Job description template

Objective-C Developer

Build and maintain iOS/macOS applications using Objective-C within an existing production codebase. You’ll work independently on well-defined modules, ship improvements, and collaborate to keep performance, stability, and maintainability high.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain Objective-C features for iOS/macOS applications, following existing architecture and code standards
Debug production issues by tracing crashes, performance problems, and edge-case bugs to their root causes
Integrate and maintain APIs and data flows between the app and backend services
Write and maintain unit/integration tests to reduce regressions and improve delivery confidence
Improve app performance and memory usage using profiling tools and targeted refactors
Collaborate with teammates to review code, clarify requirements, and ensure consistent implementation quality
Maintain documentation for key modules, APIs, and operational behaviors

Must-have qualifications

Hands-on Objective-C development experience shipping iOS or macOS apps in production
Strong understanding of iOS/macOS frameworks and common lifecycle patterns
Proficiency debugging with crash logs, Instruments, and runtime analysis
Experience designing and consuming REST or similar APIs from an iOS/macOS app
Competence writing unit/integration tests for Objective-C codebases
Working knowledge of memory management and concurrency fundamentals in Objective-C

Nice to have

Experience maintaining or modernizing legacy Objective-C projects (refactoring, improving modularity, reducing technical debt)
Familiarity with CI workflows for mobile builds and automated test runs
Knowledge of Swift interoperability or gradual migration strategies

What success looks like in 12 months

Ship Objective-C features with low defect rates
Reduce production instability
Improve performance and responsiveness
Increase test coverage and regression protection
Strengthen maintainability of owned modules

Logistics

Full-time (40 hours a week), remote from Latin America.
Working hours overlap with US business hours.

About the company

[About your company: what you build, your stage and team size]

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Interview scorecard

Score every candidate against the same bar

Deliver reliable, maintainable iOS/macOS improvements in Objective-C by owning well-defined features end to end and reducing production risk.

Outcomes to measure

What this hire should deliver in the first year. Replace [N] with your own targets.

Ship Objective-C features with low defect rates. Measure: Deliver [N] user- or business-impacting features or enhancements with crash-free sessions at or above [X]% during the measurement window
Reduce production instability. Measure: Reduce production crash incidents by [X]% for the components owned during the first 12 months
Improve performance and responsiveness. Measure: Improve key performance metrics (e.g., time-to-interactive, scroll smoothness, or memory usage) by [X]% based on agreed app measurements
Increase test coverage and regression protection. Measure: Increase relevant automated test coverage (unit/integration) by [X]% and maintain or improve test pass rate to [X]%
Strengthen maintainability of owned modules. Measure: Refactor or modularize [N] Objective-C components to improve readability, reduce cyclomatic complexity, or remove duplicated logic, as evidenced by agreed code review criteria

Competencies and weights

What to evaluate, how much it counts and what a strong answer looks like.

Objective-C production development · 22%
This role is mid-level and must work independently in real Objective-C codebases. Evaluated in Round 1.

Weak: Describes Objective-C concepts in general terms without referencing real app scenarios or tradeoffs.
Meets the bar: Explains how they implemented a feature/module in Objective-C, including key classes and integration points.
Strong: Walks through a complete implementation story (design choices, edge cases, testing, and rollout/verification) with clear technical reasoning.

Debugging and crash triage · 22%
The role must reliably diagnose production issues and drive them to resolution. Evaluated in Round 2.

Weak: Relies on guesswork; cannot connect logs/stack traces to code paths or root causes.
Meets the bar: Interprets crash logs and runtime behavior to isolate likely causes and proposes verification steps.
Strong: Demonstrates a structured approach: reproduce/confirm, narrow scope, identify root cause, validate fix, and prevent recurrence (tests/guardrails).

Framework lifecycle mastery · 17%
Correct use of iOS/macOS lifecycle patterns is essential for stability and correct behavior. Evaluated in Round 1.

Weak: Gives vague explanations of lifecycle events or common pitfalls without concrete examples.
Meets the bar: Explains lifecycle event handling relevant to a feature and how they avoid common issues (timing, state, threading).
Strong: Uses lifecycle understanding to prevent specific failure modes and justifies event ordering and state management decisions.

API integration skills · 17%
Consuming backend APIs correctly impacts correctness, reliability, and user experience. Evaluated in Round 2.

Weak: Under-specifies error handling, retries, or data validation when discussing API work.
Meets the bar: Explains request/response handling, threading, and error cases (timeouts, parsing failures, non-200 responses).
Strong: Describes robust integration patterns including cancellation, backoff/retry strategy (when appropriate), and testability of API layers.

