Secure Systems Architect - Platform Architecture

Apple; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple in Cupertino seeks a seasoned security architecture leader to define the security direction across hardware, software, and services. You will align engineering and executive stakeholders to secure consumer devices and protect user data throughout the product lifecycle.

You will define architectures for distributed web services, drive threat modeling, and lead cross-functional teams to implement robust security policies while maintaining product design momentum.

Qualifications

• BS in EE/CE/CS or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with secure boot and hardware roots of trust or secure web services.
• Experience with Python, Go or C/C++.
• Experience collaborating across software, hardware and infrastructure disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with business, legal, support, and product teams to define security policy.
• Drive alignment on security initiatives at the senior executive level.
• Lead cross-functional teams to resolve system-level issues while preserving security.
• Identify threats, develop threat models, and define security architectures.
• Derive security requirements and design mitigations with product teams.
• Create system-level specs to guide product development and QA.

Skills

Security leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Threat modeling

Architectural guidance

Communication skills

AI-assisted workflows

Education

BS in EE/CE/CS

Masters in EE/CE/CS

Tools

Python

Go

C/C++

Job description

Summary

Are you a big-picture visionary who understands how each element affects all the others? At Apple, our Platform Architecture group is responsible for connecting our hardware, software, and servers into one unified system. You’ll join a team of engineers and architects who are dedicated to securing the world’s most advanced consumer devices. Our products are trusted for storing personal data, and our goal is to better safeguard our users. We’re looking for a seasoned leader to shape the security direction of Apple’s products, driving alignmentacross engineering and executive stakeholders.

Description

In this role, you will define the architecture and oversee the operation of distributed web services that set and enforce security policy for the development, manufacture, deployment, and operation of Apple products, ultimately driving continuous security improvements for these products. Together, our work will be instrumental in maintaining the trust millions of customers place in their devices every day.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with business, legal, support, and product development teams to define security policy for current and future product designs.
• Drive alignment on key security initiatives at the senior executive level.
• Lead cross-functional teams throughout the product development cycle to resolve system-level issues without sacrificing product security or impacting product design.
• Identify emerging threats, develop threat models, and define security architectures for new Apple products and technologies.
• Derive system security requirements, and design balanced and novel mitigations in creative collaboration with iconic product and engineering teams.
• Develop detailed system-level specifications to guide product development, integration, and quality assurance teams in the creation of golden unit tests, reference data, and sample libraries to aid integration of our security technologies across team boundaries (e.g. client/server).
• Drive security requirements and architecture into web application services that integrate with hardware roots of trust, playing a pivotal role in the development, manufacture, deployment, and operation of Apple products.
• Use a wide range of interpersonal and technical skills to champion adoption of our industry-leading security technologies across multiple product categories.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS in EE/CE/CS or related relevant field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with secure boot and establishing hardware roots of trust; or experience designing, developing, and deploying secure web services and scalable infrastructure for highly available applications.
• Experience with common programming languages such as Python, Go or C/C++.
• Experience collaborating across multiple disciplines, such as software engineering, hardware, and infrastructure.

Preferred Qualifications

• 20+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Masters in EE/CE/CS or related relevant field.
• Knowledge of cryptographic principles (e.g., symmetric vs asymmetric crypto, encryption vs authentication, and PKI frameworks).
• Ability to perform critical analysis of security properties across hardware, software systems, and web service architectures in order to build a comprehensive threat model (e.g. familiarity with common threat modeling methodologies such as STRIDE or Trike).
• Ability to analyze industry and regulatory trends to inform security policy direction for product designs.
• Ability to communicate complex security concepts to senior executive audiences and provide architectural guidance to teams lacking resident security expertise.
• Breadth to lead cross-functional initiatives across Infrastructure, Privacy, Safety, Service, Manufacturing, Software, and Product Development teams.
• Strong written and oral communications skills; ready to present effectively to senior executive leadership.
• Comfort building and using AI-assisted workflows that enhance efficiency, improve quality of output, and extend the reach of what a small team can accomplish.