Staff Software Engineer, Chainguard

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with backend or distributed systems
• Experience with Linux build or packaging systems
• Strong programming skills in Go
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Cloud Run, and cloud-native service design
• Familiarity with GCP services (e.g., BigQuery, IAM, Cloud Logging)
• Experience with Terraform and CI/CD pipelines
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills across distributed systems
• Ability to work independently and communicate clearly in a remote-first environment

Desirable

• We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to take a leading role on the services and tooling that build and update the software that makes up Chainguard OS. This includes Melange, our package build tool, and the Build Service, which runs package builds at scale across our repositories
• You will design, implement, operate, and improve the systems that keep Chainguard packages up to date. You will focus on reliability, performance, automation, and maintainability, and you will help the OS team build sustainable processes with shared ownership
• Improve and maintain Melange, including usability, testing, patch management, observability, and automation
• Operate and develop the build service, improving reliability, resource usage, extensibility, and support for multiple architectures
• Enhance automation for rebuild and transition workflows, including support for shared library transitions using build-time and runtime dependencies
• Contribute to the reliability and performance of update automation systems with a close eye on costs and operational efficiencies
• Improve monitoring, logging, dashboards, and general observability across services
• Define and deliver on a roadmap for build and update services within the OS team
• Document systems and reduce single points of knowledge within the team
• Be an integral part of the OS team helping out with distro level package updates and keeping Chainguard OS up-to-date and secure