Technical Operations & Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

About the Role

At Apple, customer experience is at the forefront of everything we do. The Apple Customer Systems Operations team is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Technical Operations & Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) to enhance our operations. This team is crucial for maintaining the reliability, availability, and performance of business-critical, globally distributed systems. If you are driven to design and develop automation solutions for system sustenance, monitoring, and operational workflows, and enjoy close collaboration with support, engineering, and business operations teams, this role is for you. Ideal candidates will combine a passion for operational excellence with strong software engineering skills, thriving in a fast-paced, change-driven environment focused on continuous improvement and flawless delivery.

What You'll Do

• Manage large-scale production outages, leading incident response and continuously improving efficiency.
• Design, build, and maintain automation solutions to streamline the monitoring, sustenance, and management of large-scale distributed systems.
• Develop tools and software (using Java/JEE, REST, Swift/Objective C, Python, Go, or Bash) to automate repetitive operational tasks, reduce manual intervention, and improve system reliability. We extensively utilize AI & LLM models to achieve Operations Excellence in application support.
• Plan and execute actionable system health monitoring, incident response, and communication across critical global applications. We drive operational metrics and KPI identification and alignment.
• Partner with multi-functional teams to improve reliability, efficiency, stability, and processes.
• Operate as self-directed problem-solvers, adept at handling multiple simultaneous competing priorities and delivering timely solutions.
• Create and maintain accurate, up-to-date documentation reflecting architecture, infrastructure configuration, and procedures. This includes writing status and incident reports, and developing training material to educate users on complex topics.
• Collaborate with a team of highly skilled engineers across the globe, guiding their work towards operational excellence and efficiency gains.
• Cultivate a culture where regional team members build strong in-region relationships and ensure business partners are well-informed about significant incidents and problems.

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience in operations interpreting data from systems like Hubble, ExtraHop, Splunk, or other monitoring tools, coupled with hands-on experience in production monitoring systems, log analysis, troubleshooting, and support dashboards.
• A solid understanding of standard networking protocols and components such as HTTP, DNS, TCP/IP, ICMP, the OSI Model, Subnetting, and Load Balancing.
• Experience in using AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance operational efficiency through tasks such as model training, optimization (including methods like Model Context Protocol), and designing effective model utilities.
• Proficiency in scripting languages and automation tools, including Java, JEE, REST, Swift/Objective C, database schema design, and data access technologies.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, demonstrating proactivity and a strong sense of personal ownership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in strategizing and achieving operational excellence in global distributed systems.
• Fundamental understanding of distributed systems concepts, including Microservices, Messaging Brokers, and Versioning.
• Experience in driving operations teams for large-scale mission-critical applications within a 24x7 operational environment across multiple locations and geographies.
• Understanding of the Linux Operating System, including Kernel, Memory, Process, Threads, Static/Shared Libraries, IPC, and Signals.
• Excellent organizational and documentation skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or an equivalent field.

Key skills/competency

• Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
• Technical Operations
• Automation Development
• Incident Response & Management
• Distributed Systems
• Monitoring & Alerting
• AI & Large Language Models (LLM)
• Python & Java Programming
• Linux Administration
• Networking Protocols