below marketmost similar roles pay hereabove market
This role pays more than
86%
of similar roles. Most pay
$174,375–$231,075
— the blue band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$244k
versus about
$203k
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
3499 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$166,600–$277,600
across 2707 roles with salary data.
The Senior Engineering Program Manager, Service Special Projects joins the Software and Services team to lead a large-scale, multi-year engineering initiative. This lead-level role involves owning the end-to-end program management for cross-functional efforts spanning client software, backend services, large-scale data systems, applied machine learning, evaluation, tooling, and platform engineering. You will build the plan of record, including roadmaps, milestones, and risk mitigation strategies, while establishing an operating cadence to align multiple teams. Key responsibilities include reading engineering design documents, translating technical discussions into executive narratives, and mentoring junior staff. Required skills include deep technical literacy in the modern AI stack, including model training, evaluation lifecycles, data pipelines, and latency-cost trade-offs. You will solve complex problems by navigating ambiguity to move systems from research prototypes to production-ready capabilities.
What does a Engineering Program Manager earn in California?
Median $204200 from 57 postings across 3 companies.
Own the end-to-end program management for large-scale initiatives spanning client software, backend services, data systems, and applied machine learning.
Develop and maintain the plan of record, including roadmaps, milestones, dependencies, risks, and executive-level narratives.
Establish and lead the operating cadence to align multiple teams on expectations, timelines, and project goals.
Review engineering design documents and translate complex technical discussions into concise summaries for leadership.
Identify program drifts early and drive corrective actions with senior technical stakeholders.
Mentor junior program managers and standardize progress tracking and planning practices across the organization.
Manage the lifecycle of AI/ML capabilities from research prototypes through production hardening and launch.
Influence and align cross-functional teams, including researchers and architects, without direct authority.
What we're looking for
7+ years of experience developing program plans and managing complex, cross-functional engineering programs in a technical product environment.
3+ years of experience in a lead or principal-level capacity.
3+ years of experience leading AI-first programs end to end involving machine-learning or large-language-model systems.
Demonstrated experience running programs spanning multiple engineering disciplines including client, services, data, applied ML, platform, and tooling.
Ability to read engineering design documents, follow architectural discussions, and independently reason about trade-offs, dependencies, and risk.
Working literacy with the modern AI stack, including model training, evaluation lifecycles, data pipelines, and latency/cost trade-offs.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with a track record of writing crisp executive updates and technical narratives.
BS in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience (advanced degree preferred).