Senior Software Engineering Lead, Wallet, Payments & Commerce (WPC)

Apple; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple is seeking an experienced senior engineer to design and operate large-scale, distributed software systems for Wallet, Payments & Commerce. You will lead architecture, drive technical direction, and mentor peers across global teams while delivering highly available services.

You will own from concept to production, shaping monitoring, deployments, and on-call response with a focus on reliability and scale in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience architecting, building, and maintaining distributed systems at scale.
• Strong communication skills to drive consensus across global teams and external partners.
• Proven ability to design and operate REST and/or gRPC services with high availability.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and maintain mission-critical distributed systems at large scale with resilience and self-healing as core design principles.
• Drive technical discussions and define engineering strategy across teams and disciplines.
• Write technical specifications and documentation to align complex concepts across audiences.

Skills

Java

Kotlin

Spring

Distributed systems

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

OpenTelemetry

Datadog

Prometheus

Grafana

Job description

Summary

Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, great ideas have a way of becoming phenomenal products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. The Wallet, Payments & Commerce (WPC) team is building the world's best software for paying and interacting with the world, from Apple Pay, transit, and event tickets, to digital keys and identity. We are looking for experienced engineers who are passionate about their craft, crave the challenge of architecting systems at scale, and thrive on owning hard technical problems at global scale. If you love solving meaningful problems that impact millions of people and defining the technical direction of critical services, we want to hear from you.

Description

You will have the opportunity to lead the intricate challenge of building resilient and reliable distributed software systems at Apple's scale. You will be given the flexibility to drive creative solutions, the support of a talented and driven team, and access to diverse technologies. You will have the autonomy and responsibility to take full ownership of your solutions. You will join a team that owns every stage of the product and software development lifecycle, from architecture through production operations, and will design, build, test, deliver, and maintain exceptional software that truly makes a difference. In this fast-paced environment, you will be hands-on in all phases and will actively shape the architecture and design of our platforms and offerings through deep experience in operating, monitoring, and providing on-call support for the software you build. As a senior member of the team, you will drive technical discussions, write specifications, mentor peers, review code, and produce impactful documentation. Success in this role requires strong self-motivation, clear and crisp communication, a highly collaborative approach, and the ability to work effectively across teams and disciplines to define and influence engineering strategy.

Key Responsibilities

Architect, build, and maintain mission-critical distributed systems at large scale with resilience, failover, and self-healing as core design principlesDrive technical discussions and define engineering strategy across teams and disciplinesWrite technical specifications and produce impactful documentation to drive consensus on complex conceptsMentor peers and review code to uphold engineering excellence and continuous improvementDesign and operate high-volume REST and/or gRPC services, supporting both server-to-server and mobile client-facing use casesProvide on-call support and actively contribute to monitoring and observability strategies for the software you buildCollaborate with global teams and external partners, communicating clearly and thoughtfully to influence technical directionLead complex projects end-to-end from conception through production deployment

Minimum Qualifications

Extensive experience architecting, building, and maintaining mission-critical distributed systems at large scaleDeep understanding of distributed systems fundamentals and trade-offs in consistency, latency, and throughputA commitment to engineering excellence, continuous improvement, and the curiosity to evaluate and advocate for new technologies and patternsAbility to communicate thoughtfully and clearly, both verbally and in writing, to drive consensus on complex technical concepts with diverse audiences, including global teams and external partnersA track record of building and sustaining healthy long-term relationships and technical influence within your team and beyond its boundariesThe tenacity and perseverance to lead complex projects all the way from conception to productionNo formal degree is required; what matters most is your mindset, your initiative, and your demonstrated ability to apply advanced skills to real-world applications

Preferred Qualifications

Deep hands-on software development expertise with Java or Kotlin and SpringProven development and operational experience with high-volume REST and/or gRPC services, either server-to-server or mobile client facingStrong experience designing for containerization and orchestration (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes)Significant experience architecting, building, and operating cloud-native (e.g., AWS) applications with resilience, failover, and self-healing as core featuresExpertise in designing robust CI/CD pipelines and defining infrastructure as codeExtensive experience with observability strategies and tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, Datadog)Deep understanding of modern networking and experience using traffic tools for tracing and debugging