Sr. Linux Engineer - DNS and Global Server Load Balancing, Infrastructure Services

Apple Inc.; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 216,000 - 325,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical and dental cover

Retirement benefits

Discounted products & free services

Tuition reimbursement

Relocation assistance

Employee stock programs

Job summary

Apple Inc. is seeking a Sr. Linux Engineer to own the reliability of DNS and global server load balancing across a distributed edge and data center footprint. You will operate bare-metal and cloud Linux infrastructure as code, define observability, and build automation to reduce toil while planning capacity and hardware lifecycle.

You will mentor engineers and collaborate with software, network, and product teams to deliver large-scale rollouts and ensure 24x7 operations run smoothly.

Qualifications

• Production Linux experience including deployment and CI/CD workflows.
• Hands-on networking troubleshooting TCP/UDP and L2–L3 issues.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tooling and observability platforms.
• Proficiency in at least one automation language (Python/Go/Rust/Swift).
• Willingness to participate in a 24x7 on-call rotation.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Operate and extend Linux infrastructure across edge sites and PoPs, using IaC for repeatable deployments.
• Own DNS and global server load balancing reliability, incident response, and on-call rotation.
• Develop visibility with SLIs, alerts, and dashboards spanning global sites.
• Develop automation/tools in Python/Go/Rust/Swift to reduce toil and create self-sustaining systems.
• Plan fleet capacity and hardware lifecycle, collaborating with leadership and program management.
• Mentor engineers and collaborate with software, network, and product teams on architecture and tooling.
• Represent team needs to partners and leadership with clear communication.

Skills

Linux systems

Networking fundamentals

Infrastructure-as-code tooling

Observability tooling

Automation programming

On-call rotation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Salt

Ansible

Puppet

Terraform

Prometheus

Grafana

Job description

Sr. Linux Engineer - DNS and Global Server Load Balancing, Infrastructure Services

Sunnyvale, California, United States Software and Services

Infrastructure Services is part of IS&T and the foundation of Apple's global network operations — managing data center equipment and systems to deliver compute, storage, and networking services for teams across Apple, including its internal developer community. From individual facilities to a worldwide network, Infrastructure Services ensures the technology underneath everything works without questionApple's services reach hundreds of millions of people every day, and Edge Services builds and runs the authoritative DNS and global server load balancing infrastructure that sits at the front door of all of them. Every request to an Apple service begins here, in the first few milliseconds where our systems decide how and where to answer. The reliability, correctness, and performance of that front door directly shape the experience people have with Apple, and keeping it fast and dependable at global scale is the work of our team.We're looking for a thoughtful, experienced engineer to bring technical leadership to this infrastructure. You'll operate and extend bare-metal and cloud systems distributed across dozens of data centers and network points of presence worldwide, build deep traffic and resolution visibility, drive performance and capacity planning, and create the automation that keeps our 24x7 operations calm and reliable. You'll also mentor engineers across the team and partner closely with our software, network, and product engineering groups. We believe great systems are built by great teams and care as much about how we work together as about what we ship. If you're energized by owning the reliability of critical infrastructure at global scale, we'd like to hear from you.

Description

This is a senior individual-contributor role and a technical anchor for the Edge Services DNS and GSLB systems. The essential functions of the job are to operate and extend distributed Linux infrastructure as code across geographically dispersed sites; to define and maintain the observability, alerting, and service-level objectives that keep the systems healthy; to build automation that removes operational toil; to plan fleet capacity and hardware lifecycle across globally distributed sites; and to mentor engineers while partnering across software, network, and product teams. The role includes incident and process management and participation in a shared 24x7 production on-call rotation.

Responsibilities

• Operates and extends bare-metal and cloud Linux infrastructure across dozens of edge sites and points of presence, treating infrastructure as code so that standing up or rebuilding a site is predictable and repeatable.
• Owns the reliability, correctness, and performance of the authoritative DNS and global server load balancing systems, including incident response and participation in a 24x7 on-call rotation.
• Builds deep visibility into the systems by defining meaningful service-level objectives, alerting, and dashboards that span every point of presence and surface problems early.
• Develops automation and tooling in Python, Go, Rust, and/or Swift — supported by generative AI tooling — to remove operational toil and turn manual tasks into reliable, self-sustaining systems.
• Guides fleet capacity, growth, and hardware lifecycle across geographically distributed sites through smart tooling, thoughtful planning, and collaboration with leadership and program management.
• Mentors and grows engineers at every career stage and partners with other senior engineers to raise the bar on architecture, tooling, and design.
• Partners with software, network, and product engineering teams to deliver large-scale rollouts and keep 24x7 operations running smoothly.
• Represents the team's work, needs, and ideas to partners and leadership through clear, collaborative communication.

Minimum Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience operating Linux systems in production, including software deployment and CI/CD workflows.
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals, with hands-on experience troubleshooting TCP/UDP and common layer 2–3 issues.
• Experience with configuration management or infrastructure-as-code tooling (for example, Salt, Ansible, Puppet, or Terraform) and with observability tooling (for example, Prometheus and Grafana, or equivalents).
• Proficiency in at least one programming language used for automation and tooling (for example, Python, Go, Rust, or Swift).
• Willingness to participate in a shared 24x7 on-call rotation.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Extensive experience operating large-scale infrastructure across multiple data centers or network points of presence.
• Expertise with anycast routing and BGP, and a strong understanding of how DNS, load balancing, and the network layer interact.
• Depth in Linux internals, including kernel networking, and in package management and software deployment at fleet scale.
• Experience defining service-level objectives and indicators (SLOs/SLIs) and driving reliability programs across distributed systems.
• Familiarity with secure-by-default operations, such as DNSSEC key management, change safety, and progressive configuration rollout.
• Experience with scale and performance testing, disaster recovery, and capacity planning.
• Experience managing hardware lifecycle across edge and regional network environments.
• Track record of leading end-to-end projects, defining technical roadmaps, and driving cross-functional alignment on architecture and best practices.
• Experience mentoring engineers and leading code reviews.

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 $216,200 and $324,800, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.

You’ll also receive benefits including:

• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage
• Retirement benefits
• A range of discounted products and free services
• 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
• 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.

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.