Description:
We’re hiring a Senior macOS Engineer to lead development on advanced desktop applications built for professionals working with structured data, system-level tooling, and forensic analysis.
This is a long-term engineering position focused on building stable, modular, and secure native macOS applications with deep integration into the operating system, file system, and runtime environments. You’ll be designing systems that bring together Swift-based UI, Python tooling, CLI utilities, and local storage layers (SQLite) into cohesive, high-performance desktop software. Some parts of the system are being modernized from legacy C++ implementations—so while C++ expertise isn’t required, comfort working near or gradually migrating legacy logic is important.
This is a hands-on architecture and implementation role with meaningful ownership, aimed at engineers who think in terms of systems, not just features.
Key Responsibilities:
- Architect and build macOS-native applications using Swift and AppKit, employing clean modular patterns (MVVM, MVC, Coordinator).
- Package and manage a standalone Python 3 runtime, enabling sandboxed plugin execution independent of the system environment.
- Build and orchestrate a secure system to run and monitor Python or CLI-based tools, handling all subprocess execution, error states, and structured output parsing.
- Design SQLite-backed storage layers to capture and persist plugin output and system metadata, ensuring performance and forensic integrity.
- Develop UI components to visualize complex datasets with sorting, filtering, metadata exploration, and user interactivity.
- Interface with low-level CLI utilities (e.g., SleuthKit: fls, istat, mmls) and integrate their output into the application via efficient data pipelines.
- Implement macOS-native deployment workflows, including .pkg and .dmg installers,
- auto-update mechanisms, license validation, and data persistence across updates.
- Apply strict macOS security standards, including sandboxing, code signing, secure storage (Keychain), entitlement management, and runtime integrity.
Required Skills
Tech Stack & Platform Expertise:
- Languages & UI: Swift, AppKit, Xcode, MVVM, Coordinator, Combine (optional)
- macOS Platform: Lifecycle APIs, LaunchAgents/Daemons, Info.plist, NSWorkspace, FileManager, Entitlements, App Sandboxing, Notarization, Code Signing
- Runtime Integration: Embedded Python 3, subprocess orchestration, stdout/stderr parsing
- CLI Tooling: SleuthKit (fls, istat, mmls), Bash/Shell utilities
- Data Layer: SQLite (schema design, indexing, query optimization, data lifecycle handling)
- Security & Updates: Token-based auth, Keychain, certificate pinning, .pkg / .dmg packaging, auto-update tooling (Sparkle or custom)
- Error Handling: Structured logging, Result types, graceful failure recovery, crash capture
Qualifications:
- 3+ years of experience building native macOS applications using Swift and AppKit.
- Deep familiarity with the macOS platform: app lifecycle, system services, sandboxing, entitlement configuration, filesystem APIs, and deployment.
- Proficiency in packaging and managing Python runtimes within native apps, including running scripts securely and parsing output.
- Skilled in SQLite database architecture, local persistence, and optimizing performance for search/filter-heavy UIs.
- Strong grasp of CLI integration: invoking, monitoring, and extracting output from command-line forensic or system tools.
- Experience shipping macOS applications with notarization, signing, .pkg and .dmg installers, and user-safe update mechanisms.
- Comfortable working around or gradually replacing C++ legacy components, even if not writing C++ directly.