Jennifer Bailey To Step Down As Apple Pay Chief After Over 25 Years At The Company

Apple's longtime Wallet and Apple Pay head, Jennifer Bailey, will retire at the end of October after more than a quarter century with the company. The move was communicated internally by services chief Eddy Cue in a memo to employees, which was reviewed by Bloomberg. Bailey has overseen Apple Pay since its debut in 2014 and has been central to the growth of Apple Wallet and the company's broader financial services push.

Cue confirms the exit, succession plan pending

Cue's note credited Bailey with reshaping how customers transact, noting that Apple Pay had changed the way hundreds of millions of users pay under her leadership. Apple has not named a successor yet, but Cue said the company would lay out its succession plan before Bailey's departure at the end of October, and that she would stay on afterward in an advisory capacity through the handover.

A career spanning Apple's online store to Apple Pay

Bailey joined Apple in the early 2000s and initially served as vice president of the company's online store before moving to lead Apple Pay. Under her charge, the payments platform expanded to cover in-store, in-app and online transactions, and she also steered the rollout of Apple Wallet and Apple Card. Cue's memo struck a personal note as well, calling Bailey a valued colleague he would miss working alongside.

Part of a broader executive reshuffle at Apple

Bailey's exit adds to a string of senior departures at Apple this year. General counsel Kate Adams is also retiring, while environment chief Lisa Jackson stepped down earlier in 2026. Former chief financial officer Luca Maestri and longtime marketing veteran Phil Schiller remain with the company in scaled-back roles, though both are widely expected to exit before long.

More veteran executives approaching retirement

The turnover extends further up Apple's leadership bench. Cue himself, along with retail chief Deirdre OBrien and marketing head Greg Joswiak, have each been with the company for roughly four decades, placing them among the executives whose eventual transitions are being closely watched.