Job description
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 700 of the world’s leading enterprises, Astronomer lets businesses do more with their data. To learn more, visit www.astronomer.io.
Your background may be unconventional; as long as you have the essential qualifications, we encourage you to apply. While having “bonus” qualifications makes for a strong candidate, Astronomer values diverse experiences. Many of us at Astronomer haven’t followed traditional career paths, and we welcome it if yours hasn’t either.
About this role:
We are looking for a Technical Lead / Staff Software Engineer to join our core Software 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:
Own code quality, design decisions, and technical artifacts across the team’s work.
Drive architectural direction and enforce engineering best practices.
Collaborate with PM and EM on scoping, planning, and maintaining a prioritized roadmap.
Drive technical conversations and strategy with customers, translating requirements into scalable solutions and influencing roadmap direction.
Provide technical mentorship and delegate effectively to support team growth.
Define and evolve team processes, including code review, testing, on-call, and dev experience.
Lead retrospectives and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
Contribute hands-on to core platform components using Nodejs, Golang, Python, Kubernetes, and Terraform.
What you bring to the role:
Have 8+ years of backend or infrastructure engineering experience, with at least 2 years in a technical leadership role.
Strong communication and collaboration skills to work with cross-functional teams across time zones.
Experience driving technical strategy and conversations with customers, gathering feedback, and influencing product direction.
Extensive experience with cloud providers like AWS, Azure, or GCP.
Strong experience with Kubernetes, including hands-on experience testing systems running on K8s.
Are proficient in Golang and/or Python, and comfortable working with distributed systems, container orchestration, and CI/CD.
Have successfully led the design and execution of complex technical initiatives.
Care deeply about team dynamics, process quality, and helping engineers grow.
Thrive in a fast-paced, asynchronous, remote-first environment.
Deep understanding of CI/CD tools such as GitHub Actions, CircleCI, and Jenkins.
Familiarity with logging and observability tools: Prometheus, Grafana, Fluent Bit, ELK stack.
Solid understanding of GitOps, Docker, and Helm charts.
Bonus points if you have:
Experience with scale testing, disaster recovery, and capacity planning.
Experience with at least one of the following languages: NodeJS, Go.
Familiarity with Apache Airflow.
Experience with Openshift and the Red Hat marketplace.
Experience with the Prometheus/Grafana and ELK stacks.
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. Astronomer is a remote-first company.
