Staff Software Engineer

Astronomer empowers data teams to bring mission-critical software, analytics, and AI to life and is the company behind Astro, the industry-leading unified DataOps platform powered by Apache Airflow®. Astro accelerates building reliable data products that unlock insights, unleash AI value, and powers data-driven applications. Trusted by more than 800 of the world's leading enterprises, Astronomer lets businesses do more with their data. To learn more, visit www.astronomer.io.

About this role:

Astro Private Cloud (APC) is the self-hosted, enterprise-grade distribution of Astronomer’s data-orchestration platform, purpose-built for enterprises that need full control of infrastructure, security, and data. Fortune 500 companies, top financial institutions, and other highly regulated organizations run APC to bring the power of Apache Airflow into their own secure environments—from private clouds to air-gapped data centers.

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our Astro Private Cloud team at Astronomer. In this role, you will guide technical direction, lead critical architectural efforts, and ensure the team consistently delivers high-quality, maintainable software. You’ll be deeply involved in system design, cross-functional planning, and process optimization, while also mentoring engineers and supporting their growth.

You’ll work at the intersection of distributed systems, cloud-native infrastructure, and data platform tooling. If you enjoy solving complex problems in Kubernetes, care about engineering excellence, and thrive in a fast-moving, collaborative environment—this role is for you.

What you get to do:

• Architect and Champion the Engineering of APC: Design, build, and scale the Astro Private Cloud product—define how multi-tenant control plane, data plane, networking, storage, and security layers fit together for self-managed Airflow deployments.

• Shape the Roadmap: Collaborate closely with PM and EM to influence product direction, architectural decisions, and release strategy based on real-world customer needs.

• Engage with High-Profile Customers: Work directly with engineering leaders at Fortune 500 and other mission-critical organizations to understand needs and validate solutions.

• Drive SDLC best practices: Define and continuously improve SDLC practices by evolving team processes such as code review standards, automated testing strategies, on-call rotations, and overall developer experience to ensure high-quality, reliable, and maintainable software delivery.

• Mentor & Multiply Impact: Provide technical guidance to engineers across the org, review designs, and champion best practices for distributed systems and DevOps.

What you bring to the role:

• 8+ years of relevant software development experience, with a focus on building infrastructure products and platforms.

• BS, MS, or PhD in computer science or a related field, or equivalent work experience

• Experience driving technical strategy and conversations with customers, gathering feedback, and influencing product direction.

• Deep expertise in multi-cluster / multi-tenant Kubernetes.

• Polyglot proficiency in Golang and/or Python, and comfortable working with distributed systems, container orchestration, and CI/CD.

• Strong experience in cloud-native technologies, including networking and security

• Strong experience in providing technical leadership, care deeply about team dynamics, process quality, and helping engineers grow.

• Strong experience working collaboratively across teams and roles, including but not limited to product management, UX, and other engineering teams and leaders

• Thrive in a fast-paced, asynchronous, remote-first environment.
  

Bonus points if you have:

• Experience with scale testing, disaster recovery, and capacity planning.

• Experience with backend development in NodeJS/Typescript.

• Familiarity with Apache Airflow.

• Experience with Openshift and the Red Hat marketplace.

• Experience with the Prometheus/Grafana and ELK stacks.

• Familiarity with container image security practices such as identification and remediation of CVEs, optimizing base images for minimal attack surface

• Experience with packaging and deployment of cloud-native on-premise products

The estimated salary for this role ranges from $200,000 - $230,000 based on leveling and geography, along with an equity component and a comprehensive benefits package. This range is merely an estimate; actual compensation may deviate from this range based on skills, experience, and qualifications.

#LI-Hybrid

At Astronomer, we value diversity. We are an equal opportunity employer: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.