Software Engineer (Packaging)

The Role, in a Nutshell:

Chainguard is on a mission to make the software supply chain secure by default—and that mission begins at the source. We’re looking for a passionate engineer to help sustain and scale the backbone of our secure container offerings: Wolfi, our community-driven, minimal, and security-centric Linux distribution.

You’ll be joining a fast-moving, collaborative team responsible for maintaining and evolving the packages and containers that make up Wolfi and our hardened container images. From CVE remediation to debugging obscure build issues, your work will help keep the lights on—and the bad actors out.

If you’re excited by the idea of working hands-on with a modern, DevOps-native Linux stack, and helping shape the future of secure containers, read on.

What You’ll Do:

• Patch, protect, repeat: Create and maintain patches to remediate vulnerabilities (CVEs) across our Linux packages and container images.
• Get into the guts: Debug and resolve issues with package builds, image construction, and everything in between.
• Build like a boss: Use our internal tooling—melange and apko—to build and publish new packages and images.
• Keep it clean: Improve the quality, reliability, and test coverage of existing packages and images.
• Prioritize with purpose: Tackle a well-groomed backlog of issues and enhancements in collaboration with other teams.
• Cross-team collaborator: Work closely with engineers across packaging, infrastructure, security, and product to deliver high-quality, secure software.

What We’re Looking For:

• Location: Europe or India strongly preferred.
• Linux savvy: 2–3 years of experience working hands-on with Linux systems and package ecosystems (APK, RPM, or similar).
• Container-native mindset: Experience building and debugging container images, with a solid understanding of Kubernetes and Helm.
• Infra-aware: Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tooling like Terraform. (This role doesn’t manage cloud infrastructure, but these tools are part of our ecosystem.)
• Code confident: Programming experience in at least one language (we use a lot of Go).
• Strong debugger: Sharp instincts, comfort navigating ambiguity, and the patience to track down edge cases.
• Quality-first attitude: You care about secure, reproducible builds and attention to detail.

Bonus Points:

• You’re active in open-source communities (especially Linux distros or container tech).
• You have experience with vulnerability remediation and software supply chain security.
• You’ve contributed to (or are curious about) next-generation build systems.

Why You’ll Love Working Here:

• Security with purpose: Help build the foundation of safer software infrastructure used by teams around the world.
• Remote by default: Work where you work best—we’re a globally distributed team that values flexibility and asynchronous collaboration.
• Egos not allowed: We care about impact, not titles. We take our work seriously, but not ourselves.
• We move fast: You’ll join a high-trust environment where autonomy, ownership, and accountability are core to how we operate.
• A mission that matters: Join us in making software supply chains secure by default—starting at the package level.

Explore Wolfi and our tooling:

• wolfi.dev

• melange

• apko

If you’re excited about securing the foundations of modern infrastructure—and don’t mind getting your hands dirty in build scripts, patches, and test logs—we’d love to hear from you.

Base Salary Range€84.000—€104.000 EUR

About Us

Chainguard is the secure foundation for software development and deployment. By providing guarded open source software, built from source and updated continuously, Chainguard helps organizations eliminate threats in their software supply chains.

Founded by the industry’s leading experts on open source software, security and cloud native development, Chainguard has built the largest library of open source software that is secure by default.

Chainguard’s mission is to be the safe source for open source.

We live and breathe our company values:

We are customer obsessed – We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.

We have a bias for intentional action – We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.

We don’t take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) – We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.

We trust each other and assume good intentions – We’re transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well informed decisions.

A few of the benefits we offer:

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a $400 monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
• Our Approach to Equity:  Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
• 100%  Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
• ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
• 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child’s first year.
• For a full list of our benefits and rewards, click here.

If your experience is close but doesn’t fulfill all requirements, please apply. We’re building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring “Chainguardians” with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.

Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.

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