Secure Systems Engineer - Platform Architecture Security Team

Socket.dev; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple's Platform Architecture group defines architecture and oversees the operation of distributed systems that set and enforce security policy for the development, manufacture, deployment, and operation of Apple products, ultimately driving continuous security improvements for these products.

This role is largely self-directed and suits an engineer with deep hands-on experience building and operating secure systems who is ready to grow into an architectural role.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in CS/Engineering or related field.
• Experience applying security practices to design, develop, or operate production services.
• Experience with Python or Go.
• Experience with security architecture reviews, threat modeling, or identifying vulnerabilities in complex distributed systems.
• Experience with cryptography and security protocols (PKI, TLS, Key Management, Secure Boot, or Authentication/Authorization).

Responsibilities

• Define the architecture and oversee the operation of distributed systems that set and enforce security policy for the development, manufacture, deployment, and operation of Apple products.
• This role is largely self-directed and suits an engineer with deep hands-on experience building and operating secure systems who is ready to grow into an architectural role.

Skills

Python

Go

Security architecture reviews

Threat modeling

Cryptography

Authentication/Authorization

PKI

TLS

Key Management

Secure Boot

Distributed systems

C/C++

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering or related

Job description

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 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 ensure cutting-edge safeguards for our users. The services our team supports exist to make those products secure: they establish the trust each device depends on, from the factory floor through every day in a customer's hands. We're looking for dedicated and inspired individuals to help improve on the security of Apple's products.

Description

In this role, you will define the architecture and oversee the operation of distributed systems that set and enforce security policy for the development, manufacture, deployment, and operation of Apple products, ultimately driving continuous security improvements for these products. This role is largely self-directed and suits an engineer with deep hands-on experience building and operating secure systems who is ready to grow into an architectural role.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, related engineering degree or equivalent job-related experience.
• Experience applying security practices to the design, development, or operation of production services.
• Experience with common programming languages such as Python or Go.
• Experience conducting security architecture reviews, threat modeling, or identifying vulnerabilities in complex distributed systems.
• Experience with cryptography and security protocols, including at least two of the following: PKI, TLS, Key Management, Secure Boot, or Authentication/Authorization.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Ability to understand complex systems, employing strong critical thinking skills to identify security issues in implementation and architecture.
• Knowledge of cryptographic principles (e.g., symmetric vs asymmetric crypto, confidentiality vs integrity) and technologies such as authentication and authorization, key management, TLS, certificate lifecycle management, secure boot, and PKI.
• Experience designing and developing secure services and scalable infrastructure for highly available applications, such as distributed systems, micro-services, and cloud platforms.
• Familiarity with, or practical application of, threat modeling methodologies such as STRIDE or Trike.
• DevOps experience, such as continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), infrastructure as code (IaC), or automation of development, testing, and deployment pipelines.
• Ability to track emerging security trends and threats and proactively incorporate them into PKI architecture and signing policy to stay ahead of evolving risks.
• Experience with systems programming languages such as C or C++.