Smith is replacing Joel Podolny, who will focus full-time on Apple University, according to Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple. Smith is the latest woman to join Apple's top ranks, which also include Katie Cotton, vice president of communications, and Angela Ahrendts, the former Burberry Group Plc chief executive officer who will lead retail operations.

Even as revenue decelerates, Apple is vying with Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and other technology companies to recruit top engineers. Apple ranks 35 in a survey of best places to work by Glassdoor Inc., down from 10th place in 2012. The two Web rivals and Intel Corp. all placed higher in the employer-review website's latest poll. Smith previously led human resources for Apple's retail operations, which employed 42,800 of Apple's 80,300 workers in the latest fiscal year.

"Apple's still a great place to work, but they're not experiencing the uber-growth they once did," said Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group in San Francisco who has a buy rating on Apple stock. "You have a situation where every startup wants to hire the hottest talent out of Apple."