Testing discipline · 11%
Automated tests are necessary to reduce regressions and support independent ownership. Evaluated in Round 3.

Weak: Discusses tests only as a checkbox or describes minimal coverage without strategy.
Meets the bar: Explains what they test (units vs integration), how they isolate dependencies, and how tests catch regressions.
Strong: Provides an example of improving test coverage and using tests to support refactoring or bug fixes.

Memory management and concurrency · 11%
Memory and concurrency issues are common sources of crashes and performance problems in Objective-C. Evaluated in Round 3.

Weak: Cannot explain retain/release behavior (ARC fundamentals) or risks around threads and shared state.
Meets the bar: Explains key memory/concurrency concepts and how they apply them to avoid leaks, races, or deadlocks.
Strong: Uses concrete patterns (queue/thread usage, synchronization approach, ownership boundaries) and can reason about safety in edge cases.

Interview questions

Questions for every interview round

Each round has an owner, a time box and questions that test the competencies above.

Round 1: Objective-C fundamentals and architecture
iOS Technical Lead · 50 min

Tell us about a feature you built in an Objective-C iOS/macOS app. What was the module/class structure, and how did you integrate it with existing components?
Describe how you handle iOS/macOS lifecycle or state transitions for a complex screen/workflow. How do you prevent issues when users background/foreground or navigate quickly?
Give an example of a design tradeoff you made in Objective-C (e.g., composition vs inheritance, delegation patterns, abstraction boundaries). What led you to that decision?
How do you approach maintaining consistency with an existing Objective-C codebase (coding conventions, patterns, and readability)?

Round 2: Production debugging and API robustness
Senior Mobile Engineer · 55 min

Walk through a production crash you investigated. How did you use crash logs and stack traces to identify the root cause, and how did you validate the fix?
Tell us about a performance or stability issue you traced (memory growth, slow UI, ANRs). What tools did you use, and what concrete change improved the metric?
Describe how your app integrates with an API layer: request construction, parsing/validation, and error handling. What happens on timeouts, non-2xx responses, and malformed payloads?
Explain how you prevent UI thread issues when performing network work and updating UI based on async results.

Round 3: Testing, memory, and concurrency
Engineering Manager · 45 min

Describe your testing approach for Objective-C code. What do you test with unit vs integration tests, and how do you decide what to cover?
Tell us about a time tests helped you safely refactor a risky part of a codebase. What changed, and how did you ensure behavior stayed correct?
Explain a memory management problem you encountered (leak, over-retain, unexpected deallocation, retain cycles). How did you detect it and fix it?
Describe how you handle concurrency in Objective-C (queues/threads, synchronization, cancellation). Give a real example of avoiding race conditions.

Red flags to watch for

Cannot explain how they would derive root cause from a stack trace/crash log and instead relies on speculation
Provides shallow API integration answers that ignore error handling, parsing failures, or thread/UI update concerns
Discusses testing without clear examples of regression prevention or meaningful coverage improvements
Gives inconsistent or unsafe explanations of memory management or concurrency (e.g., retain cycles, races, updating UI off the main thread)

How much does it cost to hire an Objective-C Developer in Latin America?

In 2026, a senior Objective-C Developer in Latin America costs $4,875 to $5,625 a month all-in, versus $14,625 in the US: up to 67% less. Mid-level starts at $3,250.

Country

Mid-level

Senior

Argentina

$3,250

$4,875

Brazil

$3,625

$5,375

Colombia

$3,250

$4,875

Mexico

$3,750

$5,625

United States

$11,875

$14,625

Monthly cost in USD, all-in: the talent's salary plus Teilur's flat 20% fee, from our 2026 rates. The United States row shows what the same role typically costs there.

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Frequently asked questions

What does an Objective-C Developer do?

Typical responsibilities include: develop and maintain Objective-C features for iOS/macOS applications, following existing architecture and code standards; debug production issues by tracing crashes, performance problems, and edge-case bugs to their root causes; integrate and maintain APIs and data flows between the app and backend services. The full list is in the template above.

How much does it cost to hire an Objective-C Developer in Latin America?

In 2026, a senior Objective-C Developer in Latin America costs $4,875 to $5,625 a month all-in, versus $14,625 in the US: up to 67% less. Mid-level starts at $3,250.

Can I customize this Objective-C Developer job description?

Yes. Teilur's free Job Description & Scorecard Generator rewrites it for your stack, seniority, time zone and hiring urgency in about 15 seconds. No sign-up needed.

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Objective-C Developer Job Description Template