Software Middleware Team Lead - Q

Apple

4d

About The Position

Lead a small, multidisciplinary team building the low-latency middleware and application infrastructure for Apple’s iOS- and macOS-based data collection and research system. The system turns real-world signals into data used to train and validate future Apple AI products. This is a hands-on player-coach role: the Team Lead writes and reviews code, debugs difficult problems, sets technical direction, establishes coding standards, and builds and mentors the team. The role spans high-level software through hardware-adjacent work and involves partnering with research, firmware, silicon, and product teams to turn ambitious goals into concrete technical plans.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Engineering.
• At least 5 years of hands-on software development experience.
• At least 5 years of experience leading engineering teams.
• Solid working experience in Python and at least one of C++, Objective-C/C++, or Swift.
• Comfort working across platforms and environments, including shared code, build, and deployment.
• Broad programming knowledge and the ability to review and guide work across multiple languages and layers of the stack.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver low-latency, production-grade systems.
• Hands-on fluency with advanced AI coding tools and judgment in applying them across a team’s workflow.
• Technical leadership experience, including architectural decision-making, mentoring, and balancing hands-on contributions with team enablement.
• Excellent communication skills, including representing technical direction to stakeholders and translating business or research needs into engineering plans.

Nice To Haves

• Professional experience in all core languages: Python, C++, Objective-C/C++, and Swift.
• macOS and/or iOS development experience.
• Familiarity with sensor capture, including video and audio, and multi-stream synchronization.
• Familiarity with machine learning and inference, on-device or through pipeline integration.
• Prior experience as a team lead or staff-level individual contributor in a similarly scoped organization.
• Experience with pre-silicon or hardware-adjacent software development.
• Background building integration/test vehicles or data-collection platforms.
• Experience delivering systems in data collection, instrumentation, or research tooling contexts.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture and delivery of the low-latency middleware layer behind iOS and macOS data collection and research applications.
• Write and review code, review pull requests, and debug complex problems alongside the team.
• Set technical direction and coding standards across C++, Objective-C/C++, Swift, and Python.
• Own the roadmap with research, firmware, silicon, and product partners, translating goals into a concrete technical plan.
• Drive design and implementation decisions for applications built on top of the middleware.
• Mentor and grow a team of engineers, and run design and code reviews.
• Integrate AI-assisted development into the team’s daily workflow.
• Work across the stack, from high-level software to low-level physics, connecting the disciplines involved.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior