Principal Data Architect - PostgreSQL Database

Summary

The people here at Apple don't just craft products - they build the kind of wonder that's revolutionized entire industries! The diversity of those people and their ideas drives the innovation that runs through everything we do, from amazing technology to industry-leading environmental efforts. Join Apple, and help us leave the world better than we found it! AI & Data Platforms (AiDP) is IS&T's engine for AI-powered innovation. The team brings together data, application development, and machine learning — including generative AI — along with data services and customer success functions to help IS&T build solutions more efficiently and streamline the adoption and embedding of generative AI across Apple. The PostgreSQL team at Apple is looking for an experienced committer to the PostgreSQL open-source project to help lead PostgreSQL's technical direction at Apple. Our team develops and operates Apple's cloud-based relational database service, hosting PostgreSQL databases that power some of Apple's most important workloads in Services, Manufacturing, AI/ML, and more. You will join a team of experts working on modern database technologies, distributed systems, and storage engineering, helping push the limits of open-source PostgreSQL to deliver enterprise-class performance, availability, and durability to our customers, while ensuring reliable administration at scale. Your work will be deployed at massive scale, serving millions of queries per second over many petabytes of data across our data centers worldwide and impacting the experiences of many millions of users of key Apple services. This is a rare opportunity to continue your open source contributions to the world's most popular open source relational database, on behalf of our team at Apple. You will be the recognized technical authority for PostgreSQL internals at Apple, setting direction across the engine, representing Apple in the global PostgreSQL community, and growing the next generation of contributors and committers at Apple.

Minimum Qualifications

Current or former committer to the PostgreSQL open source project. Demonstrated, sustained record of contributing features to PostgreSQL that have been well received upstream. BS in Computer Science/related fields with 10+ years of relevant experience. High level of proficiency in C (and, where relevant, C++ or Rust). Advanced understanding of data structures and algorithms in storage and indexing. Deep knowledge of the internals of PostgreSQL. Demonstrated technical leadership and the ability to set technical direction across teams.

Preferred Qualifications

MS or PhD in Computer Science/related fields (MS with 8+ years or PhD with 5+ years of relevant experience). Authorship of major PostgreSQL features, or sustained maintainership of a significant subsystem of the database. History of speaking at PostgreSQL developer conferences, and of mentoring other contributors. Knowledge of Linux Kernel development, and performance optimizations

Description

The Apple Postgres team develops and operates a highly reliable, cloud relational database service that serves all of Apple. As a PostgreSQL committer joining at this level, you will act as an established technical authority and thought leader for PostgreSQL internals and features - anticipating and framing systemic challenges, shaping technical direction across multiple teams, and ensuring consistency and a high-quality bar in everything from query execution, storage, replication, high-availability, scaling and administration to new feature development and every other aspect of the database. You will operate at the intersection of Apple and the upstream community, driving an upstream-first strategy so that Apple's needs are met in community PostgreSQL rather than through divergent implementations. You will advise engineering leaders and key stakeholders to align technical execution with business priorities, and serve as the key resource whose judgment shapes critical decisions for the Postgres domain. Success in this role is built on deep PostgreSQL expertise, together with a strong command of the systems the database runs on and the discipline to keep it fast and reliable at scale: - PostgreSQL internals — first-hand, contribution-level knowledge of the engine, whether in the query planner and executor, storage and access methods, WAL and recovery, replication, MVCC and concurrency, or the extension and API surface. - The systems the engine runs on — the operating-system principles (process scheduling, memory management, disk and network I/O) and server-class hardware (storage devices and controllers, network interfaces) that determine how PostgreSQL performs and stays durable. - Behavior at scale — how distributed, high-throughput systems handle replication, failure detection, load balancing, and request pipelining, and the consistency, isolation, and availability trade-offs they must make. - Engineering for performance and correctness — profiling, benchmarking, and advanced testing methodologies, together with fluency in the debugging tools needed to diagnose issues in development and production. The role also requires excellent communication and the ability to partner closely with our Database Engineering and SRE teams, a high degree of customer focus when engaging with internal customers, and the ability to explain highly complex technical material clearly and concisely to leaders across the organization. The ability to work effectively with colleagues based in other locations is essential.

Responsibilities

Mentor and grow engineers: a primary focus of this role. Grow the next generation of Apple's PostgreSQL contributors into significant contributors to the community, lead design and code reviews, cultivate deep internals expertise across the team, and play a key role in attracting, developing, and retaining top database engineering talent. Align Apple's needs with the community's vision for PostgreSQL: Understand Apple's relational database requirements deeply and shape them into proposals that strengthen PostgreSQL for everyone; drive consensus on their merits through open community discussions and review; and collaborate with other upstream committers to refine and land these improvements upstream — keeping Apple on community PostgreSQL rather than on divergent private forks. Represent Apple in the PostgreSQL community: Be an active, trusted voice in the community mailing lists during design and review discussions; represent Apple at major PostgreSQL conferences and events; grow Apple's standing in the community as a major stakeholder of PostgreSQL. Set the internal technical direction and quality bar: Establish technical direction and standards for Apple's PostgreSQL internals across query execution, storage, replication, high-availability, scaling, and administration; anticipate systemic challenges before they surface and frame the approaches that resolve them; ensure consistency and a high standard of engineering across teams.