Software Engineer - Distributed Systems

Apple, Inc.; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 278,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical and dental

Stock programs

Education reimbursement

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Apple's Wallet, Payments & Commerce (WPC) team is seeking senior engineers to architect and scale resilient distributed software at Apple’s pace. You’ll own end-to-end design across services, shape architecture, drive on-call reliability, and contribute to secure, observable platforms used by millions.

This role combines hands-on development with leadership, collaboration, and strategic influence. You will work across the full software lifecycle, mentor peers, and help define technical direction

Qualifications

• Extensive experience architecting, building, and maintaining mission-critical distributed systems at large scales.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems fundamentals and trade-offs in consistency, latency, and throughput.
• A commitment to engineering excellence, continuous improvement, and evaluating new technologies and patterns.
• Ability to communicate thoughtfully and clearly to drive consensus on complex concepts with diverse audiences.
• Track record of building healthy long-term relationships and technical influence.
• Tenacity to lead complex projects from conception to production.
• BS degree in computer science or equivalent experience

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, build, test, deliver, and maintenance of distributed software at Apple's scale.
• Drive technical discussions, write specs, and mentor peers.
• Review code and produce impactful documentation to guide engineering strategy.
• Collaborate across teams and disciplines to influence engineering direction and reliability.

Skills

Distributed systems

System architecture

Technical communication

BS degree in CS

Education

BS in Computer Science

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

REST/gRPC

AWS

CI/CD

Observability tools

Job description

Cupertino, California, United States Software and Services

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 in a fast-paced environment. 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'll have the opportunity to lead the intricate challenge of building resilient and reliable distributed software systems at Apple's scale. You will be given 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'll join a nimble team involved in every stage of the product and software development lifecycle and will design, build, test, deliver, and maintain exceptional software that truly makes a difference. In this fast-paced environment, you'll 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’ll drive technical discussions, write specifications, mentor peers, review code, and produce impactful documentation. Success in this role therefore requires strong self-motivation, crisp and clear communication, a highly collaborative approach, and the ability to work effectively across teams and disciplines to define and influence engineering strategy.

Minimum Qualifications

• Extensive experience architecting, building, and maintaining mission-critical distributed systems at large scales.


• Deep understanding of distributed systems fundamentals and trade-offs in consistency, latency, and throughput.


• A commitment to engineering excellence, continuous improvement, and the curiosity to evaluate and advocate for new technologies and patterns.


• An ability 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 partners.


• A track record of building and sustaining healthy long-term relationships and technical influence within your team and beyond its boundaries.


• The tenacity and perseverance to lead complex projects all the way from conception to production.


• BS degree in computer science or equivalent experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep hands-on software development expertise with Java or Kotlin or Scala and Spring.


• Proven development and operational experience with high-volume REST and/or gRPC services (either server-to-server or mobile client facing).


• Strong experience designing for containerization and orchestration (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes).


• Significant time spent architecting, building, and operating cloud-native (e.g. AWS) applications with resilience, failover, and self-healing as core features.


• Expertise in designing robust CI/CD pipelines and defining infrastructure as code.


• Extensive 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.


• A fundamental appreciation for, and understanding of security, privacy, and cryptography (e.g. PKI, certificate management, JWT).


• Hands-on experience optimizing SQL/NoSQL databases for scale (e.g. Cassandra, DynamoDB).


• ODI additions: Understanding of data engineering/pipelines and observability/Understanding of iOS frameworks/ML model training and inference/Critical use of AI/ML tools

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $150,400 and $277,600, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.
Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses — including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation. Learn more about Apple Benefits
Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.
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.