Senior Software Engineer - Distributed Systems

Location

This is a hybrid role that requires on-site work at our London office three (3) days a week. Our office is conveniently located in WeWork at 1 Mark Square, London, EC2A 4EG.

Elevator Pitch

Stacklok Cloud is a comprehensive security platform that combines open source package intelligence with a policy platform built on the open source project, Minder, allowing developers to securely consume open source software while enabling security teams to effectively manage and maintain a robust security posture across the entire software supply chain.

We are seeking a Senior Distributed Systems Software Engineer to play a critical role in advancing Stacklok Cloud and Minder. This position involves contributing both upstream and downstream to key product components and features. Responsibilities include enhancing the event-driven architecture, improving unit and integration testing to reinforce automation, and streamlining continuous delivery pipelines for efficient, automated releases.

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience building and managing large-scale distributed systems in Go. However, candidates with strong expertise in Python and a willingness to quickly learn Go are encouraged to apply.

Join our team of exceptionally talented engineers and become part of a groundbreaking field that tackles critical challenges for developers and the OSS community. Contribute to an open source strategy that focuses on building and expanding an ecosystem for diverse OSS tools, and help shape the future of open source development with innovative and impactful work.

Success In The Role: 6-12 Months Expectations

• Acclimatize to the Team: Familiarize yourself with our engineering processes. Build connections with team members, immerse yourself in our company culture, understand our virtues, and learn the way we work and collaborate.
• Solid Understanding of Our Products and Services: Gain a solid understanding of Stacklok Cloud products and services, our vision of the platform as well as short and long-term goals to align your contributions to our objectives.
• Proficiency in Go: Develop strong proficiency in Go, our primary programming language. Adhere to Go best practices, idiomatic design patterns, effective error handling and robust unit and integration testing. Proficiency in Python is a plus.
• Deep Dive Into Stacklok Cloud Architecture: Gain a comprehensive understanding of our cloud architecture and key components, focusing on identifying areas for enhancement to support future platform scalability and performance.
• Lead Feature Design and Implementation: Take ownership of designing and implementing priority features. Manage key deliverables, set priorities effectively, collaborate with the engineering team, and maintain transparent communication about progress, challenges and outcomes.

In This Role You Will Have The Opportunity To:

• Shape The Future of Stacklok Cloud: As a senior engineer, you’ll play a key role in building innovative solutions that enhance our platform while ensuring technical excellence across our existing systems. You’ll collaborate closely with end-users, the open source community, and our talented team to design forward-thinking solutions and drive continuous improvements.
• Elevate Architecture and Efficiency: Help refine and elevate the architectural framework, enhancing scalability, resiliency, and delivery speed. Working alongside a team of highly skilled engineers, you’ll introduce new processes to drive operational excellence, leveraging tools and automations to optimize workflows.
• Mentor, Grow, and Build the Team: Guide and mentor junior engineers, fostering a culture that values empathy, curiosity and psychological safety. Conduct code reviews, provide technical insights and participate in technical hiring panels to bring on new talent.
• Uphold Quality and Reliability Standards: Champion the reliability and quality of our services by setting and maintaining clear Service Level Objectives, advocating for robust monitoring strategies, proactively managing incidents, and continuously refining our playbooks.

We understand that not everyone will meet every requirement listed, and that’s perfectly okay! We encourage you to apply regardless of your self-assessment. We value a diverse range of skills and experiences and believe that your unique attributes can make a significant impact. We want to hear from you!

Desired Skills & Experience

• A strong background in software engineering, with expertise in programming languages such as Go or Python.
• Comprehensive knowledge of distributed systems development and event-driven architectures and related technologies.
• Comprehensive knowledge of testing methodologies, including unit testing, integration and end-to-end testing.
• Experience automating production pipelines and utilizing relevant tools and frameworks to ensure high-quality continuous software delivery, with proficiency in GitHub as a plus.
• Background deploying cloud-native services using modern technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience contributing to open source projects, particularly in the realm of software supply chain security.
• Comprehensive knowledge of secure coding practices and frameworks (e.g. OWASP, SSDF), alongside in-depth knowledge of software supply chain security, and the risks associated with open source components.
• Impact-Driven and Collaborative: Track record of delivering solutions that drive business outcomes; excellent written and verbal communication skills for engaging diverse stakeholders. Committed to fostering growth and continuous improvement within teams.
• Versatile and Self-Starting: Adaptable in dynamic, startup environments, comfortable in varied roles—from individual contributor to conference presenter—and skilled at making technical topics accessible to broad audiences.