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Software Architect - Payments

Apple· Software and Services
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Cupertino, California$216.2k - $324.8kfull-timePosted 1mo ago

About the role

Distinguished Engineer to lead the technical vision for Apple’s global payment processing platform within Wallet, Payments, and Commerce (WPC). Defines architecture for secure, reliable, and scalable financial transactions at Apple’s scale, guiding strategy, roadmap, and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

  • Shape the long-term technical direction for Apple’s global payment processing platform.
  • Serve as a focal point for technical dialogue and strategy across WPC and broader Apple engineering.
  • Partner with engineering, product, business, and regulatory leaders to ensure our financial services technology meets user experience standards and regulatory demands.
  • Mentor and elevate technical talent across teams, fostering deep domain knowledge in payments architecture and distributed systems.
  • Bring clarity to complex, ambiguous problems and drive architectural decisions balancing innovation, scalability, reliability, and compliance.
  • Develop, socialize, and promote the financial services engineering vision and technical roadmap.
  • Partner with engineering, product, and business leadership to align on architecture and long-term investments.
  • Lead architectural discussions and decisions for financial services initiatives across Apple.
  • Define and advocate for engineering principles ensuring scalability, reliability, testability, and measurable impact.
  • Provide technical leadership on critical projects; designing, documenting, and validating key architectural decisions.
  • Collaborate deeply with WPC’s architecture and platform teams to ensure alignment across shared systems and interfaces.
  • Identify opportunities to leverage Apple-wide systems and capabilities to improve payment processing, transaction flows, and financial services infrastructure.
  • Represent the engineering perspective in senior forums and influence strategic product direction.
  • Mentor and develop technical leaders across the organization.

Qualifications

  • Deep expertise in payments systems, including tokenization or transaction processing.
  • Proven experience designing and evolving large-scale distributed systems serving millions of users and processing high-volume transactions.
  • Strong foundation in cloud-native architectures and systems designed for scalability and resilience (experience with AWS or comparable cloud platforms).
  • Track record of technical leadership, driving alignment and architectural direction across large, complex organizations.
  • Demonstrated success influencing cross-functional decisions and guiding senior leaders on technology investments.
  • Experience working with or building regulated systems and understanding compliance implications.
  • Exceptional ability to communicate complex technical concepts to executive and engineering audiences alike.
  • Demonstrated success mentoring and elevating technical talent across global teams.
  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.
  • Experience collaborating with external partners, financial institutions, or payment networks.
  • Familiarity with emerging payment standards and technologies shaping the industry’s future.
  • Experience building or evolving shared platforms that serve multiple products or business units.

Skills

Required:Payments architectureLarge-scale distributed systemsCloud-native architecturesTechnical leadershipRegulated systems & complianceCommunication to executives

Benefits

  • Base pay range between $216,200 and $324,800 (USD per year).
  • Discretionary employee stock programs (RSUs) and Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
  • Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, discounts on products and services, and education expense reimbursement.
  • Potential discretionary bonuses or commission payments and relocation eligibility.
Last updated Sep 4, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Apple

Discover the innovative world of Apple and shop everything iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and Apple TV, plus explore accessories, entertainment, and expert device support.

Discover the innovative world of Apple and shop everything iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and Apple TV, plus explore accessories, entertainment, and expert device support.

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