Software Engineering Manager, Retail Engineering

Software Engineering Manager, Retail Engineering

Apple Retail is where our products & customers come together. Within Retail Engineering, the Financing and Retail Services team builds and operates the backend systems that power some of the most critical online and store experiences worldwide. As a Backend Engineering Manager on this team, you will lead a group of backend engineers responsible for systems that must be reliable, secure, and accurate at a global scale. You will bring deep hands-on engineering expertise alongside strong people leadership, driving technical strategy while staying closely engaged in architecture, design, and execution.

You will lead a team of backend engineers building the distributed systems and services that power Apple Retail's store operations and customer-facing experiences. Your team's work sits at the core of how Apple Stores function. The services your team builds must be reliable, secure, and scalable to support millions of customer interactions every day. This is a hands-on technical leadership role that demands deep expertise in building distributed & highly secure systems at scale, paired with the ability to inspire a team and shape a long-term technical vision. You will work in close partnership with product teams to translate customer and business needs into backend systems that are robust, extensible, and built to last. Your ability to bridge the gap between how engineering decisions shape the customer journey will be central to how you lead and influence.

Responsibilities:

• Lead design and implementation of secure, high-scale distributed backend services that power Apple Retail store operations and customer experiences, with an emphasis on reliability, correctness, and performance.
• Partner deeply with product managers and designers to shape roadmaps, surface technical constraints early, and co-own outcomes — ensuring engineering and product move as one team.
• Stay hands-on with system architecture, code reviews, and technical problem-solving, serving as a credible, trusted technical voice for your team and partners.
• Drive engineering excellence through strong practices in API design, service observability, automated testing, CI/CD, and secure-by-design development.
• Manage scope, risk, and delivery across multiple concurrent projects with clear communication to stakeholders at all levels.
• Hire, develop, and retain a high-performing team of backend engineers; invest meaningfully in each person's growth through regular 1:1s, coaching, and clear career development.
• Collaborate across Retail Engineering, Platform, Security, and Operations teams to deliver well-integrated backend systems that meet compliance, security, and scalability requirements.
• Communicate technical strategy, risks, and tradeoffs clearly to both engineering peers and non-technical stakeholders, building confidence and alignment at every level.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Technical Experience: 10+ years of backend engineering experience
• Leadership Experience: 5+ years of people management experience, including hands-on technical leadership
• Primary Language: advanced proficiency with Java or equivalent
• Security Expertise: Strong understanding of application security principles — secure API design, secrets management, least-privilege access, and threat modeling
• Systems Expertise: Distributed systems, high-scale, fault-tolerant design

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience building and operating backend systems in retail, commerce, or consumer-facing technology environments where scale, availability, and customer trust are paramount.
• Strong executive communication and influencing skills.
• Experience in leading and developing high-performing teams in a fast-paced, dynamic, and innovative environment.
• Experience in leading significant technology transformations.

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 At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You'll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong. Learn about accessibility in Apple's workplace Learn about reasonable accommodations for job applicants Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.