How's the leadership on the Engineering team at Apple?

Depends on the team. There are some excellent engineers there that direct cool projects. Unfortunately, there are also many engineers who get promoted to be terrible managers. Worse still, there is a bit of ageism going on, meaning that many managers don't stay long enough to grow into the role. Unless you are a super-star, you probably don't want to still be at Apple at age 50.

Most managers used to be engineers themselves so they have been there and know what you are going through. They are very helpful and understanding and try to keep as much bureaucracy away from you as they can.

They are all healthy and well, thanks for asking.