Sr. Software Engineer - Platform

Stacklok is led by CEO Craig McLuckie and CTO Joe Beda, two of the creators of Kubernetes. As AI reshapes how software is built and used, we're building the foundation enterprises need to adopt it with confidence.

We're building the control plane for enterprise AI agents, enabling organizations to run, govern, and secure them on the infrastructure they already trust. Through Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers running across Kubernetes and private cloud environments, AI agents can securely connect to internal data and systems while meeting the security, compliance, and operational requirements of highly regulated and security-conscious organizations. We've also extended this foundation to the model layer with an enterprise AI gateway.

The Stacklok Enterprise Platform is built on ToolHive, our open source MCP platform, and is already being adopted by leading technology companies and organizations in regulated industries. We also help maintain the official MCP registry and contribute openly to the community shaping the future of enterprise AI.

Location

This is a remote role based in North America, with a strong preference for candidates located in the U.S. Eastern Time Zone. 

The Opportunity

Enterprises are moving AI agents from experimentation into production, and they need infrastructure that is secure, auditable, and runs behind their own firewall. As a Senior Engineer on Stacklok's core platform team, you will own subsystems within Stacklok Enterprise, the production distribution of ToolHive, the open source platform for running and governing MCP servers.

This is a role with real ownership. You will design and deliver whole subsystems end to end, anchor meaningful projects, and lead them from design through implementation and into production. These are the systems that let Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies run AI agents securely at scale. You will make the design tradeoffs that determine how your subsystems evolve, and mentor the engineers building alongside you.

The timing is what makes it compelling. Customers are signing on now, the platform is being hardened for their production environments, and you will solve hard infrastructure problems in an emerging category alongside a team whose founders co-created Kubernetes.

What Success Looks Like: First 6-12 Months

• Designed and shipped a complete subsystem end to end that is now running in production for enterprise customers.
• Became the trusted owner and go-to decision maker for one or more platform areas, with the team routing design questions your way.
• Took a rough or partial subsystem to production-hardened, measurably improving its reliability or scalability for customer deployments.
• Raised the team's bar by mentoring SWE and SWE II engineers and strengthening the code review culture.
• Improved how the team ships by tightening development velocity, including where AI-assisted workflows helped and where they created rework.

In This Role, You Will

• Own the design and implementation of platform subsystems end to end, from technical design through production and ongoing improvement.
• Anchor meaningful projects, making the design tradeoffs that balance reliability, scalability, and time to market.
• Write production-ready code aligned with the overall system architecture, with observability, testing, and error handling built in.
• Produce clear design docs and work breakdowns that the team can plan and build against.
• Mentor SWE and SWE II engineers and contribute to a strong code review culture across the team.
• Contribute to technical decisions alongside technical leads, product, and engineering leadership on behalf of the team.
• Contribute to the open source ToolHive codebase and collaborate with community contributors on shared work.

Desired Skill & Experience

We do not expect every candidate to meet every point below. If this role excites you and you bring most of it, we encourage you to apply.

• Deep proficiency in Go, with a proven track record building production-grade backend or platform systems.
• Knowledge of Kubernetes and container technologies, including operators, isolation, and networking in production environments.
• Proven track record designing and shipping complete systems end to end, from architecture through production and iteration.
• Demonstrated experience as a tech lead: mentoring engineers, driving code review, and raising the quality of a team's work.
• Experience designing for reliability and observability, building systems with monitoring, testing, and evaluation in mind.
• Proven track record building or operating platform services such as gateways, registries, runtimes, or deployment tooling. Familiarity with MCP is a plus.
• AI-first mindset: integrates AI tools into development and helps improve how the team ships, turning AI-assisted workflows into repeatable velocity gains.
• Communication: excellent written and verbal communication, able to explain complex technical ideas clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Startup mentality and intrinsic motivation: self-directed and hands-on, thrives in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and drives clarity through action.

Compensation: The anticipated base salary range for this position is $189,000 - $231,000. In addition to base salary, this role offers equity and a comprehensive benefits package.

Why Join Us?

At Stacklok, we believe great technology is built by teams that support, challenge, and inspire one another. We are AI maximalists, confident in its potential and committed to ensuring it is used in ways that are safe and sustainable.

You will join a highly motivated, collaborative team with deep experience building some of the world's most impactful technologies, with strong roots in open source, cloud-native technologies, security, and developer tools.

We offer competitive compensation and equity, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, flexible PTO and paid holidays, paid parental leave, and a flexible, hybrid-or-remote work environment, plus team offsites in unique destinations to collaborate and connect in person.

If you're excited about the future of AI and want to build alongside people who care deeply about their craft, their community, and each other, we would love to hear from you.

Stacklok Inc, is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law.