Senior Compute Runtime Software Engineer
Apple · Location Seattle · $175,000–$308,500 (stated in the posting)
- Senior Compute Runtime Software Engineer
- Seattle, Washington, United States
- Software and Services
- Submit Resume
- Summary
- Posted:
- Oct 15, 2026
- Role Number:
- 200671928-3337
- The Apple Services Engineering (ASE) team builds the container and virtualization runtime technology that powers Apple's next-generation compute platform. We're a fast-moving, highly skilled team of systems engineers designing and developing the virtualization-based runtimes that run Virtual Machines and Linux Containers across our data center and Apple platforms — with privacy, security, and performance as first-class requirements. Beyond the datacenter, we maintain Apple Container, our open source project bringing native container support to macOS desktops.
We're looking to add talented, passionate seasoned domain experts who love hard systems problems and want to build foundational technology used across Apple and the open source community, ready to take ownership of significant technologies.
- Description
- We build the container runtime technology that Apple's own services and developers depend on. Our systems engineers develop virtualization-based runtimes — using macOS virtualization and VMM solutions like Cloud Hypervisor and sandboxed container solutions — to run Virtual Machines and Linux Containers across our data center and Apple platforms, with a relentless focus on privacy, security, and performance. This is a foundational systems team: we work at the level of kernel and container security, image distribution, filesystems, and virtualization. Much of this work is greenfield, solving problems unique to running on Apple's own hardware in the data center, at a scale and with constraints the rest of the industry hasn't had to solve for. Beyond the datacenter, we maintain Apple Container, our open source desktop tooling that lets developers around the world run containers natively on macOS.
We're looking for a domain expert with depth across multiple technical areas, someone used to designing major features and resolving highly complex, ambiguous problems creatively — taking ownership of significant technologies to drive real impact across the organization, ready to take risks, course-correct quickly, and drive ideas from inception to implementation, building a reputation as someone the broader org seeks out for technical direction and standards, and to actively mentor engineers at all levels.
We love open source and collaboration at every level.
- Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, or equivalent related experience.
- At least 8+ years of software design and development experience in infrastructure engineering (compute, storage and network virtualization) with an emphasis on micro-services architectures and containerization
- Advanced programming language proficiency in C, C++, Swift or Go, with a track record of designing and developing high performance, secured, scalable and reliable systems
- Hands-on experience with some or all of the following topics: Linux containerization, Linux filesystems, Image distribution, Content storage, Kernel and container security
- Track record of owning technical design end-to-end — from design docs and architecture tradeoffs through implementation and review
- Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Linux system programming
- Experience leading code review for team standards, correctness, and test coverage, and raising the technical bar for other engineers
- Experience defining and executing test strategies (regression prevention, negative-case validation, security testing) for complex systems
- Development experience in one or more of: Cloud security, Container / Linux Kernel security and API security
- Experience troubleshooting and diving into metrics to identify resource contention and bottlenecks
- Experience designing benchmarks and load tests to characterize performance and establish scalability models
- Development experience with container orchestration systems such as Docker or Kubernetes is a plus
- Development experience with virtualization and container technologies such as Apple Container, Kata, Firecracker, or KubeVirt is a plus
- Systems programming experience on Darwin with Swift is a plus
- Programming system virtualization based on Cloud Hypervisor, rust-vmm, macOS Virtualization Framework, QEMU, or KVM is a plus
- Understanding of various shared networked storage solutions (iSCSI, NFS, cluster file systems) is a plus
- Pay & Benefits
- At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $175,000 and $308,500, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.
Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses — including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation. Learn more about Apple Benefits
Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.
Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or o