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Director, Automation & Tools - Camera & Photos
AppleCupertino, California, United StatesSenior$305,000 - $487,20010+ years
Apply Apple is where individual imaginations gather together, committing to the values that lead to great work. Every new product we build, service we create, or Apple Store experience we deliver is the result of us making each other’s ideas stronger. That happens because every one of us shares a belief that we can make something wonderful and share it with the world, changing lives for the better. It’s the diversity of our people and their thinking that inspires the innovation that runs through everything we do. When we bring everybody in, we can do the best work of our lives. Here, you’ll do more than join something — you’ll add something.
The Camera & Photos SWE team is responsible for delivering the world-class imaging experiences that power iPhone, iPad, and Mac. We are seeking a Senior Manager to lead our Automation & Tools organization, driving the next generation of engineering productivity, quality, and scale. This role will focus on evolving our automation ecosystem through a combination of robust engineering systems and emerging agentic AI capabilities.
You will lead a team at the intersection of software engineering, quality, automation, and AI—building tools and workflows that fundamentally change how imaging software is developed, tested, and delivered.
In this role, you will define and execute the vision for automation and tooling across Camera & Photos engineering. Your team will be responsible for building systems that enable engineers and QA to move faster, catch issues earlier, and ship with confidence.
This is a highly cross-functional role where you will influence how world-class imaging features are built—from early development through release.
You will:
- Lead the strategy and execution of automation for Camera & Photos, focusing on unique problem sets
- Build tooling that augments engineers—reducing manual effort while increasing coverage and reliability
- Drive adoption of agentic AI systems to assist in test creation, debugging, validation, and workflow orchestration
- Partner closely with Camera, Photos, QA, and infrastructure teams to identify bottlenecks and unlock productivity gains
- Scale CI/CD systems to support increasingly complex imaging pipelines and hardware/software integration
- Establish metrics and feedback loops to continuously improve quality and efficiency
- Hire, mentor, and grow a team of engineers focused on automation, infrastructure, and AI-powered tooling
- 10+ years of experience in software engineering, automation, or developer productivity tooling
- 8+ years of engineering leadership experience, including 3+ years managing managers and senior managers as a Director
- Strong background in test automation, CI/CD systems, or large-scale developer infrastructure
- Track record of improving engineering velocity and product quality at scale
- Deep understanding of software development lifecycles in complex, cross-functional environments
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence senior technical and product leaders
- Excitement around learning and integration new AI agentic tooling and workflows
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience. Advanced degree is a plus.
- Experience with imaging systems, camera pipelines, or media processing workflows
- Experience building or integrating AI/ML systems into engineering workflows (LLMs, agents, or similar)
- Familiarity with simulation, synthetic data generation, or hardware-in-the-loop testing
- Experience building internal developer platforms or large-scale automation frameworks
- Hands-on experience with modern AI systems, including LLM-based agents and workflow orchestration
- Passion for redefining how software engineering is done using AI and automation