Software Architect - Distributed Systems & Platform Engineering

Do you thrive at the intersection of big-picture thinking and hands-on technical execution? Are you energized by designing systems that are resilient, scalable, and elegant? As part of our CAD Infrastructure Development group, you'll help architect and build the distributed systems that power our products at scale. You'll ensure our services can seamlessly and efficiently handle large-scale demands. Joining this group means you'll be responsible for shaping the technical direction of our platform infrastructure. Together, you and your team will build the foundation that enables our engineering organization to deliver reliable, performant experiences to our customers. In this role, you will get to design new architectures and define patterns that enable other engineers to build better products, faster.

Description

In this highly visible and cross-functional role as a member of our CAD Infrstructure Development team, you will be responsible for driving architectural decisions and best practices for distributed systems development. You will collaborate with multiple product and engineering teams to design, evaluate, and implement scalable microservices architectures, event-driven systems, and cloud-native platforms. Your work will enable us to increase system reliability, improve development velocity, and deliver high-quality services at scale.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience architecting large-scale systems with Kubernetes-native patterns, including operators, CRDs, and service mesh

Experience with message queues and streaming platforms, such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, NATS, or Pulsar

Experience in DevOps and CI/CD methodologies, platforms, and tools, such as ArgoCD, Flux, or Jenkins

Strong understanding of distributed systems fundamentals: consistency models, fault tolerance, and partitioning strategies

Strong API design abilities across REST, gRPC, and event-driven interfaces

Familiar with infrastructure-as-code tools, such as Terraform or Pulumi

Familiar with GitOps workflows and progressive delivery practices

Knowledgeable in observability and reliability engineering, including SLOs, distributed tracing, and circuit breakers

Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and build consensus across teams on cross-cutting technical decisions

Minimum Qualifications

Experience architecting and driving development of complex distributed systems and platform software

Experience in software architecture and systems design, including microservices decomposition and service contracts

Experience in backend or systems-level languages, such as Go, Java, or Python

Experience in using container orchestration platforms, such as Kubernetes

Experience designing event-driven architectures and asynchronous communication patterns

Experience of software quality methodologies, including design review, code review, and testing strategies

Minimum requirement of BS + 10 years of relevant industry experience, with demonstrated ownership of architecture or systems design

Pay & Benefits

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 $184,700 and $324,800, 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.