Principal Architect, FoundationDB & Planet-Scale DBs

Apple Inc.; Cupertino (CA); Hybrid; USD 263,000 - 394,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Stock Program

Relocation assistance

Discretionary bonuses

Job summary

Apple Inc. is seeking a Principal Engineer for FoundationDB in Cupertino to define architectural direction and tackle plasma-scale distributed database challenges. You will influence technical vision, drive engineering excellence, and mentor a growing team across multiple cross-functional partners.

You will shape how we approach the hardest problems in distributed databases, from transaction layers to scalable storage, while aligning with business priorities and long-term strategy.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience designing, implementing, and operating highly scalable distributed systems.
• Hands-on experience with planet-scale databases (Spanner, DynamoDB, CockroachDB or comparable).
• Ability to define and communicate long-term technical strategy across large organizations.
• Strong cross-functional partnership and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term technical vision and architectural direction for FoundationDB, setting the bar for engineering excellence.
• Provide deep technical guidance on high-impact challenges and surface risks before they become critical.
• Partner with engineering leadership to align technical direction with business priorities.
• Mentor and develop the next generation of engineers while raising the technical hiring bar.
• Lead the rethink of the transaction layer and scalability architecture from first principles.
• Guide future initiatives on CDC pipelines, log storage, and tiered storage.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Planet-scale databases

Technical strategy

Cross-functional partnership

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Spanner

DynamoDB

CockroachDB

Job description

Apple Inc. is seeking a Principal Engineer for FoundationDB in Cupertino to define architectural direction and tackle plasma-scale distributed database challenges. You will influence technical vision, drive engineering excellence, and mentor a growing team across multiple cross-functional partners.

You will shape how we approach the hardest problems in distributed databases, from transaction layers to scalable storage, while aligning with business priorities and long-term strategy.