Secure Systems Engineer - Platform Architecture

Apple Inc.; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. in San Diego is seeking a senior security architect to define the architecture and oversee distributed web services that enforce security policy for development, manufacture, deployment, and operation of Apple products.

You will drive continuous security improvements and collaborate with product and engineering teams to safeguard devices used by millions. You will help establish trust by addressing security across hardware, software, and services, while guiding architecture and

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.

Responsibilities

• 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 mitigations in collaboration with 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 security technologies across team boundaries.
• Drive security requirements and architecture into web application services that integrate with hardware roots of trust, impacting the development, manufacture, deployment, and operation of Apple products.
• Use a wide range of interpersonal and technical skills to champion adoption of industry-leading security technologies across multiple product categories.

Skills

Secure boot

Hardware roots of trust

Threat modeling

Python/Go/C/C++

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS in EE/CE/CS or related field

Job description

Are you a big-picture visionary who understands how each element affects all the others? At Apple, ourPlatform Architecture group is responsible for connecting our hardware, software, and servers into oneunified system. You’ll join a team of engineers and architects who are dedicated to securing the world’s mostadvanced consumer devices. Our products are trusted for storing personal data, and our goal is to bettersafeguard our users. We’re looking for dedicated and inspired individuals to help improve on the security ofApple’s products.

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.

Responsibilities

• 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

• 10+ 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 help drive cross‑functional initiatives and to provide architectural guidance to teams lacking resident security expertise.
• Breadth to work cross‑functionally with Infrastructure, Privacy, Safety, Service, Manufacturing, Software, and Product Development teams.
• Strong written and oral communications skills.
• 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.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

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Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.