Sr Software Engineer, Customer Systems

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

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and dental coverage

Employee stock program

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Apple Inc. seeks an experienced backend software engineer to own end-to-end delivery of features for customer-facing systems.

You will design, implement, test, and deploy non-blocking microservices with Spring, WebFlux, and API-first approaches, focusing on performance and reliability for billions of transactions. Ideal candidates bring 5+ years of professional Java experience, strong OO design, JVM internals knowledge, and a track record of building scalable cloud services.

Qualifications

• BS in CS/CE or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years software development in professional settings.
• 2+ years Java with concurrency and memory management expertise.
• Strong OO design, data structures, algorithms, and GoF patterns.
• Experience with Spring ecosystem and microservices design.
• Solid JVM internals knowledge (GC, JIT, memory behavior).
• Experience shipping high-scale, cloud-based distributed systems.
• Solid networking knowledge (HTTP/S, TCP/IP, CDN).

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of features from design to production observability.
• Drive engineering best practices: code reviews, testing, CI/CD, docs.
• Architect non-blocking, event-driven pipelines with back-pressure.
• Contribute to API design and contract-first development for compatibility.

Skills

Java

Concurrency

Memory mgmt

OOP principles

Spring ecosystem

Reactive programming

Distributed systems

Networking basics

Education

B.S. in CS/CE or related field

Equivalent work experience

Tools

Spring Boot

Spring MVC

Spring Security

Spring Data

WebFlux

OpenAPI/Swagger

Protobuf/gRPC

Job description

Cupertino, California, United States Software and Services

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.

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.).

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.

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.

Learn about accessibility in Apple's workplace.

Learn about reasonable accommodations for job applicants

Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.