Principal Software Engineer (Libraries Platform)

Role Description

At Chainguard, we think the best platform work is invisible: the libraries just appear, the builds just work, and the CVEs quietly regret their life choices.

Chainguard's Libraries organization runs the secure, reliable factory that continuously builds, verifies, and serves open-source libraries to customers and internal teams across multiple ecosystems. We're expanding that factory to new inbound ecosystems, while raising the bar on how much of the remediation and build lifecycle runs without a human in the loop.

As a Principal Software Engineer on the Libraries Platform team, you'll set technical direction for that expansion. This is a strategic, cross-organizational platform role:

• You're not just operating the existing factory, you're deciding how it generalizes to ecosystems it wasn't originally built for.
• Your decisions will shape the platform's architecture for years and influence how every ecosystem team builds on top of it.

What you’ll do:

• Own the technical strategy for multi-ecosystem scaling.
• Define the architecture that lets the Libraries Platform onboard new language ecosystems (.NET, Go, Rust) without re-deriving core services per ecosystem.
• Drive end-to-end remediation automation.
• Lead the redesign of CVE remediation workflows to close the loop from detection to verified, released fix with minimal manual intervention.
• Push the frontier on novel patch generation.
• Set platform-wide technical direction, spanning the package index, build/packaging pipelines, registry mirrors, and orchestration tooling.
• Make foundational build vs. buy and sequencing calls for bringing .NET, Go, and Rust online.
• Partner at the org level with Ecosystem teams, Platform, Delivery, Sustaining, and Security.
• Raise the technical bar across the org: mentor Staff and Senior Engineers, drive design reviews, and write the docs and RFCs.
• Own reliability and scalability at the platform level.
• Get hands-on when it matters: dig into toolchain, compiler, and dependency-resolution problems specific to new ecosystems.

Qualifications

• 12+ years designing, building, and operating infrastructure for language ecosystems or developer platforms.
• Direct experience standing up or significantly extending platform support for a language ecosystem.
• Strong proficiency in Go.
• A track record of automating away manual remediation steps.
• Deep background in CI/CD, agentic pipelines, cloud-native infrastructure, and IaC.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose and resolve deep toolchain, compiler, and packaging failures.
• Excellent written communication in a remote, distributed environment.
• A Principal ownership mindset.

Requirements

• Software supply chain security background: SLSA, SBOMs, sigstore, provenance, attestations, secure-by-default packaging.
• Experience with Linux distributions, packaging, and reproducible build systems.
• Familiarity with AI/ML packaging and infra in cloud/Kubernetes environments.
• Experience leading a platform through a step-change in automation maturity.

Benefits

• 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 with 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: 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents.