Apple has increased its workforce in Spain by 20 percent as of the closing date of the last fiscal year -September 2021- until reaching the 2,025 direct employees, according to data to which Europa Press has had access. In the case of the team dedicated to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML, for its acronym in English), located in Barcelona, the number of workers has doubled during the same period.
To accommodate this expanding team, Apple opened a new office in Barcelona last December, which has been operating at full capacity since last July. This office, located in a restored building from the end of the 19th century opposite the emblematic Apple store on Paseo de Gracia, has become the largest Apple AIML center in continental Europe.
Despite the current context of economic uncertainty, the US company expects to continue growing in Spain and currently has more than forty vacancies in the country, as detailed by the company. “We continue to invest in Spain and increase our team. Thanks to the excellent local talent we are building a top-level engineering team in Barcelona,” says Elisenda Bou-Balust, Senior Engineer at AIML.
Bou-Balust was the founder of Vilynx, a Spanish startup that Apple acquired in 2020 and that uses the Artificial Intelligence to improve device understanding of audiovisual content in context, optimizing search results. A revolutionary technology that Apple is developing in order to improve the user experience through its services.
Currently, Elisenda is in the process of searching for engineers to join the company to work in technologies that improve the user experience on Apple products and services. “At Apple, you have the opportunity to work alongside the best professionals in the industry in an inclusive and diverse environment,” she says.
Beyond direct jobs, Apple supports indirectly more than 120,000 jobs in Spain thanks to the volume of business generated by iOS apps. Those from Cupertino have been operating in Spain since 1985 with constantly growing offices in Madrid and Barcelona and eleven Apple Stores throughout the country.
Source: Europa Press
