Apple Silicon Design Engineer Openings
Apple designs the M-series and A-series chips in-house, and the team that does it hires across nearly every IC discipline. If you have shipped a high-volume processor, GPU, or memory subsystem, an Apple silicon design engineer opening is one of the few places your work lands in hundreds of millions of devices a year.
The roles split along familiar lines: CPU microarchitecture, GPU design, Neural Engine development, memory subsystem engineering, and full SoC integration. Most postings want strong RTL skills and real time on advanced FinFET nodes, because Apple moves to each new process early and the schedules leave little slack.
Day to day, that means owning a block from architecture through tapeout. You write clean RTL, close timing with the physical design team, and defend your power and area numbers against a system-level budget. Cache hierarchy work, high-bandwidth memory interfaces, and custom processor design all map directly to what these teams need.
Nearly all of these openings sit at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA, with a growing hardware presence in Austin, TX, and some roles in Seattle, WA. Apple rarely offers fully remote hardware positions, so location matters when you filter. You can see the current Apple listings on our Apple semiconductor design jobs page, and broader system work on senior SoC design engineer postings.
Compensation runs high. Total packages at the senior and staff levels commonly reach $250K to $400K once RSUs vest, and Apple's grants are a large share of that number rather than a bonus on top of base. Our salary guide for semiconductor jobs has the wider ranges by role and level if you want a benchmark before an interview.
SemiDesignJobs tracks Apple's careers page and partner feeds, so new postings show up here as they open. Save a search with your functional area and level, and you'll get an email the moment a matching Apple silicon role appears. Verification engineers can also watch for Apple silicon verification engineer jobs as those pipelines expand.
FAQ
What do Apple silicon design engineer openings require
Usually a BS or MS in EE or CE, plus deep RTL and microarchitecture experience. Custom processor or GPU design and hands-on work at advanced FinFET nodes are strongly preferred. Apple also weighs how well you collaborate, since blocks cross the CPU, GPU, memory, and physical design teams constantly.
Where are Apple silicon design engineer roles based
Most sit at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA, with growing teams in Austin, TX, and Seattle, WA. Apple rarely posts fully remote hardware design roles, so plan for onsite or hybrid work at one of those sites.
How competitive are these openings
Very. Apple's chip reputation draws a large applicant pool, so unusual microarchitecture depth, publications, or prior work at a top semiconductor company helps you stand out. Tracking every posting and applying early is the practical edge, which is what SemiDesignJobs is built for.