Senior Manager, Business Operations & Planning — AI Organization

Apple; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple in Cupertino seeks an accomplished leader to drive Business Operations and Planning for the AI organization. This senior role requires deep expertise in finance, budgeting, and cross-functional execution to align resources and investments with model development strategy.

The candidate will oversee infrastructure capacity planning, data acquisitions, workforce planning, and strategic site planning, partnering with engineering leadership to optimize spend and deliver measurable

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in financial operations, business planning, or technology operations leadership.
• Leadership experience in financial and budget oversight within large technology organizations.
• Ability to influence and align stakeholders across organizations.
• Management experience guiding complex initiatives across engineering, operations, finance and legal.
• Deep knowledge of financial systems and ML engineering development processes.
• Excellent communication and analytics skills with attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain partnerships with cross-functional teams across compute, cloud infrastructure, business operations, procurement, finance, and engineering.
• Partner with Finance to develop and maintain budgets, including leading annual budget planning cycles.
• Lead portfolio management and reporting to drive prioritization across development and capacity needs.
• Oversee headcount and departmental budget management with rigorous financial oversight.
• Oversee space planning and site strategy, coordinating with Real Estate and Facilities for growth locations.
• Drive employee communications across the AI organization in partnership with leadership and HR.

Skills

Financial operations

Budget oversight

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic planning

Data-driven decision making

Job description

Summary

The Infrastructure and Planning team within Software Engineering Operations is seeking an accomplished leader to drive Business Operations and Planning for the AI organization. If you think analytically and are passionate about applying financial, operational, and planning expertise to complex challenges, we'd love to hear from you! This strategic role enables coordination across the AI organization — spanning budget planning and operational execution in close partnership with engineering leadership. The ideal candidate will align resources and budget to critical development projects and initiatives. This involves oversight to planning for the infrastructure and data required for model training and development with a focus on optimization, utilization, and connecting engineering strategy to the financial investment.

Description

Lead a Business Operations team that drives internal budget planning for the AI organization, including infrastructure capacity management (supply & demand planning for both 1P & 3P cloud resources), data acquisitions (licensed data, vendor-managed data), workforce management (both internal and external headcount) and related processes to ensure finance and engineering leadership understand how such investments tie back to model strategy or SW roadmap.

Decisions on workload prioritization and resource allocation will be guided by a vision to accelerate development, strengthen financial processes and unlock operational efficiencies.

This role requires a deep understanding of financial processes, technology development, and regulatory compliance, as a proven track record of delivering results through cross-team collaboration.

This team will also be responsible for oversight of strategic site planning and employee communications for the AI organization, ensuring that key initiatives across the organizations are aligned to and a location strategy that enables retaining top ML talent.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain strong partnerships with cross-functional teams across compute and cloud infrastructure, business operations, procurement, finance, and engineering.


• Partner closely with Finance to develop and maintain budgets, including leading the annual budget planning cycle.


• Prioritization & Portfolio Management: Lead reporting and analysis of development and capacity needs to drive prioritization and de-prioritization decisions across the portfolio, balancing innovation, compliance, and operational efficiency.


• Oversee headcount and departmental budget management, providing rigorous financial oversight, strategic workforce planning, and optimal resource allocation to support operational efficiency and growth.


• Space & Facilities Planning: Oversee organizational space planning and site strategy, partnering with Real Estate & Facilities to optimize footprint allocation and support evolving team growth in strategic locations with ML talent.


• Organizational Communications: partner with Employee Experience and Organizational VP to drive employee communications across the AI organization, keeping team members aligned, informed, and connected to leadership goals, strategic priorities, and key initiatives.


• Hire, develop, and retain top talent, while maintaining strong visibility and communication across the broader organization.

Minimum Qualifications

• 15+ years of relevant experience in financial operations, business planning, or technology operations leadership.


• Leadership experience in financial and budget oversight roles within large technology organizations.


• Ability to influence and align stakeholders across organizations.


• Management experience guiding complex initiatives and teams across multidisciplinary functions, including engineering, operations, cloud infrastructure, finance, and legal.


• Strong problem-solving ability with outstanding decision quality, grounded in data-driven decision-making.


• Deep knowledge of financial systems and business models, as well as related software and machine learning (ML) engineering development processes.


• Excellent understanding of business and financial operations, with the ability to drive development of business tools and analytics that improve organizational efficiency.


• Proven experience with data reporting, coupled with excellent analytical skills and meticulous attention to detail.


• Exceptional communication skills, including experience presenting complex topics to senior leadership.


• Ability to lead teams through ambiguity, organizational change, and evolving priorities.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA and/or CPA, with strong understanding of Finance policies and SOX compliance.


• Technical expertise or deep understanding of ML development.


• Passion for software development and AI/ML, with a consistent track record of operational results.


• An inspiring leader who fosters collaboration across a multitude of initiatives.


• Experience leading and developing high-performing teams in a fast-paced, dynamic, and innovative environment.


• Proven track record of collaborating and influencing across teams and organizations.