Staff Software Engineer – Guarded Containers

Chainguard

Staff Software Engineer developing new features and improving tooling for Chainguard's container images. Collaborating with teams and mentoring engineers in a remote-first culture.

Posted 6/12/2026full-timeRemote • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $205,000 - $231,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

DockerGoKubernetesTerraform

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Collaborate with teammates and cross-functional teams to design innovative services and features that enhance the core product, making it more compelling and valuable.
Develop robust tools and services to continue to improve our image build system as it scales.
Own high-impact, deeply technical components of the Chainguard stack, serving as the subject matter expert in those areas
Participate in long-term planning and roadmap discussions, helping identify the key problems the team needs to solve and ensuring they get solved
Mentor engineers and raise the bar for engineering quality across the organization

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
10+ years of experience in software development, data structures, algorithms, compilers, Makefiles, and toolchains
Expertise with containers, container registries, Docker, Kubernetes and its greater ecosystem
Experience with Terraform or other Infrastructure as Code, and proficiency in creating modules and organizing resources logically for reuse.
Experience writing services or tools in Go
Strong communication skills, proficiency in English, ability to work autonomously, take initiative, and seek help proactively when necessary.

Benefits

Comp & perks

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 (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
∞ 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, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child's first year.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools

software developmentdata structuresalgorithmscompilersMakefilestoolchainscontainersDockerKubernetesGo

Soft Skills

communication skillsability to work autonomouslyinitiativeproactive problem-solvingmentoring

Certifications

Bachelor's degree