Senior Engineer II (Fleet Virtualization)

DigitalOcean; Denver (CO); Remote; USD 140,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Career development reimbursement

Flexible time-off policy

Employee Assistance Program

Job summary

A leading cloud infrastructure provider is seeking a Senior Engineer II to join their fleet virtualization team. This role entails designing and developing core IT systems to enhance virtualization technologies while maintaining a strong security focus. Candidates should have deep experience with Linux-based systems and QEMU, along with strong problem-solving skills. This is a full-time, remote position with a competitive salary range of $140,000 to $175,000.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of Linux-based operating systems needed.
• Deep experience with QEMU, KVM, Linux kernel, and libvirt required.
• Proactive when implementing security best practices.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, and implement IT systems for core virtual machine product.
• Collaborate with Observability teams to analyze metrics.
• Contribute to retrospectives for continuous improvement.

Skills

Strong understanding of Linux-based operating systems

Experience with QEMU, KVM, Linux kernel, and libvirt

Proficiency in C

Problem-solving at scale

Proactive security mindset

Cross-team collaboration

Tools

Chef

Kubernetes

Go

Python

Ruby

Job description

Senior Engineer II (Fleet Virtualization)

Join to apply for the Senior Engineer II (Fleet Virtualization) role at DigitalOcean. Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Work in a fast‑paced environment, with a growth mindset and a drive to build scalable cloud solutions.

Role Overview

This role is within the fleet virtualization team. The team's mission is to provide an abstraction layer between underlying hardware and the operating system to deliver security, flexibility, and efficiency gains critical to cloud providers.

What You'll Be Doing

• Design, develop, test, and implement the IT systems underlying DigitalOcean's core virtual machine (“Droplet”) product.
• Work with DigitalOcean's Observability teams to collect and analyze metrics regarding DigitalOcean's products and infrastructure; utilize this data to improve DigitalOcean's products and services.
• Engage in peer reviews for suggested changes to DigitalOcean systems.
• Contribute to retrospectives enabling DigitalOcean to continuously improve software engineering processes in an agile manner.
• Develop and lead execution of test plans to continue to provide reliable service to customers and ensure any customer‑impacting incidents will not be repeated.
• Maintain DigitalOcean's existing low‑level virtual machine stack while preparing it to support future software updates and new hardware.
• Accelerate the virtualization of next‑generation GPU‑enabled platforms that power AI/ML workloads.
• Work with hardware engineering teams and vendors to validate GPU fabric performance. Optimize performance while maintaining DO’s high security standards.
• Collaborate with open source Linux, QEMU and libvirt communities to drive the evolution of Linux virtualization technologies and incorporate them into the DO fleet.
• Work with cross‑team partners such as product management to unlock new capabilities within our virtualization stack with evolving hardware.
• Backport, build, and deploy software patches in order to support new features, backport bug fixes, and resolve security issues.
• Suggest and implement improvements to our code release pipelines.
• Contribute to a regular on‑call rotation schedule.

Required Qualifications

• Strong understanding of Linux‑based operating systems.
• Deep experience with the internals of QEMU, KVM, Linux kernel and libvirt. Strong proficiency in C.
• Strong knowledge of DO’s proprietary services and how they intersect with our virtualization stack.
• Proven track record of solving problems at scale. You’ll be involved in driving homogenization across the fleet while making sustainable decisions for the organization moving forward.
• A strong security mindset. You are proactive when it comes to identifying and implementing security best practices in your domain.
• You are a terrific cross‑team collaborator. So much of this role involves interactions with other engineers and teams.

Recommended Qualifications

• Experience developing MAAS.
• Experience with Go, Python, and/or Ruby.
• Experience with Chef, AWX, and/or Kubernetes.
• Experience with Nvidia GPU platforms.

Compensation

• $140,000 - $175,000
• This is a remote role.

Benefits

• We innovate with purpose. You’ll be part of a cutting‑edge technology company with an upward trajectory.
• We prioritize career development. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education.
• We care about your well‑being. We provide a competitive array of benefits, including Employee Assistance Program, local meetups, and flexible time‑off policy.
• We reward our employees. In addition to base salary, you may qualify for bonuses and equity compensation.
• 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.

Seniority Level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment Type

Full‑time

Job Function

Engineering and Information Technology

Industries

Internet Publishing

EEO Statement

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.