Software Engineer - Observability

Role Overview

The Apple Services Engineering (ASE) team is building the next generation of foundational tools that empower software developers at Apple to build products that our customers love. The Observability team within ASE is a fast moving, highly skilled team that is designing and building a suite of platforms and services that help Apple engineers observe and get insights into their systems. If the thought of working with petabytes of data interests you, this is the place to be. Our systems must scale globally, stay highly available, and "just work," while supporting some of the largest services in the world.

We are seeking a versatile engineer who thrives wearing multiple hats. In this role you will primarily design and build the control plane tooling and automation that operates our time series database (TSDB) in production at scale, spanning provisioning, orchestration, scaling, health, and self-healing. Just as importantly, you will not be confined to tooling: you will regularly pick up core developer tasks on the data platform itself, contributing to the distributed systems that ingest, store, and query time series data. If you love the intersection of software engineering and large-scale operations, and you want your work to make massive fleets effortless to run, this is the place to be. If you'd love to join this amazing team, we'd love to hear from you!

Responsibilities

We are looking for an engineer who blends strong software engineering fundamentals with a deep operational mindset. You will own the control plane that makes our TSDB reliable, scalable, and easy to operate, and you will fluidly move between building operational tooling and shipping product features. You should be comfortable owning problems end to end, from requirement gathering through design, implementation, rollout, and on-call operability.

Requirements & Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

BS or MS in CS or equivalent 5+ years of industry experience Deep understanding of core CS concepts including data structures, algorithms, and concurrent programming

Proficiency in one or more programming languages such as Java, Scala, Go, or Python

Experience designing, implementing, and operating highly scalable infrastructure services in production Deep understanding and work experience in distributed systems Hands-on experience building automation and tooling for deployment, orchestration, and operations at scale

Strong attention to detail, excellent analytical capabilities, and a bias toward reducing operational toil Passion for developing clear, robust, and maintainable software and systems

Preferred Qualifications

Experience building control plane or fleet management tooling for stateful/data systems in production

Strong DevOps skillset: CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (e.g. Terraform), configuration management, and GitOps workflows

Hands-on experience with container orchestration and scheduling (Kubernetes, operators, custom controllers)

Familiarity with time series database internals and the operational challenges of running them at scale Experience with Observability solutions using OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana Experience with columnar storage systems and/or building query engines is a plus Experience building high performant systems in Rust is a plus Comfortable wearing multiple hats, moving between operational tooling and core product/feature development Great communication skills

Compensation & 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 $175,000 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.

Application Instructions

Apply directly on Apple Jobs at Software Engineer - Observability↗.

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