Chainguard Sustaining Engineer

Salary Range: $144,000 - $180,000 USD

Location Type: Not Specified

Employment Type: Not Specified

Position Overview

Ready to build the future instead of patching the past? Join the Chainguard Sustaining Team and shake up the world of open source with us! At Chainguard, we are the Safe Source for Open Source™, providing minimal, zero-CVE container images and software artifacts that are always fresh, always resilient, and genuinely fun to work on. Your code will become part of the backbone for global enterprises, powering the cloud-native era and freeing developers everywhere to focus on innovation rather than urgent patches.

Mission: Make Containers Boringly Secure (And Gloriously Efficient!)

We don't just patch vulnerabilities; we build software that makes them extinct. As a key player on our sustaining engineering team, you will:

• Own the Queue: Triage, chase down, and resolve CVEs, then enhance automation to prevent recurrence.
• Play in Our Tech Sandbox: Get hands-on with melange, apko, Wolfi OS, and the Chainguard Images catalog—our open-source foundation for stripping bloat and bugs from containers.
• Code, Create, and Launch: Build new Linux packages (APKs) and container images, and see your work deployed in real-world cloud applications.
• Collaborate and Celebrate: Sync regularly with project managers and global teammates, acknowledge successes, overcome blockers, and maintain high momentum.
• Spread the Knowledge: Mentor engineers globally, contribute to the community, and become a go-to expert.
• Level Up Quality: Apply your passion for testing and automation to ensure confident and potentially brag-worthy releases.

What Makes You Chainguardian Material?

• Veteran Skills: 4+ years of experience in DevOps or software development.
  • Bonus Points: Significant Linux packaging experience (APK, DEB, RPM), mastery in debugging, and the ability to work independently when needed.
• Containers are Your Jam: You don't just build and debug images; you think in terms of containers.
• Kubernetes Flair: Experience deploying with plain manifests, Helm, or Kustomize. You're the person to call when things break.
• Terraform Whiz: You create reusable, logical, and effective Terraform modules.
• Real Programming Chops: Fluent in at least one of the following languages: Go, Python, C, or C++.
• Crystal-Clear Communicator: Excellent English communication skills, knowing when to ask, inform, and celebrate.
• Not Another Cloud Admin: Focus on DevOps tools for build and test, not infrastructure wrangling.

Bonus Moves That Wow Us

• Active participation or leadership in the open-source community.
• Hands-on experience with vulnerability management and remediation.
• Fascination with distroless containers and supply chain security.

Dig Deeper Into Our World

Explore Chainguard Academy for hands-on tutorials, debugging strategies, deep dives into supply chain security, and stories from development teams who are spending less time patching and more time building.

Hungry for Impact? Let’s Chat!

If "secure by default" excites you and you want to swap daily patches for daily progress, we're ready for you. Step up, apply, and help us build the software supply chain everyone else wishes they had.

Chainguard: Because your talent shouldn’t be wasted fighting yesterday’s bugs—let’s build a safer, shinier tomorrow.

About Us

Chainguard is the secure foundation for software development and deployment. By providing guarded open source software, built from source and updated continuously, Chainguard helps organizations eliminate threats in their software supply chains. Founded by industry-leading experts in open source software, security, and cloud-native development, Chainguard has built the largest library of open-source software.