Staff Software Engineer, GitHub Actions

GitHub, Inc.•UNAVAILABLE, UNAVAILABLE

9d•Remote

About The Position

GitHub is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to architect and deliver high-performance systems that support collaboration for millions of developers. The role drives technical execution from design through production and leads initiatives across distributed teams. The position is on the GitHub Actions team, which builds and operates the core infrastructure and services that power automation and CI/CD workflows across GitHub. Actions processes billions of jobs each month, spanning builds and complex deployment pipelines. The team works on distributed systems, container orchestration, security, cloud infrastructure, reliability, and developer productivity. The engineer will provide technical leadership, build scalable and maintainable software, and take ownership of system health and operational quality. The role also leads work on secure isolation for untrusted code, service reliability, testing strategies, and a technical roadmap aligned with product goals. The position is remote within the United States and includes a rotating on-call schedule providing 24/7 coverage for one to two weeks each quarter.

Requirements

At least 9 years of experience in software engineering, computer science, or a related technical discipline, with experience maintaining and delivering production software in languages such as Go, Ruby, Rust, Python, JavaScript, C, C++, C#, or Java; or equivalent experience.
Alternatively, an associate degree in a listed or related field and at least 8 years of relevant experience; a bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field and at least 7 years; a master's degree in a listed or related field and at least 5 years; or a doctorate in a listed or related field and at least 3 years. Each pathway requires experience maintaining and delivering production software using languages such as Go, Ruby, Rust, Python, JavaScript, C, C++, C#, or Java.
Willingness and ability to participate in a rotating on-call schedule, providing 24/7 coverage for one to two weeks each quarter.

Nice To Haves

At least 2 years of technical leadership experience.
At least 3 years of experience using general-purpose programming languages such as Go, Ruby, or similar.
At least 3 years of experience with scripting languages such as Bash, Python, or similar.
Experience building or operating CI/CD systems at scale.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, test, and ship high-quality technical solutions that scale across GitHub services; learn the systems built and write maintainable code.
Provide technical leadership, mentorship, pairing opportunities, and code reviews; help teams produce extensible, maintainable code that integrates with downstream dependencies and meets quality standards.
Own and advocate for the health and quality of team systems, including participating in first-responder on-call rotations and live incident response.
Design and implement APIs that enable seamless integration between software components.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams and stakeholders, and lead discussions of technical solutions, including design and cost considerations.
Lead development of comprehensive testing strategies, define success metrics, and use customer feedback to drive continuous improvement.
Design and implement isolation mechanisms for untrusted code execution, meet enterprise security requirements, and partner with Security teams to protect services from vulnerabilities.
Improve system reliability, reduce incident response times, and establish monitoring, alerting, and runbook best practices across Actions services.
Drive and support a technical roadmap aligned with product goals, strategically prioritize engineering work, and incorporate new technologies and methodologies where applicable.