Senior Technical Support Engineer - Chainguard

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source, delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of essential software. We help organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk, serving Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders like 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.

The Role, in a Nutshell

We’re looking for a Senior Technical Support Engineer who is equal parts problem-solver, translator, and customer hero. You'll be the go-to person when customers encounter issues with Chainguard Images, investigating technical mysteries, keeping stakeholders informed, and collaborating with Engineering to resolve bugs before they escalate. This role goes beyond basic support; you'll tackle complex issues using modern tools (Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub, Helm charts, Terraform, etc.), empower customers, and help shape Chainguard's world-class support strategy. Expect serious work, a fun team, and significant impact.

What You'll Do

• Be the frontline agent: Triage, investigate, manage, and resolve complex customer issues involving Chainguard Images.
• Escalate wisely: Engage the Engineering team when complex issues require deeper technical expertise.
• Communicate like a pro: Keep customers (and your SLAs) happy, informed, and impressed with clear, timely updates.
• Bridge the tech lingo divide: Explain technical concepts clearly to both highly technical and non-technical audiences.
• Document like a librarian: Create detailed write-ups of new issues and contribute helpful Knowledge Base articles.
• Channel your inner detective: Prioritize your own queue, drive clarity in communication, and proactively guide issues to resolution.
• Speak up smartly: Advocate for bug fixes, feature requests, and improvements to Engineering and Go-To-Market teams.
• Learn, teach, repeat: Seek new challenges, share your knowledge, and mentor others.
• Be there when it counts: Participate in an on-call rotation for after-hours, weekend, and holiday support.

What We're Looking For

• Experience: 5+ years supporting enterprise customers with a confident, calm approach.
• Container Expertise: 3+ years of experience with Linux, Docker, and Kubernetes. You dream in containers.
• Customer Focus: Proven ability to deliver top-tier customer experiences with stellar written and verbal communication.
• Collaboration: A cross-functional harmony maker, adept at supporting teams across Engineering, Customer Success, and more.
• DevOps Comfort: Comfortable in the DevOps environment, including CI/CD, Linux, GitHub, Helm Charts, Terraform, Open source, and related technologies.
• Cloud Experience: Experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP; AWS EKS experience is a plus.
• Security Interest (Kudos): Extra kudos if you’ve explored security frameworks, software supply chain security, or vulnerability scanning.
• Certifications (Kudos): Extra kudos if you bring CKA, CKAD, CKS, or KCSA certifications and aspire to be a future Kubestronaut.
• Startup Experience (Even Better): Experience navigating fast-paced startup environments.
• Curiosity: A curious soul who learns faster than a caffeinated squirrel.
• Education: A bachelor’s degree (STEM preferred) or equivalent practical experience.

About Us

We live and breathe our company values:

• We are customer obsessed: We focus on delivering solutions that create value and improve our customers' lives.
• We have a bias for intentional action: We prioritize, plan, experiment, and iterate quickly.
• We don't take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work): We are solving an important problem that requires focus, but we also enjoy the journey.
• We trust each other and assume good intentions: We maintain transparency in decisions to empower team members to make well-informed choices.

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. Participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options.
• 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision, and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents.
• ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you 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, 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, or 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.