifecycle, including pre-training, mid-training approaches for task-specific performance, and building data pipelines and evaluation suites for visual understanding at scale. Your daily work involves solving complex problems in reward modeling, sparse rewards in agentic settings, vision-language modeling, and image or video generation. You will utilize Python along with deep learning toolkits such as JAX, PyTorch, or TensorFlow to develop models optimized for specific hardware. The role focuses on the technical challenge of aligning models across creative tasks and precise workflows while addressing issues like reward hacking in large language and multimodal models.

Skills

Python PyTorch JAX TensorFlow Deep Learning Foundation Models Large Language Models Reinforcement Learning Vision-Language Modeling Video Generation Data Pipelines Reward Modeling Multimodal Models On-policy Distillation

What you'll do

Research and develop frontier foundation models across the full training lifecycle.
Develop mid-training approaches to bridge general capabilities with task-specific performance.
Optimize foundation models specifically for Apple silicon and integrated OS experiences.
Solve reward modeling problems to prevent reward hacking in agentic settings.
Align models for both open-ended creative tasks and precise, action-taking workflows.
Build data pipelines and evaluation suites for visual understanding and generation at scale.
Develop and research vision-language modeling, image generation, and video editing technologies.
Implement reinforcement learning and on-policy distillation techniques for multimodal models.

What we're looking for

PhD or equivalent practical experience in Computer Science or a related technical field.
Demonstrated expertise in deep learning with a publication record in relevant conferences or a track record of applying techniques to products.
Proficiency in Python and at least one major deep learning toolkit such as JAX, PyTorch, or TensorFlow.
Ability to work effectively in a collaborative environment.
Experience training or adapting vision-language models.
Experience with image or video generation and editing.
Experience with post-training or mid-training large language models or multimodal models.
Knowledge of reinforcement learning and on-policy distillation.