Senior Engineering Program Manager, Appl Music - ML & Infrastructure, Apple Services Engineering

Summary

Apple Services is an exciting environment and a dynamic development organization. With customers around the world, we are a fast-growing marketplace for music, movies, TV shows, books, podcasts, and apps. We're looking for people who can partner with our Stakeholders and Engineering teams to ship complex, customer-facing music recommendation systems while also driving infrastructure-critical initiatives.

Description

You will bring deep technical domain expertise to drive server-side initiatives under tight release cycles, moving fluidly between ML experimentation and foundational data infrastructure work. This is not a task-based job; you will be responsible for successful outcomes and delivery. Strong fundamentals are a requirement but you have more. You take responsibility; you feel a personal stake in the product you ship; you communicate responsibilities and scope clearly; you value integrity; you thrive in conflict; you know how things work; you work for the success of the entire Program Management team; you thrive in uncertainty and strive to bring order to it; you have deep wisdom and judgment; you keep your eye on the ball; you build strong relationships; you are aware of politics but do not get mired in them; you are constantly looking to improve yourself and your team; and you ship code which millions of customers will use.

Responsibilities

Lead projects/programs through the software development lifecycle from planning (which includes scoping, prioritizing, resource allocation, and timelines) to launch
Partner with stakeholders to create functional and technical requirements for recommendation systems, A/B testing programs, including data infrastructure initiatives
Drive cross-org coordination across Privacy Engineering, ML teams, platform teams, client engineering, and service owners to align on sequenced delivery plans
Collaborate with Engineering, Design, Product, QA, Legal, Finance, Privacy, Marketing, Operations, and other organizations both inside and outside of Apple to support personalization features and foundational infrastructure in Apple Music
Translate deeply technical work, whether ML model performance or infrastructure migration status into clear executive updates and risk assessments
Flexible working with teams across US timezones
Help establish processes to improve how our products are built and executed

Minimum Qualifications

7+ years work experience as an Engineering Program Manager
Strong technical program manager with a proven track record in driving software development initiatives
Knowledge of key technologies and systems involved in big data processing, machine learning, and distributed systems
Demonstrated ability to manage complex dependency chains across multiple engineering organizations
BS in Computer Science, Engineering or related technical filed or equivalent industry experience

Preferred Qualifications

Experience driving ML/recommendation system programs and data infrastructure initiatives including A/B testing frameworks, experiment design, GenAI, and interpreting ML model metrics to inform product decisions.
Experience with privacy/compliance-gated engineering work including navigating privacy reviews & requests, and translating legal/compliance requirements into engineering timelines.
Understanding of waterfall and agile project management methodologies
Experience as an embedded EPM, directly supporting engineering teams by facilitating agile ceremonies (e.g., sprint and capacity planning) and managing release documentation
Strong facilitation skills to drive complex, cross-functional, and comprehensive projects
Exceptional verbal and written communication, including presentation skills to all levels of an organization
Comfortable operating in extended ambiguity; able to drive urgency on infrastructure timelines without losing momentum on feature delivery
Experience with establishing processes and/or team culture
Passionate about protecting privacy while delivering key product insights
Prior software development experience is a plus
Experience in music industry a plus

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 $207,400 and $311,700, 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.