This role pays more than
96%
of similar roles. Most pay
$162,000–$234,175
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$328k
versus about
$198k
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
1995 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$175,000–$277,600
across 1612 roles with salary data.
As the Principal Data Architect, PostgreSQL Database - Ai & Data Platforms (AiDP), you will join the PostgreSQL team to serve as a technical authority and thought leader for database internals. You will lead the technical direction of Apple's cloud-based relational database service, ensuring high performance, availability, and durability across various internal workloads. Your daily responsibilities include mentoring engineers, representing the company in the global open-source community, and driving an upstream-first strategy to align corporate needs with community goals. You will manage complex systems involving query execution, storage, replication, and high-availability. The role requires deep expertise in PostgreSQL internals, C, C++, or Rust, along with a mastery of data structures, algorithms, and operating system principles like memory management and disk I/O. You will solve critical challenges in distributed systems to support large-scale data processing.
Act as the primary technical authority for PostgreSQL internals and features at Apple.
Drive an upstream-first strategy to ensure Apple's requirements are met within the community codebase.
Represent Apple in the global PostgreSQL community through mailing lists, conferences, and events.
Set internal technical standards for query execution, storage, replication, and high availability.
Mentor and grow the next generation of Apple’s PostgreSQL contributors and engineers.
Translate complex technical requirements into actionable roadmaps for engineering leaders and stakeholders.
Proactively identify and resolve systemic challenges in database performance and scalability.
What we're looking for
Current or former committer to the PostgreSQL open source project.
Demonstrated, sustained record of contributing features to PostgreSQL that have been well received upstream.
BS in Computer Science or a related field with 10+ years of relevant experience.
High level of proficiency in C (and, where relevant, C++ or Rust).
Advanced understanding of data structures and algorithms in storage and indexing.
Deep knowledge of the internals of PostgreSQL.
Demonstrated technical leadership and the ability to set technical direction across teams.
MS or PhD in Computer Science/related fields (MS with 8+ years or PhD with 5+ years of experience) (preferred); authorship of major features, conference speaking history, or Linux Kernel knowledge (preferred).
PostgreSQL
C
C++
Rust
Distributed Systems
Linux Kernel
Storage Engineering
high-availability
Benchmarking
Profiling
Data Structures
Algorithms
Open Source
SRE
MVCC
Python
SQL
AWS
Azure
Apache Spark
Apache Kafka
Data Warehousing
Data Lake
Lakehouse
MLOps
ETL
ELT
Scala
Java
Data Mesh
Medallion Architecture
Big Data
Agile Methodology
GenAI