Senior Software Engineer (Sustaining)

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!

Why Chainguard?

We're the Safe Source for Open Source™—your backstage pass to where security, speed, and innovation come together. Every day, our team takes on the challenge of delivering minimal, zero-CVE container images and software artifacts that are always fresh, always resilient, and genuinely fun to work on.

Picture this: your code becomes part of the backbone for global enterprises, powering the cloud-native era and freeing developers everywhere to swap “urgent patch needed” for “let’s deploy and chill.” Sound good? Keep reading.

The 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 smash CVE’s, then dial up automation so those issues don’t come back.
• Play in our tech sandbox: Get hands-on with melange, apko, Wolfi OS, and the Chainguard Images catalog—our open-source foundation that strips out bloat (and bugs) from containers.
• Code, create, and launch: Build new Linux packages (APKs) and container images, and watch your handiwork shine in real-world cloud applications.
• Collaborate and celebrate: Sync early and often with project managers and teammates around the world. Shout out wins. Beat blockers. Keep momentum high.
• Spread the knowledge: Mentor engineers globally, leave your mark on the community, and become someone’s “you should talk to them.”
• Level up quality: Bring your passion for testing and automation so we can ship with confidence—and maybe brag a little, too.

What Makes You Chainguardian Material?

• Veteran skills: 4+ years writing code in DevOps or software development—bonus points for serious Linux packaging experience (APK, DEB, RPM), debugging mastery, and the stamina to run solo when it counts.
• Containers are your jam: You don’t just build and debug images—you think in them.
• Kubernetes flair: Deploy with plain manifests, Helm, or Kustomize. You’re the one people call when everything “just stopped working.”
• Terraform whiz: You create modules like LEGO—reusable, logical, and awesome.
• Real programming chops: Fluent in at least one language (your Go, Python, C, or C++ memes always impress).
• Crystal-clear communicator: English is no barrier. You know when to ask, when to inform, and when to celebrate.
• Not another cloud admin: We’re all about DevOps tools for build and test, not wrangling infrastructure.

Bonus Moves That Wow Us

• You're a familiar face in the open-source crowd or a rising community leader.
• You have hands-on experience with vulnerability management and remediation.
• You geek out over distroless containers and supply chain security.

Dig Deeper Into Our World

Curious about the real work? Explore Chainguard Academy for hands-on tutorials, debug strategies, and deep dives into supply chain security—plus stories from dev teams who discovered they can spend less time patching and more time building.

Hungry for Impact? Let’s Chat!

If “secure by default” excites you (instead of putting you to sleep) 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.

Base Salary Range

$144,000—$180,000 USD

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 the industry's leading experts on open source software, security and cloud native development, Chainguard has built the largest library of open source software that is secure by default.

Chainguard’s mission is to be the safe source for open source.

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 $400 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.
• For a full list of our benefits and rewards, click here.

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, or 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, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.

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