Software Development Manager - Device Services

Summary

Every Apple operating system, app, and service is proven on real hardware before it reaches a customer, and Device Services makes that possible at scale. We own and operate critical portions of Apple’s shared device-testing infrastructure: the physical labs, a fleet of tens of thousands of devices, and the software that supports them. Improvements to this infrastructure allow every software team at Apple to move faster and to ship with greater confidence. We are looking for a seasoned engineering manager to lead an established nine-person team - spanning software development, systems engineering, and production services - across our San Diego, Santa Clara Valley, and Munich sites. This is a leadership role focused on people, execution, and cross-team delivery. You will bring predictability to a team that carries significant operational load, help a group of strong individual engineers work as a collaborative team, and steer strategic infrastructure programs to completion.

Minimum Qualifications

5+ years of experience managing software or systems engineering teams, with a track record of developing engineers and growing their scope and careers. Strong technical foundation in distributed systems and infrastructure at scale - reliability and fault tolerance, automation, and the operational practices (CI/CD, monitoring and observability, incident response) that keep large fleets and services healthy. Able to engage at a low level on system design, architecture, and operational trade-offs - contributing to and challenging technical decisions (APIs, reliability, testing strategy, security) while keeping a strategic view. Proven ability to bring predictable execution to a team with heavy operational/on-call load - instituting planning, prioritization, incident and runbook discipline, and turning reactive work into committed, scheduled work. Experience applying AI and LLM-based tools to improve engineering and operational workflows, and helping a team adopt them. Experience leading a portfolio of concurrent programs with real cross-team dependencies - holding scope, sequencing dependencies, and surfacing hard architectural, technical, and risk questions early. Excellent communication and a collaborative leadership style that builds shared ownership and knowledge-sharing across a team. BS/MS in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience leading a team through significant change, such as retiring operational toil through consolidation or automation and growing operations-focused engineers into higher-leverage systems and software-development work. Comfort guiding full-stack teams that own their systems end to end, including the data and database layers. Success leading distributed teams. History of building strong relationships with partners, understanding and advocating for their needs. Familiarity with the team's technology areas, e.g. Linux and macOS, virtualization, configuration management, observability, relational and NoSQL databases, and services written in Python, Go, or Ruby/Rails.

Description

As the team's manager, you are accountable for its people, its delivery, and the health of the systems it runs. Your focus is to make execution predictable, strengthen collaboration, and drive a portfolio of concurrent, time-sensitive programs, new initiatives, improvements, and simplifications to completion.

Responsibilities

Leads and develops a nine-person team of software, systems, and production-services engineers, supporting their performance and career growth. Establishes predictable delivery through planning, prioritization, and on-call and incident discipline. Owns the operational health of the shared device-testing infrastructure that Apple engineers depend on. Drives cross-team infrastructure programs to completion, managing scope, dependencies, and coordination with partner teams. Builds a collaborative team culture that reduces siloed work and single points of failure. Guides technical and architectural trade-offs and coaches senior engineers. Represents the team to partners and leadership and advocates for their needs.