Senior Graphics Programmer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Apple's Compositing, Color, and Display Software organization provides the graphics software foundation for all of Apple's innovative products, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac and Apple Watch. Our goal is to enable developers and HI designers to create exceptional visual experiences by efficiently utilizing hardware acceleration and color technologies through compositing and display. The technologies we develop are central to enabling enhanced experiences across our platforms, including acceleration for Liquid Glass UI material and presenting HDR content with the highest quality.
Are you passionate about building the rendering technologies that make interfaces feel alive? Do you get excited about solving complex graphics challenges to deliver beautiful, responsive experiences at scale? If creating world-class visual experiences through innovative rendering architecture energizes you, this is your opportunity.
Description
We're looking for a talented Senior Software Engineer with deep rendering expertise to join our UI Rendering team. In this role, you'll drive key aspects of the Core Animation graphics compositing and rendering engine that powers visual experiences across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. You'll architect and build the graphics technologies that bring our user interfaces to life, from foundational compositing systems to cutting-edge visual effects.
Working at the heart of our graphics stack, you'll bridge the gap between creative vision and technical reality. You'll partner directly with HI designers to prototype and productize new visual concepts, collaborate with framework engineers to expose powerful rendering capabilities, and work alongside our Metal and GPU teams to unlock the full potential of Apple Silicon. From next-generation material systems to sophisticated animation techniques, you'll shape the visual foundation that defines how millions experience Apple products every day.
Responsibilities:
* Design, architect, and implement Core Animation UI rendering features and compositing technologies across all Apple platforms
* Partner with HI designers and framework teams to enable new visual experiences and design language evolution
* Collaborate with Metal graphics framework and GPU and Display teams to leverage and influence platform capabilities for rendering innovation
* Make critical technical decisions balancing visual quality, implementation complexity, and platform constraints
* Develop tools and workflows that enable rapid iteration from design concept to production-ready rendering features
* Ensure rendering quality, correctness, and visual fidelity across diverse content and platform configurations
* Contribute to long-term technical strategy and influence hardware/software roadmaps to enable future rendering capabilities and visual experiences
* Optimize rendering performance and power efficiency across Apple's diverse hardware ecosystem
","responsibilities":"Working closely with HI team and higher-level UI Frameworks (UIKit, AppKit, SwiftUI) to implement such effects using state-of-the-art 3d graphics API for hardware acceleration on GPU and other acceleration engines on Apple Silicon Performance and power optimizations to provide responsive UI and great user interaction experience across all Apple devices
Debug UI rendering or performance/power/memory issues and support continuous integration effort to maintain quality
Preferred Qualifications
Deep expertise with Metal Shading Language and advanced graphics programming
Knowledge of compositing algorithms, color management, HDR, and wide color gamut workflows
Experience with CPU/GPU synchronization and multi-threaded rendering architectures
Experience with client/server or multi-process graphics architectures
Experience with Mac or iOS application development using Swift or Objective-C
Familiarity with GPU profiling tools and performance optimization for mobile platforms
Experience shipping consumer graphics products at scale
Experience with automated testing frameworks for graphics rendering
Minimum Qualifications
5+ years of experience in software development, including software release management and integration processes
3+ years of experience with real-time rendering and computer graphics
Strong background in C/C++ programming and shader development
Hands-on experience with Metal or modern graphics APIs (Vulkan, DirectX)
Experience with layer-based rendering systems or scene graph architectures
Foundational understanding of Operating Systems, Computer Architecture, and CPU/GPU programming including memory subsystems
Strong debugging and triaging skills for complex, multi-layered systems issues
Experience with graphics performance analysis and optimization techniques
Excellent collaboration skills with cross-functional teams on complex large-scale projects
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience
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 $184,700 and $324,800, 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. Learn more about Apple Benefits
Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.