Sr Software Engineer, Customer Systems

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

Benefits offered by this job

Stock programs

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Comprehensive medical and dental

Job summary

Apple Inc. in Cupertino, CA, is hiring for a senior software engineer within IS&T's Customer Systems. You will design and implement high-throughput microservices powering Apple’s customer support experiences across websites and apps.

You will lead API design, leverage GenAI coding tools to accelerate delivery, and mentor engineers on scalable backend patterns. The role emphasizes REST/gRPC/GraphQL APIs, Spring-based stacks, and resilient cloud architectures.

Qualifications

• B.S./equivalent in CS or related field or equivalent professional work history.
• At least 5+ years of professional software development experience.
• 2+ years of Java development including concurrency and performance tuning.
• Strong OOP, data structures, algorithms, and GoF design patterns.
• Experience with Spring ecosystem (Boot, MVC, Security, Data, Cloud).
• Knowledge of JVM internals and high-scale distributed systems.
• Experience designing APIs with REST, gRPC, GraphQL; OpenAPI knowledge.
• Understanding networking basics and cloud infrastructure concepts.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end feature delivery from design to production observability.
• Drive engineering best practices including reviews, testing, CI/CD, and docs.
• Architect non-blocking, event-driven service pipelines for high throughput.
• Contribute to API design and ensure backward compatibility across services.

Skills

Java

Spring Framework

API Design

Distributed Systems

REST/GraphQL

JVM Tuning

GenAI tools

Cloud/Infrastructure

Education

B.S. in Computer Science or related field

Tools

OpenAPI/Swagger

Protobuf

WebFlux

Job description

Do you want to help build some of the largest and most consequential enterprise and customer technology systems in the world? Join Apple's Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) organization.

IS&T is the engine behind everything Apple does for customers and for the people who build for them. It's Apple's central nervous system. Supporting 2.5 billion active Apple devices, processing billions of secure transactions, and keeping the technology that defines modern life running flawlessly, IS&T makes the impossible feel effortless.

Description

Customer Systems is part of IS&T and drives the technology behind Apple's customer support experience - from contact center operations to the software powering the iconic Genius Bar. The team also builds and operates AppleCare's online support platform, which handles 6 billion visits per year, delivering seamless, high-quality support to Apple customers around the globe.

Design and build microservices powering low-latency, high-throughput customer experiences - serving over a million users daily across Apple Support websites, iOS apps, and phone-based frontends.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of features - from technical design and implementation through testing, deployment, and production observability.
• Drive engineering best practices - code reviews, unit/integration testing, CI/CD pipeline improvements, and documentation - raising the bar for the broader team.
• Architect non-blocking, event-driven service pipelines that handle millions of concurrent requests with resilience and back-pressure management.
• Contribute to API design and contract-first development, ensuring backward compatibility and clean integration across service boundaries.

Preferred Qualifications

• Track record of leading software projects within a team as a tech lead (TL), while mentoring software engineers.
• Hands-on experience leveraging GenAI coding tools (e.g., Claude, Copilot, Codex) to accelerate the software development lifecycle, enhance code quality, and streamline debugging and testing processes.
• Experience with complementary programming languages beyond Java (e.g. Go, Python, Ruby, etc.), including practical use for automation scripting, infrastructure tooling, data processing pipelines, and build system customizations.
• Experience in API design and implementation, including proficiency in RESTful API principles, gRPC, GraphQL, contract-first design (e.g. OpenAPI/Swagger, Protobuf, etc.), API versioning strategies, gateway patterns, rate limiting, and designing APIs for backward compatibility and long-term evolution.
• Experience with caching strategies and in-memory data technologies (e.g. Redis, Memcached, Hazelcast, Ehcache, etc.), including proficiency in cache invalidation patterns, distributed caching architectures, and session management for high-throughput applications.

Minimum Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent professional work experience.
• 5+ years proven experience developing software in a professional capacity. Longer experience preferred.
• 2+ years proven experience with Java, including proficiency in concurrency, memory management, and performance optimization techniques.
• Proficiency in OOP principles, data structures, algorithms, and software design patterns (e.g. GoF), with a proven focus on implementing testable, maintainable, and extensible backend code.
• Experience building production applications with the Spring ecosystem (e.g. Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Security, Spring Data, Spring Cloud, etc.), including proficiency in dependency injection, auto-configuration, reactive programming with WebFlux, and designing microservices using Spring-based patterns.
• Solid understanding of advanced JVM internals (e.g. garbage collection, memory allocation, JIT, JNI, etc.).
• Experience designing, implementing, and shipping high-scale, high-performance, highly available, fault-tolerant, and secure cloud-based distributed systems.
• Solid knowledge of networking concepts, protocols, and infrastructure (e.g. HTTP/HTTPS, TCP/IP, CDN, load balancing, edge computing, DNS, Zero Trust architecture, etc.).

Pay & Benefits

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