Senior Software Engineer (Containers)

• Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure
• production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant
• Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake.
• Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital.
• Senior Software Engineer, Guarded Containers
• The role, in a nutshell:
• We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our Guarded Containers team and help shape the future of Chainguard Images — our core product. This is a product-driven, feature-development role: you'll design and ship new capabilities that directly expand what our product can do for customers, work cross-functionally to turn ideas into shipped features. Alongside building new functionality, you'll help evolve the tooling and infrastructure that supports it
• help uphold the quality bar our customers expect. You'll guide technical decisions and help set the standard for excellence on the team

What You’ll Do

• Design and build new features and services that make Chainguard Images more powerful, compelling, and valuable to customers — this is a feature-first role, not a maintenance role.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders (product, design, and engineering) to scope, design, and ship product improvements from concept to production.
• Own technical decisions for the features you build, balancing customer impact, scalability, and long-term maintainability.
• Develop robust tools and services that support our growing image build system, ensuring it scales alongside new product capabilities.
• Contribute to a team culture that values craftsmanship, ownership, and continuous improvement

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
• 5+ years of experience in software development, with strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, compilers, Makefiles, and toolchains
• A product mindset — genuine interest in building features end-to-end and understanding how technical choices translate into customer value
• Expertise with containers, container registries, Docker, Kubernetes, and the broader ecosystem
• Experience with Terraform or other Infrastructure as Code tools, including designing reusable, well-organized modules
• Experience writing services or tools in Go
• Strong communication skills, proficiency in English, and the ability to work autonomously, take initiative, and proactively seek help when needed
• Nice to haves:
• Author and/or contributor to open-source projects
• Explore Our Work
• Dive into the practical side of what we do at Chainguard. These resources provide a hands-on look at our processes and offer an opportunity for in-depth understanding of our product offerings and the technology behind them.
• Chainguard Academy
• https://www.chainguard.dev
• Base Salary Range
• $157,000 — $184,000 USD
• About Us
• We live and breathe our company values:
• We are customer obsessed — We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.
• We have a bias for intentional action — We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.
• We don't take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) — We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.
• We trust each other and assume good intentions — We're transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well informed decisions.
• A few of the benefits we offer:
• 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.
• If your experience is close but doesn't fulfill all requirements, please apply. We're building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring "Chainguardians" with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
• Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions
• related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity
• other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.
• By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Chainguard will process your personal data in accordance with Chainguard's Global Candidate Privacy Notice .
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