This role pays more than
95%
of similar roles. Most pay
$183,250–$278,000
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$335k
versus about
$231k
for comparable roles.
Based on 240 similar postings.
Employer
About Apple Inc
Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company known for designing and manufacturing consumer electronics, software, and online services, including the iPhone, Mac, iPad, and App Store. Industry: Consumer Electronics & Software
Apple Inc currently has
2299 open roles
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Listed pay typically runs
$175,000–$277,600
across 1870 roles with salary data.
As the Director of Engineering, Claris AI Services, you will lead the engineering team responsible for developing a new AI-native cloud service. You will oversee the end-to-end product development, including the AI answer pipeline, model orchestration, real-time access to external systems of record, data foundations, web applications, and integrated APIs. The role requires managing technical strategy across multiple layers while ensuring reliability, observability, and multi-tenant data isolation for a SaaS platform. You will mentor team members and drive the core GenAI architecture, including LLM application patterns, retrieval, tool calling, agent orchestration, and evaluation of model output quality. Key competencies include experience with cloud-based SaaS products, high-performing team leadership, and navigating security and privacy requirements. The work focuses on transforming an early-stage product into a durable, scalable service for enterprise and education customers.
Own the engineering strategy and technical architecture across AI layers, data platforms, frontends, and APIs.
Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing engineering team while fostering a culture of ownership.
Drive AI architecture including retrieval planning, model orchestration, prompt quality, and cost/latency management.
Ensure multi-tenant SaaS reliability through observability, incident response, and performance at scale.
Navigate security, privacy, and compliance requirements to ensure products meet Apple and Claris standards.
Manage a predictable delivery system with clear prioritization, release discipline, and feature flag rollouts.
Communicate roadmap progress, risks, and technical trade-offs to executive leadership and cross-functional partners.
What we're looking for
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
8+ years of experience managing software engineering teams and building high-performing teams.
12+ years of software engineering experience, including cloud-based SaaS product development.
Proven track record shipping customer-facing SaaS products on a regular release cadence with measurable improvements in quality and predictability.
Strong understanding of GenAI architecture, including LLM application patterns, retrieval, tool/function calling, agent orchestration, and evaluation of model output.
Experience owning production services, including reliability, observability, incident response, and multi-tenant data isolation.
Proven experience leading cross-team initiatives from planning through execution in partnership with product and program management.
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills to work effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
Experience with agentic architectures and standardized tool and data interfaces such as the Model Context Protocol (preferred).
Experience leading globally distributed teams (preferred).
Experience taking an early-stage product from initial traction to scale, including shifting from feature velocity to durability and cost efficiency (preferred).