Staff Software Engineer (Guarded Containers)

Overview

Staff Software Engineer responsible for shaping technical direction and delivering major features for the Guarded Containers team and Chainguard Images. The role combines hands-on development, architectural leadership, product partnership, and engineer mentoring.

What you'll do

• Architect and develop major features and services for Chainguard Images.
• Partner with product, design, and engineering leaders to shape the roadmap.
• Make architectural decisions balancing customer impact, scalability, and maintainability.
• Lead complex cross-team projects from concept through production.
• Mentor engineers and raise technical practices across the team.
• Improve tools and services supporting the image build system.
• Promote craftsmanship, ownership, and continuous improvement.

What you'll need

• 10+ years of software development experience.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• Deep knowledge of data structures, algorithms, compilers, Makefiles, and toolchains.
• Expertise with containers, container registries, Docker, Kubernetes, and related ecosystems.
• Experience with Terraform or other infrastructure-as-code tools.
• Strong experience writing services or tools in Go.
• Ability to lead complex initiatives, mentor engineers, and communicate effectively.

Nice to have

• Authorship or contributions to open-source projects.

Details

• Remote in the United States.
• Base salary: USD 205,000–231,000 yearly.