Principal Developer Tools Engineer

Ampere; Portland (OR); On-site; USD 182,000 - 273,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401K retirement plan

Unlimited flextime

Job summary

Ampere is seeking a Principal Developer Tools Engineer to lead the design and development of next-generation Debug Tools within our software team. You will build scalable infrastructure, tooling, and delivery processes to boost developer productivity, software quality, and release velocity.

You will architect pipelines, automate builds and tests, and collaborate across software, validation, and customer teams to implement practical tooling and lifecycle improvements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in CS/Software Eng or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in software tooling or related roles.
• Strong experience building developer tooling and CI/CD pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of next-gen Developer Tools.
• Architect CI/CD pipelines on GitLab with reusable components.
• Collaborate with software, validation, and customer teams to translate needs into tooling.
• Automate tooling, testing, and release workflows to improve consistency.
• Define delivery lifecycle and establish quality metrics and gates.

Skills

Python scripting

Bash scripting

Git workflows

CI/CD automation

Education

BS in CS or Software Eng

MS in related field

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

GitLab CI

GitHub Actions

Job description

Invent the future with us.

Ampere is a semiconductor design company for a new era, leading the future of computing with an innovative approach to CPU design focused on high-performance, energy efficient AI compute.

Description

Ampere is a semiconductor design company for a new era, leading the future of computing with an innovative approach to CPU design focused on high-performance, energy efficient AI compute. As a pioneer in the new frontier of energy efficient high-performance computing, Ampere is part of the Softbank Group of companies driving sustainable computing for AI, Cloud, and edge applications. Join us at Ampere and work alongside a passionate and growing team - we’d love to have you apply!

About The Role

As a Principal Developer Tools Engineer, you will lead the design and development of the next generation of Developer Tools within Ampere’s Debug Tools software team. You’ll build and scale the infrastructure, tooling, and delivery processes that enable Ampere’s next-generation products—improving developer productivity, software quality, and release velocity.

What You’ll Achieve

• Build and evolve scalable tooling for Ampere’s Debug Tools ecosystem, improving reliability and maintainability at scale.
• Architect CI/CD pipelines on top of GitLab, including reusable pipeline components, automation patterns, and standard workflows.
• Cross-functionally with software, validation, and customer teams to translate downstream needs into actionable tooling and process improvements.
• Automate Debug Tools development, testing, and release workflows, reducing manual effort and improving consistency across releases.
• Define the Debug Tools delivery lifecycle and establish practical quality metrics and quality gates to support continuous improvement.
• Design, architect, and implement tooling that supports the team’s Debug Tools delivery methods and development model.
• Implement automated failure analysis capabilities that integrate into release pipelines to accelerate triage and root-cause analysis.
• Scale infrastructure for the product roadmap using containers and GitLab Runners, ensuring performance, isolation, and repeatability.
• Drive improvements in configuration and versioning practices, enabling traceability and consistent rollouts across environments.

About You

• BS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field with 8+ years of experience, or MS with 6+ years of experience.
• Strong expertise in containerized environments (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, or equivalent).
• Proficiency building developer tooling with Python, Bash, or other equivalent languages.
• Deep CI pipeline development experience using GitLab CI (and ideally GitHub Actions or similar).
• Strong command of Git for source code management and collaboration workflows.
• Solid understanding of configuration management and software version management.
• Experience with bare metal system setup and management is a plus.
• Knowledge of firmware and debugger concepts is a plus.

What We’ll Offer

At Ampere we believe in taking care of our employees and providing a competitive total rewards package that includes base pay, cash long-term incentive, and comprehensive benefits. The full base pay range for this role is between $182,000 and $273,000, except in the San Francisco Bay Area where the range is between $195,000 and $292,000.

Our benefits include health, wellness, and financial programs that support employees through every stage of life.

Benefit Highlights Include

• Premium medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, as well as income protection and a 401K retirement plan, so that you can feel secure in your health and financial future.
• Unlimited Flextime and 10+ paid holidays so that you can embrace a healthy work-life balance.
• A variety of healthy snacks, energizing espresso, and refreshing drinks to keep you fueled and focused throughout the day.

And there is much more than compensation and benefits. At Ampere, we foster an inclusive culture that empowers our employees to do more and grow more. We are excited to share more about our career opportunities with you through the interview process. Our benefits include health, wellness, and financial programs that support employees through every stage of life.

Ampere is an inclusive and equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship, religion, age, veteran and/or military status, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical or mental disability, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law.