Apple Foundation Models: Senior ML Research Scientist, RL & Agentic Reasoning

Apple seeks a Senior ML Research Scientist in Zürich to lead reinforcement learning and agentic reasoning efforts for its Core Foundation Models team.

This position sits within Apple’s Europe-based applied machine learning group, a key component of the Core Foundation Models team responsible for powering intelligence across billions of devices. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with colleagues in New York, Seattle, and Cupertino to advance the state of the art in artificial intelligence.

Responsibilities

• Drive advancements in large-scale language models by focusing on reinforcement learning methodologies.
• Create and implement RL strategies to train and enhance next-generation foundation models.
• Engage with the entire AI development lifecycle, from architecting multi-modal systems to executing large-scale deployments.
• Utilize reinforcement learning to improve AI reasoning capabilities, adaptability, and autonomous behavior.

Requirements

• Hold a PhD or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline, or possess equivalent professional experience.
• Demonstrate deep knowledge of generative AI architectures, with practical experience in training and scaling large language models or multimodal foundation models.
• Have industry experience building, training, and deploying large-scale machine learning systems, with a strong focus on performance optimization.
• Possess a robust background in deep learning and reinforcement learning, including hands-on application of these techniques to LLMs and foundation models.

Nice to have

• Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
• Ability to analyze data, identify bottlenecks, and optimize large-scale models for efficiency and performance.
• Experience delivering ML-driven product features at scale in an industry setting.
• A proven track record of designing, training, and optimizing LLMs or multimodal foundation models.
• Expert-level understanding of machine learning theory, particularly in generative modeling and large-scale architectures.
• Research or applied experience in decision-making, reinforcement learning, and agentic reasoning.
• A strong research portfolio with peer-reviewed publications at top AI/ML or NLP venues.

About the company

Apple’s Core Foundation Models team is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence. The group seeks exceptional talent to lead groundbreaking developments that redefine the possibilities of AI on a global scale.

• The team is committed to spearheading innovative advancements in AI.
• There is a strong emphasis on exceeding conventional limits to expand the horizons of artificial intelligence.