Software Engineer (Repositories) - Chainguard

Software Engineer (Repositories) at Chainguard

Chainguard is seeking a Software Engineer to join their Repositories team. This role focuses on building and operating the core systems that serve secure, production-ready open-source software to customers. You will be instrumental in developing customer-facing infrastructure, including package registries, APIs, and artifact-serving systems, with a focus on scalability, reliability, and performance.

This is an infrastructure-heavy backend role at the intersection of software engineering and production infrastructure. You'll develop Go services, contribute to customer-facing systems, improve reliability and performance, and learn how production infrastructure supports a broader artifact platform. This is an early, high-impact area for the company, offering the opportunity to work closely with experienced engineers and take ownership of well-defined projects.

What You'll Do:

• Build and improve customer-facing registries, APIs, and artifact-serving systems.
• Implement well-scoped projects from technical design through testing, rollout, monitoring, and iteration.
• Develop and operate backend services in Go.
• Contribute to work involving scalability, reliability, observability, performance, and load testing.
• Participate in design discussions and make thoughtful decisions about service boundaries, APIs, data flows, and operational patterns.
• Collaborate with engineers and product partners across Chainguard.
• Review code, ask questions, share learnings, and contribute to a supportive engineering team.
• Investigate and resolve production issues.

What We're Looking For:

• 2+ years of experience building software, with some experience in backend or infrastructure systems.
• Experience with Go, or strong programming experience in another language and the ability to learn Go quickly.
• Experience contributing to software projects from implementation through testing and release.
• Interest in building customer-facing infrastructure (e.g., package registries, artifact repositories, APIs, developer platforms).
• Familiarity with software engineering fundamentals (testing, code review, debugging, version control).
• Exposure to deploying or operating services in production, or a strong interest in developing these skills.
• A systems-oriented mindset and curiosity.
• Clear communication and a collaborative approach, especially in a remote environment.

Nice to Have:

• 5+ years of experience building and operating production backend or infrastructure systems.
• Strong Go experience or deep backend systems experience.
• Experience owning backend or infrastructure projects from design through production operation.
• Experience building or operating high-scale customer-facing infrastructure.
• Strong judgment around reliability, observability, performance, security, and operational tradeoffs.
• Experience deploying and managing services in production, including familiarity with cloud infrastructure and infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform).
• Strong systems instincts and curiosity.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills in a remote environment.

Base Salary Range: $121,000—$142,000 USD

About Chainguard:

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. We deliver hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of open-source software. Our customers include leading enterprises and industry leaders. We are venture-backed by top investors.

Company Values:

• Customer obsessed
• Bias for intentional action
• Don't take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work)
• Trust each other and assume good intentions

Benefits:

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture
• Stock options upon hire and promotion with 10-year exercise window
• 100% Covered Health, Vision, and Dental Insurance
• Unlimited Flexible Time Off
• 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave

Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage applications from candidates with unique backgrounds and experiences.