Senior Engineer, Automation & Tooling

Chainguard is at the forefront of securing the open-source software supply chain, providing hardened, secure, and production-ready software builds to leading enterprises and AI agents. We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Engineer to lead a new, foundational team focused on automation and tooling. This is a unique chance to architect and build cutting-edge AI-powered systems that will define the future of our image fulfillment platform.

About Us

Chainguard is on a mission to secure the software supply chain by default. Founded by industry experts in open-source software, security, and cloud-native development, we offer innovative products like Chainguard Images and Chainguard Services. We serve a diverse clientele, from Fortune 500 companies to startups, all relying on us to build faster, stay compliant, and mitigate risk.

The Role

As the technical leader for this new, greenfield effort, you will be instrumental in designing and building the next generation of our automation and tooling. You'll focus on creating AI-powered systems to accelerate the delivery of our industry-leading secure container images. This is a hands-on role where you will shape technical direction, mentor engineers, and drive engineering excellence.

What You'll Do

• Architect the Automation Platform: Design and own the end-to-end system for package creation, test generation, and image building, ensuring scalability and technical vision.
• Build AI-Powered Tooling: Develop LLM-integrated, agentic pipelines for manifest generation, test scaffolding, and validation, including prompt architectures, evaluation loops, and quality gates.
• Write Production Go: Contribute directly by developing CLI tools, services, and integrations.
• Build Quality Tooling: Create automation for enhanced customer reliability, including test generators, validation frameworks, and quality gates.
• Shape the Roadmap: Collaborate with engineering leadership to identify and solve high-impact problems, contributing to long-term strategic planning.

What We're Looking For

• 5-7 years of software engineering experience, with a proven track record in designing and building complex systems.
• Strong expertise in Go programming language.
• Experience with AI/LLM integration, including prompt engineering, evaluation, and guardrails.
• Proficiency in systems architecture, designing scalable and loosely-coupled systems.
• Experience building developer tools, CLIs, or automation platforms.
• Deep knowledge of Linux, build systems (Make, Bazel), and containerization (Docker, OCI).
• Expertise in the container ecosystem, including registries and Kubernetes.
• Excellent communication skills for technical documentation and cross-team collaboration.

Nice to Haves

• Contributions to open-source projects.
• Familiarity with software supply chain security concepts (SBOM, provenance, signing).
• Experience with melange, apko, or Wolfi.
• Understanding of compliance frameworks (FedRAMP, FIPS, STIG).

Compensation

• Base Salary Range: $157,000—$184,000 USD

Benefits

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Fully remote work with opportunities for team meetups, bi-annual summits, and stipends for coworking/home office expenses.
• Equity: Stock options upon hire and promotion, with 10 years to exercise.
• 100% Covered Health Insurance: Comprehensive health, vision, and dental premiums covered for you and dependents.
• Infinite Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need to recharge and perform at your best.
• 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: Generous leave for birthing and non-birthing parents.