Design Engineer — App Store & Games Product Design Team

Summary

The App Store & Games Product Design Team is responsible for the customer experience across the App Store, Apple Arcade and Apple Games, serving hundreds of millions of people every day on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Watch, Vision Pro and the web. Our team of designers and researchers design and ship product experiences at a global scale.

We are seeking an exceptional Design Engineer who operates confidently at the intersection of design craft and software engineering. You will join us at a pivotal moment. AI-assisted development has fundamentally changed what our team can build and how fast we can build it. This is a new kind of role for our team: a deeply technical builder embedded within our design organization, responsible for the engineering infrastructure, tooling, and workflows that enable our designers to build and ship production-quality prototypes. You will work alongside technically-minded designers who will be your closest collaborators, and define how our team works with code.

Description

Our team has moved beyond static specs and documentation. We build functional, code-based prototypes in Swift and web technologies, and in some cases our prototypes are adopted directly into shipping builds. We are looking for an engineer who can scale these practices, maintain what we build, and establish robust infrastructure for collaboration, distribution, and handover.

This role spans two technical domains: web-based tooling and backend experiences that power native Swift/iOS front ends, and native iOS/macOS prototype work in Swift and SwiftUI. You will be expected to operate confidently across both.

You will architect and structure code projects so that designers can contribute effectively. You will manage version control and collaboration workflows, distribute prototypes through TestFlight and internal platforms, and ensure that what we build is maintainable, well-organized, and ready for engineering adoption. You will take working prototypes and elevate them from proof-of-concept to structured, distributable artifacts that production teams can integrate with confidence.

While this role sits within the design organization, you will work in close partnership with our engineering teams — facilitating handover, aligning on technical standards, and in some cases contributing directly to production repositories.

You will stay at the frontier of AI-assisted development, evaluating new tools and helping the team maintain its technical edge.

This is a senior, independent role. You will have significant autonomy to define technical standards, establish workflows, and shape the future of how design and engineering collaborate across our products.

Minimum Qualifications

5+ years of software engineering experience, with strong proficiency in iOS/macOS development (Swift, SwiftUI, UIKit)
Equally strong proficiency with web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, React or similar)
Strong proficiency with Git, CI/CD pipelines, and developer infrastructure including TestFlight, code signing, and build distribution
Experience architecting codebases for collaboration — establishing patterns, documentation, and structure that enable others to build on top of your work
Experience integrating with APIs, backend services, and data pipelines
Demonstrated fluency with AI-assisted development tools, with a clear perspective on how these tools are changing engineering workflows
Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate between design and engineering contexts with clarity
Experience working within or closely alongside design teams, with a genuine appreciation for design craft, visual quality, and interaction detail

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with Core Animation, Core Graphics, Metal, or advanced motion and animation frameworks
Familiarity with machine learning pipelines, personalization systems, or recommendation engines, and the ability to interface with these systems to improve user-facing experiences
Experience setting up and managing internal tools, developer platforms, or prototype distribution systems
Previous experience mentoring or enabling non-engineers in technical workflows
Experience working in environments where design and engineering boundaries are intentionally blurred
Familiarity with spec-driven development practices
A deep understanding of the Apple design aesthetic, Human Interface Guidelines, and platform conventions

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 $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.

Application Deadline

Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.

Pay & Benefits — Culver City, 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 $175,000 and $308,500, 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.