Senior Software Engineer, Ads

Summary

At Apple, we believe in the power of technology to enrich people's lives, a belief that extends to the work we do in building innovative advertising solutions that benefit advertisers and endusers alike. In the Ad Platforms group we help developers drive app discovery across the App Store, help advertisers promote their products along trusted content from publishers in Apple News and Stocks, and help sponsors connect with audiences in live sports on Apple TV. Everything we do is with the unwavering commitment to privacy you expect from Apple. Because we believe when advertising is done right, it benefits everyone.

Description

We build the on-device systems that deliver ads across the Apple ecosystem: OS daemons, frameworks, and SDKs that fetch, rank and filter ad candidates; enforce ad policy and legal compliance; and protect user privacy before our partner apps even render anything.

This is not a UI or app-building role: this is a systems and platform engineering position that requires working knowledge of cross-process communication, concurrency, on-device business logic, and privacy-by-architecture at scale.

Responsibilities

Set technical direction and architecture for on-device ad delivery systems spanning multiple teams and surfaces — App Store, Apple News and Stocks, and Apple Maps
Identify and resolve the hardest, most ambiguous technical problems in the stack: those with significant scope, unclear ownership, or no existing precedent
Design, implement, and debug performant, privacy-preserving on-device components that operate at scale inside daemons, frameworks, and SDKs, and hold the org's bar for what production-ready means
Drive cross-functional alignment with engineering, product, and business partners to shape and sequence the multi-quarter roadmap for on-device ad delivery
Proactively identify systemic technical risk — architectural debt, fragile abstractions, scaling limits — before it becomes a launch blocker, and drive the org to address it
Mentor and grow senior engineers; act as a technical multiplier by reviewing designs, unblocking teams, and raising the quality bar across the group
Represent the team in cross-org architecture and design reviews, and influence technical decisions beyond your immediate team's boundaries

Minimum Qualifications

Deep, expert-level understanding of OS fundamentals (process/memory management, scheduling, file systems), on any platform — Apple experience not required
Extensive professional software development experience in a C-like language, including systems with significant scale and reliability requirements
Expert-level understanding of cross-process communication and concurrent programming — multi-threading, synchronization, locking, and reasoning about races/deadlocks in production systems
Track record of designing and operating high-performance client SDKs or libraries at scale — including caching, versioning, breaking changes, and feature-flagged rollouts, with demonstrated judgment on tradeoffs
Demonstrated experience owning architecture and technical direction for complex, long-lived codebases, including legacy components, and driving multi-team initiatives to resolve structural issues in them
Proven ability to operate with significant ambiguity, set technical direction without a playbook, and drive alignment across engineering, product, and business stakeholders
History of mentoring and growing other senior engineers; excellent written and verbal communication, including with non-technical partners
Bachelors Degree or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Ad tech; Apple-platform fundamentals incl. Swift/Obj-C; designing/maintaining public APIs or SDKs for external developers; CoreData/libdispatch/XPC/Swift concurrency/daemons; telemetry/observability; client-server networking; experience setting technical strategy for a multi-team org

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 $394,000, 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.