His teams are responsible for delivering the software of Apple's products, including the user interface, applications, and frameworks.

[5] He joined Apple when it acquired NeXT in 1996, but then left it in 1999 for Ariba, where he held several roles including chief technology officer.

[10] In the following decade of Federighi's leadership, many observers noted a marked decline in the quality[11][12][13][14] of Apple's software products.

[15] Within the community of Apple users and developers, Federighi is known for his presentations of new Apple software, frequently featuring absurdist humor such as references to his hair, use of new software features to organize events such as office karaoke parties and camping trips, and his claimed love of the band Rush.

A running gag in Federighi's macOS presentations involves him describing the fictional exploits of the “crack product marketing team”, venturing naked through California in a Volkswagen Minibus and ultimately arriving at the location after which the version of the operating system is named.

[16][17] His first appearance onstage during a major Apple event was at WWDC 2009, where he helped Bertrand Serlet introduce Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

In March 2016, Federighi wrote an article for The Washington Post stating that "I became an engineer because I believe in the power of technology to enrich our lives" as his motivation.

[25] At the November 2020 Apple Special Event, a video of him “setting the mood” by waking a MacBook from sleep instantly became a meme.