System Software Engineer

Apple Inc.; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 142,000 - 263,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. in Seattle, WA is seeking a Software Engineer for the Cloud OS System Software Team to build and integrate software that orchestrates workloads across Apple silicon servers in data centers.

In a highly collaborative role, you will optimize OS performance, scalability, and reliability, partner with cross‑functional teams to adapt software for a novel compute platform, and help lay the foundation of our future cloud architecture. Strong problem solving and debugging skills are essential.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of software engineering experience.
• Proficiency in one of C/C++, Obj-C, Swift.
• Strong knowledge of OS architecture, and low-level system components.
• Passion for software architecture, APIs, and high performance extensible software.
• Creative, collaborative, and product-focused.
• Solid understanding of Linux or Apple OS system programming, including process management, IPC, signals, and daemon lifecycle.
• Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and optimize OS-level components for data center infrastructure.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve performance, security, and resource efficiency across distributed systems.
• Troubleshoot and resolve low-level OS issues, networking bottlenecks, and hardware-software integration challenges.
• Contribute to the development of automation, monitoring, and diagnostic tools to improve system reliability.
• Participate in code reviews, design discussions, and architectural decisions related to OS-level services.
• Stay up to date with emerging OS technologies, virtualization, and containerization trends in data center environments.
• Design, implement, and maintain system daemons that manage hardware components and host processes
• Implement robust fault detection and recovery mechanisms for hardware and daemon failures.

Skills

Software engineering

C/C++

Obj-C

Swift

OS architecture

Linux/Apple OS programming

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/CE

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Launchd / init systems

Swift (development)

Objective-C

Job description

Seattle, Washington, United States Software and Services

The cloudOS team is responsible for all facets of delivering OS and system services on Apple silicon servers, including driving hardware and software initiatives to enable new Apple silicon-based systems in data centers.

Description

The Cloud OS System Software Team is looking for an exceptional software engineer to build and integrate software to orchestrate workloads across highly performant and energy efficient systems that will power the next generation of data centers.In this highly collaborative role, you will be at the center of multiple efforts to utilize hardware acceleration for machine learning and high performance computing workloads. You will partner with teams across Apple to adapt, tailor, and scale software on a novel compute platform and will help to build the foundation of our future cloud architecture.We are seeking a skilled Software Engineer to join our System Software Team focused on optimizing and maintaining the core infrastructure of our data center environments. You will work on enhancing operating system performance, scalability, and reliability, ensuring seamless operations for large-scale distributed systems.If you’re passionate about system engineering and optimizing OS performance at scale, we’d love to hear from you!

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and optimize OS-level components for data center infrastructure.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve performance, security, and resource efficiency across distributed systems.
• Troubleshoot and resolve low-level OS issues, networking bottlenecks, and hardware-software integration challenges.
• Contribute to the development of automation, monitoring, and diagnostic tools to improve system reliability.
• Participate in code reviews, design discussions, and architectural decisions related to OS-level services.
• Stay up to date with emerging OS technologies, virtualization, and containerization trends in data center environments.
• Design, implement, and maintain system daemons that manage hardware components and host processes
• Implement robust fault detection and recovery mechanisms for hardware and daemon failures.

Minimum Qualifications

• 4+ years of software engineering experience
• Proficiency in one of C/C++, Obj-C, Swift
• Strong knowledge of OS architecture, and low-level system components.
• Passion for software architecture, APIs, and high performance extensible software
• Creative, collaborative, and product-focused
• Solid understanding of Linux or Apple OS system programming, including process management, IPC, signals, and daemon lifecycle.
• Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with init systems (systemd, launchd, upstart) and service orchestration.
• Knowledge of distributed systems, cloud computing, and large-scale data center infrastructure is a plus.
• Experience with Swift, Objective-C and Apple development tools
• Experience with AI accelerators (GPUs, TPUs, ASICs) or distributed systems
• Knowledge of container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes) and AI workload orchestration.

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 $142,300 and $263,300, 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.