Senior Design Engineer / Prototyper ISE Incubation-Proactive
Apple
15 days ago
On-site
Cupertino, California, United States
The ISE Incubation team is looking for an exceptional Senior Design Engineer / Prototyper to own and drive the design vision across multiple high-impact, early-stage projects. In this role, you will serve as the design authority for the team — leading end-to-end design execution while working in close partnership with engineers to bring ambitious ideas to life. You are equally comfortable operating in ambiguity and delivering with precision, and you bring a rare combination of design craft, technical fluency, and strategic thinking to everything you create.
Our team nurtures early-stage ideas into well-developed, usable experiences. For this big idea to work, is there a piece of experience that must feel great? Is there an enabling technology we need to build? Software is the tool we use most frequently to bring concepts to life on our devices. But we try to use the best tool for the job: anything that helps us see, touch, or feel an idea. We often work directly with other teams to leverage expertise from across the company, and share our work with others to find out what works and what doesn’t. Gradually, those fuzzy notions turn into tangible, brand-new ideas that can lead the future of software on our devices. The products we build are part prototype, part proof of concept and part sales pitch, so communicating clearly and being able to empathize with other people"s perspectives are key skills for our team. So is the ability to give and receive feedback.
Own Design End-to-End: Lead and execute the full design process across multiple concurrent incubation projects, from early ideation through high-fidelity prototype delivery\\nDrive Design Vision: Establish and maintain a cohesive design direction across projects, ensuring quality, consistency, and a high bar for craft at every stage\\nPartner Directly with Engineering: Serve as the primary design interface with engineering teams, translating design intent into technically feasible solutions and advocating for the user experience throughout development\\nBuild \u0026 Prototype: Produce a wide range of prototypes — from rapid concept models to polished, interactive proof-of-concepts — to validate ideas and communicate design decisions\\nInfluence \u0026 Align Stakeholders: Present design work confidently to senior leadership and cross-functional partners, driving alignment and shaping product direction\\nMentor \u0026 Elevate: Contribute to the broader design culture of the team by sharing expertise, establishing best practices, and raising the bar for design quality\\nExplore \u0026 Innovate: Actively explore emerging technologies, interaction paradigms, and design approaches to push the boundaries of what’s possible within Apple’s ecosystem
8+ years of experience in design engineering, interaction design, or a prototyping-\\nfocused discipline\\nProven track record of owning and delivering design work across multiple complex\\nprojects simultaneously\\nExperience with industry-standard design tools such as Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, Figma Suite or similar\\nStrong command of visual design, interaction design, and systems thinking\\nExperience writing prototype-quality code\\nDemonstrated ability to collaborate directly with engineering teams and communicate design intent at a technical level\\nExperience presenting and defending design decisions to senior stakeholders
Experience in an incubation, R\u0026D, or 0-to-1 product environment\\nBackground in industrial design, HCI, software engineering, or a related field\\nAbility to independently scope and structure design work-streams with minimal oversight\\nStrong point of view on the future of human-computer interaction
Our team nurtures early-stage ideas into well-developed, usable experiences. For this big idea to work, is there a piece of experience that must feel great? Is there an enabling technology we need to build? Software is the tool we use most frequently to bring concepts to life on our devices. But we try to use the best tool for the job: anything that helps us see, touch, or feel an idea. We often work directly with other teams to leverage expertise from across the company, and share our work with others to find out what works and what doesn’t. Gradually, those fuzzy notions turn into tangible, brand-new ideas that can lead the future of software on our devices. The products we build are part prototype, part proof of concept and part sales pitch, so communicating clearly and being able to empathize with other people"s perspectives are key skills for our team. So is the ability to give and receive feedback.
Own Design End-to-End: Lead and execute the full design process across multiple concurrent incubation projects, from early ideation through high-fidelity prototype delivery\\nDrive Design Vision: Establish and maintain a cohesive design direction across projects, ensuring quality, consistency, and a high bar for craft at every stage\\nPartner Directly with Engineering: Serve as the primary design interface with engineering teams, translating design intent into technically feasible solutions and advocating for the user experience throughout development\\nBuild \u0026 Prototype: Produce a wide range of prototypes — from rapid concept models to polished, interactive proof-of-concepts — to validate ideas and communicate design decisions\\nInfluence \u0026 Align Stakeholders: Present design work confidently to senior leadership and cross-functional partners, driving alignment and shaping product direction\\nMentor \u0026 Elevate: Contribute to the broader design culture of the team by sharing expertise, establishing best practices, and raising the bar for design quality\\nExplore \u0026 Innovate: Actively explore emerging technologies, interaction paradigms, and design approaches to push the boundaries of what’s possible within Apple’s ecosystem
8+ years of experience in design engineering, interaction design, or a prototyping-\\nfocused discipline\\nProven track record of owning and delivering design work across multiple complex\\nprojects simultaneously\\nExperience with industry-standard design tools such as Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, Figma Suite or similar\\nStrong command of visual design, interaction design, and systems thinking\\nExperience writing prototype-quality code\\nDemonstrated ability to collaborate directly with engineering teams and communicate design intent at a technical level\\nExperience presenting and defending design decisions to senior stakeholders
Experience in an incubation, R\u0026D, or 0-to-1 product environment\\nBackground in industrial design, HCI, software engineering, or a related field\\nAbility to independently scope and structure design work-streams with minimal oversight\\nStrong point of view on the future of human-computer interaction