Core Services Media API Engineering Manager - Platforms Team

Apple; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead a geographically distributed team of software engineers responsible for the online content system powering catalog and editorial metadata across Apple services. You will own architectural decisions, drive platform scalability, and partner with product management and executives to align roadmap with business priorities.

You will guide delivery of high‑availability services, support NoSQL data stores, API gateway, and caching layers, while

Qualifications

• 10+ years in CS with 5+ years leading engineering teams.
• Ability to influence senior technical leadership, including Directors/VPs.
• Experience with scalable web services and distributed systems.
• Proficiency with NoSQL data stores and APIs.
• Hands-on with Java and functional languages (Scala, Clojure).
• Hiring, performance management, and growing senior talent.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• Strong judgment to balance priorities and investments.

Responsibilities

• Lead an engineering team responsible for services central to Apple Services Engineering.
• Shape architecture for globally distributed API and data modeling.
• Partner with Product Management and leadership on roadmap and investments.
• Guide caching and content liveness systems for reliability at scale.
• Mentor engineers and oversee cross-functional negotiations.

Skills

Engineering Leadership

Distributed systems

NoSQL data stores

Java

Scala

Clojure

Architectural decisions

Hiring & mentoring

Communication

Education

BS or MS in Computer Science

Tools

Solr

Redis

Memcached

Cassandra

Voldemort

Job description

Summary

Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, new ideas have a way of becoming extraordinary products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there's no telling what you can accomplish. Would you like the stimulation and challenges of building world-class, extraordinarily scalable systems that power App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Games, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+, and many more? Then this is the opportunity for you at Apple! We strive to provide a flawless experience for millions of customers and developers. Apple Services Engineering (ASE) Core Services team is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead an exceptional, geographically distributed team of Software Engineers who own, develop, and maintain the online content system housing all the catalog and editorial metadata that powers our Apple services. As a cornerstone of our engineering stack, this system — and your leadership of it — will be central to the development of new features and platform capabilities across all of Apple Services Engineering. Come be part of the team that owns critical infrastructure and drives what comes next.

Description

In this role, you will lead the engineering team responsible for services that are central to all of Apple Services Engineering, developing new product features and platform capabilities. Your team's scope spans key customer-facing platforms including User Ratings and Reviews, the API gateway and broader platform infrastructure that Apple services and business verticals depend on. You will drive engineering solutions to enhance a globally distributed API, work with NoSQL data stores to push the boundaries of the CAP theorem, and shape data modeling strategies that keep our systems horizontally scalable as they grow. You will also oversee caching and content liveness systems that are foundational to the reliability and performance of Apple's services at scale. This is not just a technical leadership role, it is a strategic one. You will serve as a strategic partner to Product Management and senior leadership alike, shaping product direction, roadmap prioritization, and long-term engineering investments in equal measure. You will translate product requirements into actionable engineering decisions while ensuring engineering perspectives are embedded throughout the development lifecycle. Partnering closely with Directors and VPs, you'll navigate complex cross-functional negotiations, advocate for the right technical solutions, and champion the platform and infrastructure work that often gets squeezed by business priorities — making the case for foundational investments and protecting the runway your team needs to keep systems healthy and scalable.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science, 10+ years of experience in a related field, with 5+ years building and managing engineering teams central to product and platform development.
• Demonstrated experience engaging and influencing senior technical leadership, including Directors and VPs.
• Proven ability to navigate complex cross-team technical negotiations and drive alignment on architectural and implementation decisions.
• Track record of strategic planning, balancing business‑driven feature work with critical infrastructure investments and making those trade‑offs clearly and consistently.
• Expertise in scalable web services, globally distributed systems, and multi‑functional feature delivery.
• Expertise with NoSQL data stores such as Solr, Redis, Memcached, Cassandra, Voldemort, or similar.
• Hands‑on experience with Java and functional languages such as Scala and Clojure.
• Strong analytical skills with a deep understanding of data structures and algorithms.
• Experience owning complex engineering projects from inception through production.
• Prior experience with hiring, performance management, and growing senior engineering talent.
• Excellent communication skills, can make compelling arguments, drive difficult conversations, and represent engineering clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrates strong judgment in knowing when to elevate, when to resolve informally, and how to cultivate relationships that accelerate execution.
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to context‑switch across multiple high‑priority workstreams and engage all levels of the technical stack.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing teams with presence across multiple international locations and time zones.
• Comfortable engaging hands‑on in technical discussions, code reviews, and production troubleshooting alongside the team.
• Expertise in Big Data processing technologies such as Spark and Flink.