Staff Engineer - DevX

About the Role

We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer to lead Developer Experience at Buildkite. Your mission is to build the compounding, AI-led development loops that lift the productivity of our 80+ engineers. We have a goal to double R&D output per engineer over the next 12 months, and you will lead the strategy and execution to make that happen.

This is an internal-facing role focused on the systems our engineers live in every day—CI, build tooling, codebase health, deployment paths, and agentic coding tools. Your work will compound: improvements you make for our team will eventually land in the product our customers use.

What You'll Do

• Own the DevEx Strategy: Lead the end-to-end developer experience, including CI, build tooling, and AI-assisted development loops.
• Drive R&D Efficiency: Define what "faster" means for our engineering organization and implement meaningful metrics that drive real output.
• Stay Hands-on: Write production code, land PRs across various services, and make high-leverage changes in unfamiliar codebases.
• Influence & Lead: Build credibility across the engineering team to drive adoption of new tools and processes without direct management authority.
• Push the Frontier: Evaluate, roll out, and measure the impact of agentic coding tools to raise the bar for engineering productivity.

What You Bring

• Engineering Pedigree: Strong software engineering background with real production experience.
• Platform Experience: Track record in platform engineering or leading AI/developer tooling initiatives.
• Proven Impact: Evidence of making engineering teams measurably faster.
• Scale Awareness: Experience with the unique challenges that arise as systems and teams grow.
• Agentic Tooling Fluency: Deep understanding of agentic coding tools and the judgment to know when to trust or override them.
• Influence Skills: Ability to lead through relationships, fast buy-in, and strong technical judgment.

Benefits

• Flexible Work: Fully remote setup with an additional 6 weeks of "work from anywhere" time per year.
• Time Off: 20 days paid annual leave plus 10 days sick & carer's leave.
• Parental Support: 16 weeks paid parental leave for primary carers (6 for secondary).
• Remote Allowance: Budget for home-office kit, co-working, or remote setup needs.
• Growth: Dedicated time and budget for conferences, courses, and coaching.
• Wellbeing: Confidential EAP and mental health support.
• Regional Benefits: Retirement and health coverage tailored to your location.