Lead, Program Strategy & Operations, Employee Experience & Productivity

Apple•Culver City, CA

About The Position

Apple’s IS&T Services Technology team delivers internal orchestration capabilities supporting Apple’s Services businesses, including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple News, and Apple Arcade. The program builds cross-Services capabilities in data and AI/ML, asset management, talent and IP, workflow orchestration, and content engineering. Employee Experience and Productivity (EEP), part of IS&T, delivers communication and productivity technology and services used across Apple, leads user experience design and research, and manages systems behind Apple Services organizations. As the Services Technology Lead for Program Strategy & Operations, you will shape how Services Technology is understood, sponsored, scaled, and operated across Apple’s Services portfolio. You will partner with program leadership to set the program’s direction, identify client organizations and capabilities for expansion, and develop executive sponsorship and measurement frameworks to support durable growth. You will lead the team responsible for operational functions including headcount and vendor management, financial controls, space, and communications and culture. You will also work with Product Ops to streamline work from value case through delivery. The role combines cross-program strategic scope with direct people leadership, requiring strategic clarity, executive judgment, and an operating rhythm that turns ambiguity into a fundable, well-run plan.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in strategy, business operations, executive coordination, or program leadership supporting technology or transformation programs at scale.
3+ years of experience building executive-ready business cases, briefings, and strategic narratives that secured funding, headcount, or executive sponsorship.
3+ years of experience leading growth or expansion strategy across multiple client organizations or lines of business.
3+ years of experience with OKR frameworks, process architecture, value assessments, and internal tools such as Jira and Clarity.
Experience with generative AI tools and frameworks.
Experience leading programs that span multiple client organizations and lines of business.
Experience consolidating product operations tools and workflows—such as requirements management, solutions catalogs, delivery tracking, and financial planning—into a connected platform.
Experience partnering with Finance, VMO, HR, and IS&T governance functions to secure budget and headcount.
Ability to build trust across engineering, product, finance, and client organizations.
Ability to influence without authority, navigate ambiguity, and bring structure to undefined problems.
Executive presence and judgment under pressure.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adapt tone and depth for audiences from working teams to SVPs.
Direct experience handling sensitive and confidential information with integrity and discretion.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with Apple Services businesses and the operational dynamics of content, commerce, or subscription products.
Experience building a team’s culture, communications, and engagement programs.

Responsibilities

Expand Services Technology into new client organizations and capability areas, sequencing growth by demand, readiness, and strategic fit.
Shape the client engagement model and build funding cases to unlock headcount and capital.
Co-own Greenlight with Finance to scope, govern, and approve new investments.
Build VP- to C-level sponsorship through briefings, business cases, and executive narratives.
Own the executive engagement cadence, including quarterly business reviews (QBRs).
Evolve the strategic narrative across focus areas for each line of business (LOB).
Assess proposed work against the orchestration model and help leadership decide what to pursue or decline.
Lead program OKRs, value stream metrics, and reporting tied to revenue protection, operational leverage, speed to market, and cross-organization efficiency.
Own process architecture and value assessment frameworks that map initiatives to value streams.
Build, hire, and coach the team responsible for headcount planning and the vendor management office (VMO), financial controls, Space and Places, and communications and culture.
Partner with Finance, HR, Real Estate, and IS&T governance to align headcount, spending, and space with strategy.
Combine separate product operations tools into a connected platform covering value and ROI, requirements, solutions catalog, business architecture, delivery and QA, and finance operations.
Make initiatives traceable from value case through delivery and spending, without duplicate handoffs.
Own internal program tracking and communications tools so leadership has a current view of the portfolio.
Partner with value stream and program leaders and bring structure to cross-program decisions.
Broker alignment when teams compete for capacity.
Help leaders anticipate emerging client needs so new growth and existing programs reinforce each other.