AI-First Data Engineering Leader

Apple Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 296,000 - 472,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee stock programs

Stock Purchase Plan

Educational reimbursement

Job summary

Apple Inc. in Seattle is seeking an experienced data engineering leader to build and guide a massive data organization that powers critical features and analytics across media services.

You will drive the shift to AI-first data architecture, oversee large-scale pipelines, and partner with product, research, and engineering teams to deliver scalable, reliable data platforms at global scale.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering experience, including 5+ years leading large engineering organizations (50+ engineers).
• Proven track record of recruiting, developing leadership talent, and building high-performing engineering cultures at scale.
• Deep architectural expertise in large-scale data systems, with strong instincts for technical excellence and software engineering best practices.
• Demonstrated success planning and executing large-scale technology modernization or platform migration programs.
• Ability to shift seamlessly between deep technical details and big-picture strategy, with the judgment to know when each is required.
• Experience leading geographically distributed engineering teams across multiple time zones.
• Exceptional communication skills, able to drive clarity in ambiguity, distill complex concepts concisely, and effectively engage stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, with a track record of influencing outcomes across diverse engineering organizations without direct authority.

Responsibilities

• Lead a large data engineering organization, setting technical direction, defining team structure, and building a culture of ownership, craft, and continuous improvement.
• Oversee the design, development, and operation of massive-scale data pipelines and services that support commerce, payments, and content domains for Apple's Media Services products.
• Drive technology modernization programs, leading the shift toward an AI-first data architecture and executing large-scale migrations with minimal disruption to downstream consumers.
• Partner with engineering, product, and applied research teams across Apple to align platform capabilities with the needs of customer-facing features, internal reporting, and external partner integrations.
• Recruit, develop, and retain exceptional engineering talent, empowering individuals to expand their technical reach and growing future leaders.
• Establish and uphold engineering standards for data quality, reliability, scalability, and privacy across the organization.
• Communicate data strategy, program progress, and cross-team dependencies clearly to senior engineering leadership and executive stakeholders.

Skills

Leadership

Data architecture

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Tools

Spark

Flink

Kafka

Apache Iceberg

Snowflake

Job description

Apple Inc. in Seattle is seeking an experienced data engineering leader to build and guide a massive data organization that powers critical features and analytics across media services.

You will drive the shift to AI-first data architecture, oversee large-scale pipelines, and partner with product, research, and engineering teams to deliver scalable, reliable data platforms at global scale.