Senior Engineer I, Compute

DigitalOcean; Austin (TX); Remote; USD 139,000 - 174,000; Full time

Job summary

DigitalOcean is seeking a Senior Software Engineer I to join our distributed control plane team. You will build high‑throughput microservices in Go, mentor engineers, and drive architectural decisions powering our cloud compute services.

Design low‑latency interfaces with gRPC and REST, lead projects from design to release, and refine build pipelines and operational workflows.

Qualifications

• Proficient in Go and distributed systems.
• Experience building microservices and cloud-scale infrastructure.
• Strong knowledge of concurrency and Linux networking.

Responsibilities

• Design high-performance distributed control plane services in Go.
• Lead complex project workstreams from design to release.
• Develop scalable microservice interfaces using gRPC and REST.
• Mentor junior engineers and perform structured code reviews.
• Address edge cases to improve system uptime and resilience.
• Refine build pipelines, service boundaries, and operational workflows.

Skills

Go

Microservices

Distributed systems

Low latency

Concurrency

Tools

Kubernetes

Firecracker

Docker

gRPC

REST

Job description

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you’ll find your place here. We value winning together-while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world.

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer I who is passionate about building features that you and your peers will love.

As a Senior Software Engineer I, reporting to Mavis Franco (Manager, Software Engineering) at DigitalOcean, you will join a dynamic team dedicated to revolutionizing cloud computing and AI. In this role, you will lead complex technical initiatives across our distributed control plane, building high-throughput microservices and core infrastructure products. You will tackle deep systems-level challenges using Go, mentor rising engineers, and drive technical execution across our low-latency distributed control plane to power the next generation of cloud compute services.

What You’ll Do

• Design and implement high-performance distributed control plane services using Go in order to ensure low-latency and fault-tolerant orchestration across core compute infrastructure.
• Lead technical execution for complex project workstreams from design to release in order to deliver predictable business outcomes on targeted timelines.
• Develop scalable microservice interfaces using gRPC and REST in order to streamline communication and maintain reliable service contracts across distributed systems.
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through technical guidance and structured code reviews in order to elevate team execution and code quality standards.
• Solve complex distributed systems edge cases and operational bottlenecks in order to optimize platform resilience and maximize system uptime.
• Identify structural process and architectural inefficiencies in order to continuously refine build pipelines, service boundaries, and operational workflows.
• Participate in on-call operational support and system monitoring in order to troubleshoot production incidents rapidly and maintain high platform availability.

What You’ll Add

• Experience with Go, microservices architecture, and building distributed control plane systems or low-latency infrastructure APIs.
• Experience with containerization, virtualization, or cloud-native infrastructure technologies (e.g., Kubernetes or Firecracker).
• A deep understanding of distributed systems principles, concurrency patterns, and network performance tuning in Linux environments.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex projects, break isolated problems into deliverable features, and mentor engineers to drive team efficiency.
• Growth Mindset focused with a desire to learn, an appetite for feedback, and a "leave it better than you found it" attitude towards system architecture and code maintainability.

Compensation Range

• $139,200 - $174,000
• This is a remote role

JR: 2026-8130

Why You’ll Like Working for DigitalOcean

• We innovate with purpose. You’ll be a part of a cutting-edge technology company with an upward trajectory, who are proud to simplify cloud and AI so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. As a member of the team, you will be a Shark who thinks big, bold, and scrappy, like an owner with a bias for action and a powerful sense of responsibility for customers, products, employees, and decisions.
• We prioritize career development. At DO, you’ll do the best work of your career. You will work with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry. We are a high-performance organization that will always challenge you to think big. Our organizational development team will provide you with resources to ensure you keep growing. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education. All employees have access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000+ courses to support their continued growth and development.
• We care about your well-being. Regardless of your location, we will provide you with a competitive array of benefits to support you from our Employee Assistance Program to Local Employee Meetups to flexible time off policy, to name a few. While the philosophy around our benefits is the same worldwide, specific benefits may vary based on local regulations and preferences.
• We reward our employees. The salary range for this position is based on market data, relevant years of experience, and skills. You may qualify for a bonus in addition to base salary; bonus amounts are determined based on company and individual performance. We also provide equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire and the option to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program.
• DigitalOcean is an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Application Limit: You may apply to a maximum of 3 positions within any 180-day period. This policy promotes better role-candidate matching and encourages thoughtful applications where your qualifications align most strongly.