Systems Engineer – Apple Reference Image

Apple, Inc.; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple, Inc. is seeking a Systems Engineer to own architecture for the Reference Image initiative, spanning hardware security, on-device capture, and PCC cloud processing. You will align across hardware, software, and privacy teams to deliver a secure, end-to-end system.

You’ll work with DRI guidance, drive tradeoffs in cross-functional forums, and plan for future hardware generations while ensuring cryptographic integrity and provenance across iOS and macOS.

Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with cryptographic signing/verification concepts (certificates, secure boot, key management, revocation).
• Experience with image/media pipelines (RAW processing, ISP behavior, DNG/JPEG/HEIF formats).
• Experience with distributed cloud infrastructure and confidential compute environments preferred.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to and help maintain the systems architecture for Reference Image, spanning sensor-level signing, on-device RAW capture pipelines, and cloud-based development in PCC.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of cryptographic key rotation, certificate lifecycle management, and revocation frameworks.
• Collaborate with Security and Privacy teams to threat-model end-to-end media authenticity workflows and evaluate cryptographic integrity and data privacy.
• Help evaluate and advance image container formats to support secure provenance and authenticity metadata.
• Coordinate with PCC/Cloud infrastructure teams on integration points to ensure signing and certificate infrastructure scales and meets security standards.
• Represent technical tradeoffs in cross-functional forums and manage dependencies and risks.
• Contribute to scoping and planning for future hardware generations under the DRI.

Skills

Cryptographic signing/verification

Image/media pipelines

Distributed cloud infrastructure

Cross-team collaboration

Strong communication

Education

BS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Job description

Reference Image is one of Apple’s most ambitious end-to-end security and imaging initiatives: a system that lets users cryptographically verify that a photo genuinely came from an Apple device sensor, unaltered. It spans everything from the image sensor, through on-device capture and RAW pipelines, to Private Cloud Compute (PCC) processing and signing, all the way to viewing and sharing experiences across iOS and macOS.

We’re looking for a Systems Engineer to join the Reference Image team and own key pieces of the technical architecture and cross-stack integration, someone who can reason across hardware security, cloud infrastructure, and application-layer behavior. You’ll work under the guidance of the project DRI, taking ownership of specific systems-level work streams while helping drive alignment across a distributed, multi-team effort toward a coherent, secure, and shippable system.

Description

In this role you’ll be expected to:

• Contribute to and help maintain the systems architecture for Reference Image, spanning sensor-level signing, on-device RAW capture pipelines, and cloud-based development in PCC.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of cryptographic key rotation, certificate lifecycle management, and revocation frameworks.
• Work closely with Security and Privacy teams to help threat-model end-to-end media authenticity workflows, evaluating cryptographic integrity, data privacy, and downstream non-destructive edit handling.
• Help evaluate and advance standard and extended image container formats to support secure provenance and authenticity metadata.
• Coordinate with PCC/Cloud infrastructure teams on specific integration points to ensure the signing and certificate infrastructure scales and meets the security bar.
• Represent your work stream’s technical tradeoffs in cross-functional forums (Photos, Camera Capture, ISP/hardware, QA, Privacy, Legal, Marketing), proactively identifying and resolving cross-team technical dependencies and blockers.
• Contribute to scoping and planning for future hardware generations under the direction of the DRI.

Minimum Qualifications

BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field and 5+ years of experience in industry.

Familiarity with cryptographic signing/verification concepts (certificates, secure boot, key management, revocation) and comfort partnering closely with Security/Privacy teams.

Experience with image/media pipelines (RAW processing, ISP behavior, DNG/JPEG/HEIF formats) is a strong plus.

Experience with distributed cloud infrastructure and confidential compute environments (PCC or similar) preferred.

Ability to work effectively across many stakeholder teams (hardware, platform software, cloud, privacy, legal, QA) on ambiguous, evolving requirements, while keeping the project DRI informed of key tradeoffs and risks.

Strong communicator who can translate deep technical tradeoffs into clear guidance for both engineering and non-engineering stakeholders (e.g., legal, marketing, support).

Preferred Qualifications

Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, still-evolving system with real security stakes and public-facing implications (e.g., newsroom/wire-service use cases).

Capable of coding to fill functional gaps in the team.

Familiarity with trusted time stamping mechanisms and their role in establishing chain-of-custody for signed data.

Experience working on flagship security or trust features that ship across multiple operating systems.

Familiarity with international privacy/regulatory considerations affecting feature availability by region.

Experience standing up or evolving 3rd-party applications involving sensitive capabilities.

Familiarity with certificate management practices, including issuance, validation, and revocation workflows.