Senior Software Engineer - iCloud Platform - Observability

Lex; Greater London; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple seeks an experienced Software Engineer to help build the next generation of its cloud services platform and observability infrastructure powering iCloud.

You will design and implement a multi-tenant observability platform, handling massive data streams while maintaining privacy and security as a priority. The role blends hands-on coding with architecture decisions in a high-scale environment.

Qualifications

• Strong background in Java or similar language.
• Experience designing, building, and operating backend services and distributed systems.
• Experience with streaming data processing at massive scale.
• Experience programming in concurrent/multi‑threaded environments.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering-related field or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and support distributed services ingesting and processing large volumes of data
• Integrate with large‑scale data processing/streaming engines within service architecture
• Collaborate across teams to deliver observability insights for iCloud systems
• Drive end-to-end project execution from design reviews to releases
• Deploy, scale, and maintain highly concurrent, throughput‑intensive services
• Triage and resolve production and operational issues

Skills

Java

Backend services

Distributed systems

Streaming data

Multithreading

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering-related field

Tools

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

Containers

gRPC

OpenTelemetry

Prometheus

Job description

Summary

We are looking for an experienced Software Engineer to help develop the next-generation of Apple's cloud services platform and infrastructure. You will be working on foundational systems that power iCloud services, including distributed data platforms, storage systems, and a unified observability infrastructure that standardizes monitoring and telemetry approaches across all iCloud services serving billions of customers.

iCloud manages data and services at massive scale! Our unified observability platform serves as the central nervous system for monitoring and understanding the health of all iCloud services, providing comprehensive telemetry collection, real-time processing, and sophisticated analysis capabilities that span billions of active Apple customers. This observability ecosystem is purpose-built to deliver highly scalable and performant solutions, that maintain the highest standards of user privacy and security.

We are a world-class team who has a real passion for engineering and delivering high quality services to Apple’s customers. As a key member of a versatile organization, you will help designing and implementing the overall observability architecture of iCloud Platform and its services, handling data streams at massive scale, while putting the highest priority on user experience and data privacy.

Description

We’re looking for engineers with a strong track record of building fault-tolerant, distributed systems, and the judgment to operate confidently in a complex, high-scale environment. Our engineers demonstrate unique leadership skills and can excel in a complex environment that obsesses about the customer experience.

As a software engineer on the core observability platform components of iCloud services, you will design, develop, and support a multi-tenant platform that standardizes observability across iCloud services. We value engineers who can move fluidly between hands‑on coding, architecture decisions, and production ownership, and who are curious about applying new techniques, including machine learning, to solve operational problems.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and support distributed services that ingest and process massive volumes of operational data
• Integrate with large‑scale data processing and streaming engines as part of a broader service architecture
• Collaborate with teams across iCloud to understand their systems and deliver the insights and observability they need to operate with confidence
• Drive end‑to‑end project execution, from design reviews and through production releases
• Deploy, scale, and maintain highly concurrent and throughput‑intensive services
• Triage, investigate, and remediate production and operational issues

Minimum Qualifications

• Strong background in developing software in Java or a similar language (e.g. Swift, C, or C++)
• Strong background in designing, building, and operating backend services and distributed systems
• Strong background in streaming data processing frameworks, handling data at massive scale
• Experience in programming in concurrent and multi‑threaded environments
• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering‑related field or equivalent job‑related experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong background in time‑series and NoSQL databases
• Strong background in observability concepts: metrics, traces, logs, and their correlation
• Strong background in synchronous and asynchronous network application, I/O frameworks
• Experience with AWS, GCP, and cloud native technologies (Containers, Kubernetes, gRPC)
• Experience with observability technologies such as OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Jaeger, or similar

At Apple, we’re not all the same. And that’s our greatest strength. We draw on the differences in who we are, what we’ve experienced and how we think. Because to create products that serve everyone, we believe in including everyone. Therefore, we are committed to treating all applicants fairly and equally. As a registered Disability Confident employer, we will work with applicants to make any reasonable accommodations. Apple will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal backgrounds in a manner consistent with applicable law. Learn more

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

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Role Number: 200678083-2114