Principal Engineer, Business Traveler Compliance

Summary

Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, new ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there's no telling what you could accomplish.

Description

The Principal Engineer, Business Traveler Compliance is responsible for the design, development, and continuous evolution of business traveler compliance and immigration assessment infrastructure. Sitting at the intersection of enterprise AI, immigration compliance operationalization, and real-time travel data, this role ensures employee travel is assessed and managed against immigration, transit risk, and regulatory requirements. The successful candidate will bring a rare combination of technical fluency to build systems and deep knowledge of compliance obligations, bridging the gap between compliance expertise and travel technology infrastructure to replace manual intervention with continuous, AI-driven automation.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end architecture and operation of automated travel compliance assessment systems, reconciling approved travel against live booking data
• Design and maintain multi-category change detection logic for transit risk, date shifts, route changes, and split itineraries
• Develop AI-driven tools for transit risk assessment, entry requirement identification, and visa workflow automation
• Design and maintain real-time data streaming pipelines and custom Kafka bridge architecture for live PNR data ingestion
• Architect and manage AI service failover pools, quota allocation, and dynamic token budgeting strategies
• Serve as the primary technical liaison to immigration assessment providers, translating compliance requirements into system inputs and workflow triggers
• Design and maintain data exchange infrastructure between internal travel systems and external assessment platforms
• Build and manage notification and alert systems for time-sensitive compliance requirements across email and internal messaging
• Partner with HR, Security, and Apple Travel to ensure compliance systems reflect evolving organizational policy and regulatory requirements
• Lead compliance technology onboarding for new employee populations, travel corridors, and business units
• Proven ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder programs with competing priorities and time-sensitive delivery requirements
• Expertise in translating regulatory and legal requirements into technical specifications and production systems
• Demonstrated practice of privacy-driven design, building systems that handle sensitive personal and compliance data with appropriate access controls
• Experience with enterprise AI integration, including LLM-based workflows, AI evaluation methodologies, and testing practices for production AI systems
• Familiarity with global immigration compliance requirements, visa categories, transit regulations, and travel risk assessment frameworks
• Background in travel industry data standards including PNR formats, GDS booking data, and XML-based approval workflows
• Experience configuring enterprise security gateway infrastructure, including VPN-accessible service endpoints, WAF policies, and SSL certificate management
• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain trusted working relationships with external compliance partners and internal cross-functional teams

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining production software systems
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or equivalent practical experience
• Demonstrated experience building systems that operationalize compliance, legal, or regulatory requirements at scale
• Strong proficiency in Python and experience building and maintaining production-grade backend services and REST API integrations

Preferred Qualifications

• 7+ years of hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining production software systems

Pay & Benefits

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $216,200 and $324,800, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.

Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses — including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation. Learn more about Apple Benefits

Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant