Planet-Scale DB Architect & Technical North Star

Apple; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 260,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple is seeking a Principal Engineer to define architectural direction for FoundationDB, guiding the hardest distributed database problems and shaping the team's growth. You will mentor engineers, lead strategic initiatives, and collaborate with leadership to align technical work with business priorities.

This is a high-impact role at Apple in Cupertino, focused on scale and reliability across core services.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in scalable distributed systems.
• Hands-on experience with planet-scale databases (Spanner, DynamoDB, CockroachDB).
• Ability to define and communicate long-term technical strategy.
• Strong cross-functional partnership with platform, infra, and product teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive long-term technical vision and architecture for FoundationDB at scale.
• Provide deep technical guidance on the most complex, high-impact challenges.
• Partner with engineering leadership to align direction with business priorities.
• Mentor engineers and shape the technical hiring bar.
• Lead redesign of the transaction layer and scalability architecture.
• Guide new initiatives like CDC pipeline and tiered storage.

Skills

Architectural vision

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical leadership

Strategic planning

Effective communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering or equivalent

Tools

Spanner

DynamoDB

CockroachDB

Job description

Apple is seeking a Principal Engineer to define architectural direction for FoundationDB, guiding the hardest distributed database problems and shaping the team's growth. You will mentor engineers, lead strategic initiatives, and collaborate with leadership to align technical work with business priorities.

This is a high-impact role at Apple in Cupertino, focused on scale and reliability across core services.