If a recent job posting by Apple Inc. turns out to be legitimate, the Cupertino-based tech titan is now planning to take on search engine giant Google in the latter's own domain. According to the Times of India, the job posting has fueled speculations that Apple may perhaps be working to deliver a complete search service.

While Apple already offers general search facilities across its Mac desktops and iOS devices via the Spotlight feature, the latest job listing uses a term 'Apple Search,' which was not heard before.

According to the report, Cult of Mac was the first to spot the job listing by the Cupertino giant under the position titled 'Engineering Project Manager - Apple Search.' The posting said that the position is based in San Francisco and requires applicants who are "technical, driven and creative to manage back end operations projects for a search platform supporting hundreds of millions of users."

The job listing further stated that eligible applicants ought to be able to "Play a part in revolutionizing how people use their computers and mobile devices. Manage operational projects that support groundbreaking technology and the most scalable big-data systems in existence."

MacRumors reports that while the job listing was posted on Apple's website on Feb. 2, 2015, a number of other job sites also featured the advertisement since Nov. 19, 2014.

According to MacRumors, in addition to this position, Apple has posted another job listing recently on its website. The new gig is titled 'Engineering Manager, Search Relevance, Apple Search,' and it also refers to 'Spotlight.' This has made many believe that the positions are for 'Spotlight' and actually Apple is unlikely to launch a full-fledged search engine.

Meanwhile, no one has spoken to Apple to get the company's view on the issue.