Junior UI Compositing Engineer

Summary

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, Apple Watch and Vision Pro. Our goal is to enable developers and UI designers to create exceptional visual experiences by efficiently utilizing hardware acceleration and color technologies through compositing and display.

We're a highly technical team working on critical compositing and windowing system components across Apple's platforms. Our mission is to maintain and evolve the compositing infrastructure that powers billions of devices. We tackle challenging problems in scheduler architecture, event processing, security rendering, hardware integration, and legacy system support while maintaining the high-quality standards our users expect.

If you are passionate about building efficient compositing systems, optimizing for new hardware capabilities, and great battery life for millions of users worldwide, we want to hear from you. If you're excited about working across the full spectrum of compositing challenges—from scheduler design to event handling to security features—this role is for you.

Description

We're seeking a talented software engineer to join our UI Compositing team and grow into a key contributor to the core compositing infrastructure that powers all Apple devices. You'll have the opportunity to learn and work across different technical domains—from low-level system optimization to cross-platform feature development—while being mentored by experienced engineers. This role is ideal for someone early in their career who is eager to tackle diverse technical challenges and develop both depth and breadth in their engineering skills.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to core compositing infrastructure across different areas of the team
• Work on performance optimization including frame scheduling and display coordination
• Help implement system features across Apple platforms
• Learn about input handling and event processing systems
• Help maintain and improve critical platform code
• Debug compositing issues with support from senior engineers
• Learn to work with codebases across different Apple platforms
• Gain exposure to advanced display technologies and hardware capabilities
• Collaborate with and learn from GPU driver teams, Display teams, and Metal framework engineers
• Develop skills navigating large, complex codebases across different technical domains
• Write clear, well-documented code and participate in team code reviews
• Build your expertise in compositing, systems programming, and hardware coordination

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Solid understanding of computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, and operating systems concepts
• Ability to write code in at least one lower-level language like C, C++, or similar (from coursework or projects)
• Comfortable working in Unix/Linux environments and using command-line tools
• Some experience with debugging (even from school projects or internships)
• Enthusiasm for learning complex systems and new technologies
• Good problem-solving skills and attention to detail
• Willingness to learn and improve through mentorship and code reviews
• Collaborative mindset and ability to work well with others
• Adaptability and interest in working across different technical areas

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with C, C++, or Objective-C (from internships, projects, or coursework)
• Exposure to concepts like memory management, threading, or concurrency
• Basic understanding of graphics systems, display technologies, or hardware-software interaction
• Experience using profiling or debugging tools
• Coursework or projects involving operating systems, compilers, or low-level programming
• Familiarity with debuggers like lldb or gdb, or profiling tools like Instruments
• Experience developing on macOS, iOS, or other Apple platforms
• Personal or academic projects that involved systems programming
• Curiosity about how hardware and software work together
• Interest in performance optimization or system-level programming
• Track record of learning new technical concepts quickly
• Willingness to work across different technical areas and problem domains

Key skills/competency

• Compositing
• Graphics Software
• C/C++ Programming
• Systems Programming
• Performance Optimization
• Data Structures
• Algorithms
• Debugging
• Unix/Linux
• Hardware Integration