Lead Software Engineer - Apple

Storytelling is, and will always be, the heart of what we do at Skydance.
Our vision is to build a thriving entertainment ecosystem where stories and worlds are imagined, brought to life and experienced. We create for every age and audience, anchored by the strength of our content and experiences and the depth of our connection with fans. We are creator-first, audience-focused, tech-forward, globally scaled.

Here, you’ll work with talented teams that move fast, think boldly and collaborate with purpose to deliver results. We aim high, champion the best ideas and win together, earning the trust of our employees, creators, partners and audiences every day.

If you’re energized by the opportunity to help build the next-generation global media and entertainment company powered by creativity and technology, we’d be thrilled to welcome you aboard. LET’S GO!

LOCATION

San Francisco, Burbank, or New York – Onsite

ABOUT THE ROLE

Paramount Streaming is seeking a Lead Software Engineer – Apple to join the AI Engagement Engine team as a senior individual contributor. This role focuses on building high-performance, user-facing features that power content discovery and personalization across Paramount+ and Pluto TV applications on iOS and tvOS.

You’ll work with backend, machine learning, data, and platform teams to deliver scalable, seamless user experiences. You’ll own complex technical initiatives end-to-end, contribute to the architecture of Apple applications, and partner with technical leadership to establish engineering best practices.

AI-assisted development is a core expectation for this role. You’ll combine deep Apple platform expertise with daily use of AI coding assistants and agents, including tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, or Copilot. You’ll work with Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations and agent harnesses to support engineering workflows and collaborate with ML and data science teams on AI-powered experiences such as recommendations, search, personalization, and conversational interfaces. Experience shipping ML- or LLM-powered mobile features is preferred.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Contribute to architectural decisions, frameworks, and tooling for iOS and tvOS applications.

• Design, develop, test, debug, and deploy native Apple platform applications.

• Improve application performance, reliability, accessibility, and scalability.

• Use AI coding assistants and agents such as Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent tools as part of daily development workflows.

• Use MCP integrations and agent harnesses to connect tools and data sources, manage context and instructions, and support appropriate human review.

• Validate AI-generated outputs through code review and testing, and troubleshoot workflow failures.

• Collaborate on ML- and LLM-driven product features, including recommendations, search, ranking, and content understanding.

• Mentor engineers through code reviews, design reviews, and technical guidance.

• Partner with product, design, data, backend, and client engineering teams to deliver features.

• Manage concurrent projects and proactively identify risks and dependencies.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Strong Swift development skills.

• Deep knowledge of iOS, tvOS, and Xcode.

• Strong understanding of memory management, concurrency, animations, and performance optimization.

• Experience integrating RESTful APIs and backend services.

• Strong architectural and problem-solving skills.

• Experience with A/B testing, feature flagging, and client-side experimentation frameworks.

• Experience integrating advertising technologies into Apple applications.

• Clear communication, collaboration, and mentoring skills.

AI LITERACY

• Daily hands-on use of AI coding assistants and agents.

• Experience writing and refining prompts and context, and evaluating AI-generated code.

• Working understanding of MCP, including how AI tools connect to external tools and data sources, with appropriate permissions.

• Understanding of agent harnesses, including how they manage context, instructions, tool execution, and human review.

• Working familiarity with skills and plugins that extend AI coding tools.

• Working knowledge of LLMs, embeddings, retrieval systems, and AI application design considerations.

• Experience building or prototyping AI-powered product features.

• Understanding of responsible AI practices, including privacy, intellectual property, attribution, and review processes.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 7+ years of Apple platform development experience.

• Significant contribution to at least one publicly released native iPhone application.

• Demonstrable, current use of AI coding tools and agents in day-to-day engineering work.

• Hands-on experience using Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations and agent harnesses in engineering workflows, including validating outputs and troubleshooting failures.

• Experience working in Agile development environments.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.

• Experience integrating video and rich media into mobile applications.

• Experience building personalized, data-driven, or server-driven user experiences.

• Experience shipping ML- or LLM-powered mobile features.

• Experience in entertainment, media, sports, gaming, or news industries.

BONUS SKILLS

• Experience creating reusable skills, plugins, or custom agents, or building and extending MCP integrations or agent harnesses.

• Continuous integration and automated testing.

• Streaming video technologies and DRM.

• Localization tools and practices.

• Swift Package Manager.

• Experience evaluating AI model quality, latency, and cost trade-offs.

#L1-VA1

Paramount+, a direct-to-consumer digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service from Paramount Global, combines live sports, breaking news, and a mountain of entertainment. The premium streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel. The service is also the streaming home to unmatched sports programming, including every CBS Sports event, from golf to football to basketball and more, plus exclusive streaming rights for major sports properties, including some of the world’s biggest and most popular soccer leagues. Paramount+ also enables subscribers to stream local CBS stations live across the U.S. in addition to the ability to stream Paramount Streaming’s other live channels: CBSN for 24/7 news, CBS Sports HQ for sports news and analysis, and ET Live for entertainment coverage.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hiring Salary Range: $156,800.00 - 235,200.00. 

The hiring salary range for this position applies to New York, California, Colorado, Washington state, and most other geographies. Starting pay for the successful applicant depends on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, market demands, experience, training, and education.  The benefits available for this position include medical, dental, vision, 401(k) plan, life insurance coverage, disability benefits, tuition assistance program and PTO or, if applicable,  as otherwise dictated by the appropriate Collective Bargaining Agreement. This position is bonus eligible.  

Skydance is an equal opportunity employer (EOE)

We embrace the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit. In line with the laws of the country or region in which the role is based, this includes consideration without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, religion or belief, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, physical or mental disability, genetic information, military or protected veteran status, union status or any other category protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability, you may request a reasonable accommodation during the job application and/or recruitment process. You can request reasonable accommodations by calling 212.846.5500 or by sending an email to [email protected]. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned.