In a new job posting on Apple’s site, the company is looking to hire “a talented and inspired manager to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms.” This suggests a defensive move against Google Android that’s expected to debut on a variety of devices that are all connected to each other. Could Apple be counterattacking Google with this move?

Full job posting details below:

Requisition Number: 4929592
Job title: Engineering Manager (Platform Bring-Up)
Location: Santa Clara Valley
Country: United States
City: Cupertino
State/Province: California
Job type: Full Time

Job description: The Core Platform team within Apple’s Core OS organization is looking for a talented and inspired manager to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms. The team is responsible for low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms. The team consists of talented engineers with experience in hardware, firmware, IOKit drivers, security and platform architecture.

This position requires a very technical and hands-on leader, experience in working closely with hardware team and a deep understanding of bare metal software. You must be a highly self-motivated individual who seeks to create a dynamic and creative team environment in which old problems are solved in new and innovative ways.

Job responsibilities include:

• Leadership and management of a team of talented software engineers in a fast-paced and demanding software development environment
• Working closely with the hardware and custom silicon teams to bring-up new platforms and prototype systems
• Defining the software roadmap to support a range of hardware platforms, including iPhone & iPod
• Lead the team’s assistance in requirements for future hardware and custom silicon

Required Skills and Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years experience managing a software development team
• Experience on working on drivers, kernel and firmware software technologies and direct experience developing on and for the Unix operating system
• Understanding of SoC level design
• Evidence of driving technical innovation
• Strong communication skills
• Bachelor’s or Masters degree in computer science or related field

Additional Success Factors:

• Experience with Mac OS X or iPhone development
• Previous bring-up of mobile platforms running Unix like operating systems
• Experience with ARM based SoC’s