Senior Software Engineer - Open Source

Job description

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Software Engineer - Open Source based in the United States.** This is an impactful software engineering role focused on building, maintaining, and advancing open source products within cloud-native ecosystems. You will work at the intersection of product development, open source community stewardship, and hands-on technical execution. The role offers the opportunity to build secure, interoperable software designed for demanding defense and mission environments. You’ll collaborate with engineers, product leaders, designers, community contributors, industry partners, and end users to solve complex technical challenges. Your work will influence architecture, developer workflows, product direction, and the broader open source ecosystem. The environment is highly remote, collaborative, proactive, and mission-driven, with significant autonomy and opportunities to shape emerging technologies. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Go engineer passionate about Kubernetes, cloud-native development, open source, and secure software delivery. ### Accountabilities - Build, maintain, and improve secure, interoperable cloud-native software for mission-critical and defense environments. - Collaborate with internal engineers and open source contributors on feature development, bug fixes, code reviews, releases, and technical improvements. - Engage actively with open source communities, industry partners, standards organizations, and users through platforms such as GitHub and Slack. - Facilitate community meetings and help move projects and their upstream ecosystems forward through effective communication and technical leadership. - Represent project capabilities and user needs across the ecosystem while helping develop case studies, technical articles, conference presentations, and other community-facing content. - Identify and resolve ambiguity across product requirements, community expectations, technical constraints, and upstream project dependencies. - Own architectural decisions and maintain high technical standards across open source codebases, APIs, documentation, and contributor workflows. - Design and implement cloud-native applications and integrations using modern engineering practices and secure software delivery principles. - Develop comprehensive technical documentation, including design proposals, contribution guidelines, user documentation, and maintenance materials. - Contribute meaningful improvements to relevant upstream open source projects where appropriate. - Monitor emerging developments in cloud-native technologies, open source ecosystems, and secure software supply chains to inform product and engineering decisions. - Mentor engineers and contribute to raising engineering standards across the broader team. - Influence product strategy by developing a deep understanding of end-user needs, technical constraints, and ecosystem opportunities. - Work proactively and manage priorities effectively within a distributed, remote-first environment. - Travel approximately **5–15%** as required for collaboration, conferences, customer engagements, or other business needs. ## Requirements - 5+ years of professional software engineering experience. - Proven experience building, maintaining, or contributing to open source software, particularly in cloud-native, software lifecycle, or software supply chain environments. - Strong proficiency in **Go (Golang)** and willingness to develop additional expertise in **TypeScript**; experience or interest in languages such as **Rust** is a plus. - Strong understanding of system design, software and library APIs, distributed systems, Kubernetes, and modern cloud architectures. - Practical familiarity with cloud platforms such as **AWS and Azure**; experience with GCP is also valuable. - Solid understanding of Kubernetes concepts, including controllers, operators, and Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). - Experience participating in open source communities and collaborating with external contributors. - Involvement with communities or foundations such as CNCF, Apache Software Foundation, OpenSSF, or comparable ecosystems is highly desirable. - Ability to analyze complex technical problems, identify practical solutions, and implement them effectively. - Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. - Demonstrated ability to collaborate across engineering, product, design, community, and user groups. - Self-directed and comfortable working with significant autonomy in a distributed remote environment. - Curiosity, adaptability, and enthusiasm for continuously learning new technologies and contributing to evolving open source ecosystems. - U.S. Citizenship is required for this position, along with authorization to work in the United States. - An active U.S. Government security clearance is relevant to the role and may be required depending on assignment and responsibilities. ## Benefits - **Salary:** $148,750–$201,250 USD, with compensation determined by experience and national benchmarking across U.S. locations. - **Healthcare:** Medical, dental, and vision coverage with premiums fully paid by the company. - **Financial benefits:** Health Savings Account, 401(k) retirement plan, life insurance, and disability insurance. - **Equity:** Company stock options. - **Remote work:** Fully remote position within the United States, supported by a home office budget. - **Time off:** Flexible Time Off (FTO), federal holidays, one week off around Thanksgiving, and two weeks covering Christmas and New Year’s. - **Family support:** Paid parental leave. - **Professional development:** Reimbursement for approved training programs and subscriptions. - **Conferences:** Support for conference attendance, including eligible travel, lodging, and registration fees. - **Mission-driven environment:** Opportunity to work on secure, cloud-native technologies with meaningful applications in defense and other mission-critical environments. - **Inclusive culture:** A collaborative workplace that values diverse perspectives and encourages candidates to apply even when they do not meet every preferred qualification.