Computational Linguist, Proactive

Apple Apple · Big Tech · Cupertino, CA +1 · Software and Services

Computational Linguist role focused on data generation, annotation, analysis, and testing for entity resolution systems, which power personalized search and resolution capabilities. Requires strong data and analytical skills, coding in Python/R, and a basic understanding of ML concepts.

What you'd actually do

  1. Design, generate, and maintain high-quality datasets for entity resolution testing and evaluation; automate data generation pipelines where possible
  2. Plan, manage, and execute annotation projects; create annotation guidelines, coordinate with annotators, ensure quality and consistency
  3. Clean, process, and analyze language data using linguistic expertise to identify patterns, edge cases, and system failures; surface insights that drive product improvements
  4. Work closely with Quality Engineering, UX researchers, engineers, and localization teams to ensure entity resolution meets quality standards and user needs
  5. Design systematic test cases and evaluation frameworks; analyze test results to identify linguistic patterns in failures

Skills

Required

  • Master's degree in Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, or related field
  • Data cleaning, processing, and analysis
  • Quantitative and qualitative data analysis
  • Python or R for data processing
  • 3-5 years of industry experience
  • Linguistic annotation
  • Cross-functional collaboration
  • Organizational skills
  • Documentation practices
  • Systematic thinking
  • Attention to detail

Nice to have

  • Familiarity with version control (Git or similar)
  • Familiarity with conversational systems, NLP, or search systems
  • Experience managing or participating in annotation projects
  • Experience with localization or multilingual issues in language technology
  • Project management experience

What the JD emphasized

  • Master's degree in Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, or related field
  • Strong data skills
  • Strong analytical skills
  • Coding skills (e.g. Python, R)
  • 3-5 years of industry experience
  • Experience with linguistic annotation
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Strong organizational skills
  • Systematic thinking and attention to detail
  • Basic understanding of machine learning concepts

Other signals

  • entity resolution systems
  • data-driven work
  • linguistic expertise
  • machine learning concepts