Data Scientist - Hardware Acoustics

The Hardware Acoustic organization at Apple is dedicated to delivering industry-leading audio experiences across all our products. We are a multidisciplinary team of acoustic engineers, researchers, and machine learning experts who push the boundaries of sound quality, noise cancellation, and user interaction. Our Machine Learning Data team is the foundational backbone for these efforts. We are responsible for building the robust data infrastructure, pipelines, and analytical tools that enable the development, training, and evaluation of cutting-edge machine learning models for acoustic applications. We work with vast, complex datasets, ensuring their quality, accessibility, and utility for our ML scientists and engineers.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain robust and scalable data pipelines for collecting, processing, and transforming large volumes of acoustic, sensor, and related metadata.
• Collaborate with acoustic engineers and ML scientists to identify, extract, and engineer features from raw acoustic data for machine learning models.
• Implement rigorous data quality checks, monitoring, and anomaly detection to ensure the integrity, reliability, and privacy of data used for ML.
• Develop tools and frameworks to automate data ingestion, validation, preparation, and labeling processes.
• Perform exploratory data analysis (EDA) and data visualization to uncover insights, identify trends, and communicate findings to cross-functional teams.
• Contribute to the definition of data schemas, data governance, and best practices for data management within the Hardware Acoustic organization.
• Support the deployment and monitoring of ML models by ensuring data consistency between training and inference environments.
• Optimize data storage, access patterns, and query performance for large-scale datasets.
• Thoroughly document data pipelines, schemas, processing logic, and data dictionaries.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Data Science, or a related quantitative field.
• 3+ years of professional experience in data engineering, data science, or machine learning engineering roles, with a strong focus on data pipelines and data preparation.
• Expert proficiency in Python for data manipulation, scripting, and automation.
• Strong SQL skills for complex data querying, analysis, and database management.
• Experience with distributed data processing frameworks (e.g., Apache Spark, Hadoop).
• Solid understanding of data warehousing concepts, data modeling, and ETL/ELT principles.
• Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with acoustic data, audio signal processing, or sensor data.
• Familiarity with machine learning concepts and experience using ML libraries (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Experience with MLOps principles and practices for managing the ML lifecycle.
• Knowledge of data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, matplotlib, seaborn).
• Experience with real-time data processing or streaming technologies.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex data concepts to diverse audiences.
• Familiarity with web front/back end.
• Familiarity with large-scale data platforms and services (e.g., cloud-based data warehouses/lakes or similar internal infrastructure).

Pay & Benefits
At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $172,100 and $258,600, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple's discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple's Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You'll also receive benefits including: 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.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics.