Principal Software Engineer, Retail Foundations

As a principal-level Software Engineer, you will architect, design, develop, test, document, improve, and maintain infrastructure and code for frameworks, platforms, and systems for DevOps, CI/CD, runtime environments for dev/test/prod, service discovery, API/RPC gateways, observability, and other similar foundational components of cloud-based, globally-distributed systems.

You will own every aspect of your projects, from strategy & planning to system architecture, from hands-on implementation to guiding adoption & migrations. You will be encouraged to play an extended role in collaboratively leading the design and implementation of solutions to address the requirements of a diverse set of Retail Engineering teams working on various aspects of online & in-person Apple Store experiences. Your architectural decisions and technical leadership will set precedents that could extend beyond Retail Engineering, with your solutions becoming reference implementations and standards adopted across other Apple organizations.

The ideal candidate is self-motivated, proactive and results-driven. Attention to detail, dedication to providing high-quality solutions modeling engineering excellence, and ability to work towards timely delivery of projects are all crucial qualities needed to work at Apple as a Software Engineer.

The ideal candidate will also possess excellent communication and collaboration skills to work with various Retail Engineering teams and their leaders, various internal and external partners, and senior executive leaders of Apple.

B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent professional work experience. Graduate degrees preferred.

12+ years experience working on commercial software systems in a professional capacity as a Software and/or DevOps Engineer. Longer experience strongly preferred.

8+ years hands-on experience designing, implementing, shipping, and maintaining high-scale, high-performance, highly available, fault-tolerant, and secure cloud-based distributed systems, including hands-on experience with monolith and microservices architectures, service discovery, API/RPC gateways, and end-to-end observability.

6+ years hands-on experience implementing and/or managing CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure-as-Code solutions to build, test, deploy, and release containerized software applications on cloud-based Kubernetes (e.g. AWS EKS, GCP GKE, Azure AKS, etc.) using build systems similar to Bazel and/or Gradle in a polyglot repository context (i.e. mix of monorepos and polyrepos).

6+ years hands-on experience in Java and one of C++/Rust/Swift/Go/Python/TypeScript, including mastery in concurrency, memory management, and performance optimization techniques. Experience with more than two programming languages strongly preferred.

Solid understanding of relational, NewSQL, and NoSQL in-memory & on-disk databases, as well as data modeling and engineering concepts, data warehouses and data lakes, including schema design, query optimization, and orchestrating transactional data interactions between datastores in globally-distributed systems.

Extensive knowledge of networking concepts & protocols (e.g. HTTP/HTTPS, CDN, edge computing, load balancing, OSI model, etc.).

Track record of defining multi-year technical strategy for, architecting, leading the development of, and successfully launching multiple major software projects that span multiple, globally-distributed teams across multiple organizations as a hands-on tech lead (TL).

Track record of mentoring junior, senior & staff level software engineers, and successfully guiding them through their career growth journeys.

Strong written and verbal communication skills with mastery of long-form writing. Demonstration via presentations in public conferences and/or published articles strongly preferred.

Current or past involvement in and/or hands-on contributions to open source projects.

Familiarity with compliance & security concepts (e.g. SOC2, SOX, CVEs, OWASP, etc.).

Apple is where individual imaginations gather together, committing to the values that lead to great work. Every new product we build, service we create, or Apple Store experience we deliver is the result of us making each other’s ideas stronger. That happens because every one of us shares a belief that we can make something wonderful and share it with the world.

Apple Retail Engineering team builds the software systems that power all the magical experiences we offer to our Apple Store customers, be it digital or in-person. As a part of this organization, Retail Engineering Foundations group focuses on developer productivity, runtime environments, and common frameworks & platforms for all Retail Engineering teams.

When you join Retail Foundations as a principal-level Software Engineer, you’ll define the long-term technical vision, strategy, and design for foundational frameworks, platforms, and systems that many Apple engineers and mission-critical production apps rely on every day. Together, we’ll explore all the ways to improve the software development lifecycle of Apple Store software from code to production, freeing our engineers to do what they do best: Crafting magical experiences for our customers.

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 $212,000 and $386,300, 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.