Principal Engineer, Business Traveler Compliance

Summary

Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, new ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there's no telling what you could accomplish.

Description

The Principal Engineer, Business Traveler Compliance is responsible for the design, development, and continuous evolution of business traveler compliance and immigration assessment infrastructure. Sitting at the intersection of enterprise AI, immigration compliance operationalization, and real-time travel data, this role ensures employee travel is assessed and managed against immigration, transit risk, and regulatory requirements. The successful candidate will bring a rare combination of technical fluency to build systems and deep knowledge of compliance obligations, bridging the gap between compliance expertise and travel technology infrastructure to replace manual intervention with continuous, AI-driven automation.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end architecture and operation of automated travel compliance assessment systems, reconciling approved travel against live booking data
Design and maintain multi-category change detection logic for transit risk, date shifts, route changes, and split itineraries
Develop AI-driven tools for transit risk assessment, entry requirement identification, and visa workflow automation
Design and maintain real-time data streaming pipelines and custom Kafka bridge architecture for live PNR data ingestion
Architect and manage AI service failover pools, quota allocation, and dynamic token budgeting strategies
Serve as the primary technical liaison to immigration assessment providers, translating compliance requirements into system inputs and workflow triggers
Design and maintain data exchange infrastructure between internal travel systems and external assessment platforms
Build and manage notification and alert systems for time-sensitive compliance requirements across email and internal messaging
Partner with HR, Security, and Apple Travel to ensure compliance systems reflect evolving organizational policy and regulatory requirements
Lead compliance technology onboarding for new employee populations, travel corridors, and business units
Proven ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder programs with competing priorities and time-sensitive delivery requirements
Expertise in translating regulatory and legal requirements into technical specifications and production systems
Demonstrated practice of privacy-driven design, building systems that handle sensitive personal and compliance data with appropriate access controls
Experience with enterprise AI integration, including LLM-based workflows, AI evaluation methodologies, and testing practices for production AI systems
Familiarity with global immigration compliance requirements, visa categories, transit regulations, and travel risk assessment frameworks
Background in travel industry data standards including PNR formats, GDS booking data, and XML-based approval workflows
Experience configuring enterprise security gateway infrastructure, including VPN-accessible service endpoints, WAF policies, and SSL certificate management
Demonstrated ability to build and sustain trusted working relationships with external compliance partners and internal cross-functional teams

Minimum Qualifications

10+ years of hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining production software systems
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or equivalent practical experience
Demonstrated experience building systems that operationalize compliance, legal, or regulatory requirements at scale
Strong proficiency in Python and experience building and maintaining production-grade backend services and REST API integrations

Preferred Qualifications

7+ years of hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining production software systems

Pay & Benefits — Cupertino, California, United States

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 $216,200 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.

Application Deadline

Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.