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Apple Verified
Consumer Electronics, Software, Services, Retail

Lab Systems Engineer, Silicon Bring-Up & Automation Platforms

Santa Clara, CAOnsiteFull TimePosted 2 months agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

  • Apple Silicon
  • Silicon bring-up
  • Hardware validation
  • Bench validation
  • Debug
  • Automation
  • Data pipelines
  • macOS
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes

Nice to have

  • BS in Electrical Engineering
  • BS in Computer Engineering
  • Production-quality internal tools
  • APIs
  • Services
  • SQL

Role summary

Apple is seeking a Lab Systems Engineer to bring up and validate new Apple Silicon at the bench, while also building internal software platforms for the hardware and lab organization. This role involves debugging novel silicon, automating data collection and processing from global labs, and deploying scalable data pipelines within bare metal macOS, Docker, and Kubernetes environments. Responsibilities include automating validation environment setup, managing data migration, instrument tracking, network automation, and developing AI/ML tools for data analysis and predictive modeling. The engineer will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to enhance data exploration, system debugging, and observability across automation workflows.

In this highly visible role, you will bring up and validate new Apple Silicon at the bench while building the internal software platforms the broader hardware and lab organization relies on daily. At Apple, we work every day to craft products that enrich people’s lives and as part of an extremely dynamic, forward-thinking team, you’ll have the rare opportunity to build nuanced tools that help delight millions of Apple’s customers. If you love debugging silicon that has never run before, tackling challenges no one has solved yet, and automating tasks that span multiple continents, building the tools that make everyone else’s debug faster, this is the role for you.

Description


In this role, you will bring up and validate new Apple Silicon at the bench, debugging silicon that has never run before and tackling hardware issues as they surface in the lab. Alongside this hands-on validation work, you'll develop methods to improve and automate the collection, storage, processing, and visualization of silicon validation data from labs worldwide. You’ll build and deploy scalable data pipelines using scheduling systems and design infrastructure to support distributed validation across bare metal macOS, Docker, and Kubernetes environments. You will also automate the setup of silicon validation environments and manage data migration across systems. A part of the role includes instrument tracking and network automation—integrating with lab hardware to configure devices, manage network environments, monitor instrument status, and collect validation data securely and at scale. For efficient and insightful data analytics, you’ll build AI/ML based tools that accelerate data analysis and integrate with existing data analysis platforms. This includes tracking power utilization of lab equipment, identifying patterns in usage, and optimizing for future demand through predictive modeling. This work involves close collaboration with hardware, software, and infrastructure teams to enable rapid data exploration, debug large-scale systems, and implement alerting mechanisms that enhance observability and transparency across automation workflows.

Minimum Qualifications


Bachelor’s degree required.

Preferred Qualifications


BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field with 3+ years of experience Strong Python fundamentals, proven ability to build production-quality internal tools, APIs, and services Proven collaborator across teams, with clarity, ownership, and timely communication Familiarity with databases (SQL/NoSQL), file systems, and object storage Direct experience with silicon bring-up or hardware validation, including register-level debug Experience with Docker and deploying/operating Kubernetes-based infrastructure for lab or validation services, CI/CD pipelines and version control systems Hands-on experience with lab/test instrumentation (scopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers) and instrument automation Experience automating network configuration and diagnostics for lab environments Experience maintaining shared internal instrumentation/automation libraries Experience with device/fleet monitoring systems (topology, MAC/port tracking, calibration tracking) Experience with AI-assisted development, plugins, custom skills/agents, or agentic workflows Experience developing, deploying, and maintaining applied ML or statistical modeling pipelines to analyze lab and system data at scale Experience implementing alerting and monitoring systems for workflow health and failure detection Prior experience publishing papers, posters, or other technical work in relevant conferences or venues

Sample Apple interview questions

  • 1

    Design a typeahead box for a search engine

    system designmedium
  • 2

    Design a rate limiter

    system designmedium
  • 3

    Architect a key-value store for distributed systems.

    system designmedium
  • 4

    Design a system to schedule jobs in a distributed environment

    system designmedium
  • 5

    What is an API and how does it work?

    technicalmedium

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