Technical Lead, Distributed Systems (Card & Savings)

Apple, Inc.; Cary (NC); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple Card & Savings is seeking a Software Engineering Technical Lead to architect, build, and operate distributed services at scale. You will stay hands-on in code and operations, drive technical direction across teams, and own critical systems with a focus on reliability and customer trust.

You will guide multi-quarter programs, collaborate with financial partners, and shape engineering standards. The role emphasizes strong communication, leadership, and the ability to navigate complex

Qualifications

• Track record architecting, building, and operating mission-critical distributed systems at scale.
• Hands-on software development experience in Kotlin or Java.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems trade-offs (consistency, latency, throughput).
• Experience leading cross-team projects from conception to production.
• Experience using AI tools throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Strong communication and leadership skills in a collaborative environment.
• Experience in payments/banking or regulated domains is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and operate mission-critical distributed services powering Apple Card and Savings at large scale.
• Lead large, multi-quarter engineering efforts including complex integrations with financial partners and other Apple services.
• Drive technical discussions across teams, author specifications, and represent Apple in external partner negotiations.
• Define and enforce service level objectives, progressive release strategies, and automation standards to reduce manual toil.
• Lead incident response and translate operational learnings into architectural improvements.
• Review code and designs, raising the engineering bar and ensuring testability from the outset.
• Mentor senior engineers and shape the engineering strategy and culture of the broader team.
• Define and champion standards for AI-assisted development across the engineering org.

Skills

Kotlin/Java

Distributed systems

Incident response

DevOps

Mentoring/leadership

AI tooling in development

Spring framework

Cloud (AWS/Kubernetes)

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

Datadog/OpenTelemetry

Kafka

Job description

Apple Card & Savings is seeking a Software Engineering Technical Lead to architect, build, and operate distributed services at scale. You will stay hands-on in code and operations, drive technical direction across teams, and own critical systems with a focus on reliability and customer trust.

You will guide multi-quarter programs, collaborate with financial partners, and shape engineering standards. The role emphasizes strong communication, leadership, and the ability to navigate complex