Staff Software Engineer (VMs)

Chainguard

79d • $170,000 - $213,000

About The Position

As a Staff Engineer on the Chainguard VMs team, you will help shape the future of Virtual Machines for Chainguard. You’ll help define and develop the evolution of zero-to-low CVEs virtual machines. And work on creating secure and reliable systems to solve customer problems. Your expertise will help develop a virtualized the most secure Linux operating system and expand it across multiple different platforms. You’ll work with a diverse range of open-source software, build tools, and programming languages.

Requirements

• 8+ years of professional experience working on and building Linux operating systems.
• Proven experience working on upstream open source technologies.
• Proven experience building and packaging Linux software (APK, RPM, DEB or similar).
• Proven experience working with at least one major cloud provider (e.g. GCP, AWS, Azure) and cloud-specific integrations or agents.
• Proven experience working on bootable containers and/or micro vm technologies.
• Experience building, configuring or tuning the Linux kernel.
• Experience working across kernel and user space and related technologies (systemd, SELinux, AppArmor, etc).
• Experience with bootloaders and Secure Boot.
• Experience working with configuration management tools (e.g. Ansible, Puppet, etc) or first-boot configuration management agents (cloud-init, Ignition, etc).
• Proficiency in at least one programming language (Go preferred), with strong scripting and automation skills.
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills at both the package, containers and virtual machine levels.
• Strong communication skills, proficiency in English, ability to work autonomously in a remote-first environment, take initiative, and seek help proactively when necessary.
• Passion for quality, security, and attention to detail.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with compliance frameworks (CIS, STIG) a strong plus.
• Experience with FIPS is a strong plus.
• Experience with Kubernetes and managed container/Kubernetes services (EKS, ECS, GKE, AKS) is a strong plus.
• Experience with VMWare vSphere and ESXi is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement and optimize linux operating systems features.
• Collaborate in the creation of developer tools.
• Collaborate in the design, implementation, optimization or maintenance of secure, automated build and test systems in cloud environments.
• Improve quality and reliability by continuously refine testing, debugging and release processes.
• Collaborate with product and engineering leadership to set technical direction, drive roadmap execution, and establish process excellence.
• Mentor, review, and enable other engineers by sharing systems knowledge, debugging strategies, and 'meta' tooling insights.
• Partner with internal teams (OS, Delivery, Sustaining) to ensure our product and services meet critical SLAs and SLOs.

Benefits

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
• Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options.
• 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents.
• ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
• 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees