Senior Software Engineer — Container Images & Security

RapidFort, Inc.; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health/dental/vision coverage

Remote-first

Career growth

Job summary

RapidFort, Inc. seeks a hands-on Senior Software Engineer to join the Curated Images team and own the lifecycle of production-ready container images, from building minimal images to remediating CVEs and automating maintenance.

You will collaborate with engineering, infrastructure, and security to ensure compatibility across Linux distributions and runtimes, including Python, Go, and Java, while improving remediation speed and image quality for scalable deployments.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in software engineering or SRE
• Deep Linux experience across Debian/Ubuntu/Alpine/RHEL
• Experience building Docker images with multi-stage builds
• CVE remediation in Linux packages and container images
• Strong package management knowledge (apt/apk/yum/dnf)
• Scripting in Python, Go, or Bash for automation
• CI/CD pipelines experience (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins)
• SBOM generation experience and vulnerability scanning tools

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain minimal, hardened container images across Linux distributions and runtimes
• Own end-to-end CVE remediation across OS packages, libraries, runtimes, and dependencies
• Troubleshoot complex package compatibility, dependency, build, and runtime issues
• Reduce image attack surface and size by removing unnecessary packages
• Build and improve automated pipelines for image builds, vulnerability scanning, remediation, testing, and publishing
• Develop tooling to manage image versioning, dependencies, metadata, and release traceability
• Generate, validate, and maintain SBOMs for supply chain visibility and compliance
• Validate image functionality and compatibility with Kubernetes and container environments
• Collaborate with teams to define image hardening standards and integration into workflows
• Maintain documentation to aid developers in adopting curated images
• Continuously improve remediation speed, image quality, and reliability

Skills

Linux systems

CVE remediation

Automation scripting

Python scripting

Go programming

Bash scripting

Collaboration

Debugging

Linux distributions

Package management

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Trivy

Grype

Clair

Cosign

Sigstore

Syft

Job description

Senior Software Engineer — Container Images & Security

Citizenship Requirement: U.S. citizenship is required for this position due to work supporting federal government customers. Location: Remote. Team: Engineering / Curated Images. Employment Type: Full-Time.

About the Role

RapidFort is looking for a hands-on Senior Software Engineer to join our Curated Images team and help build, secure, and maintain production-ready container images at scale.This role combines deep Linux engineering, vulnerability remediation, and software automation. You will own the container image lifecycle—from building minimal, reproducible images to analyzing and remediating CVEs, validating runtime compatibility, and automating ongoing maintenance and publishing.You will work closely with engineering, infrastructure, and security teams to deliver secure, reliable images across Linux distributions and application stacks, including Python, Go, and Java. Success requires the ability to investigate package and dependency issues, implement fixes, and build automation that makes those fixes repeatable.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and maintain minimal, hardened container images across Linux distributions and application runtimes.
• Own end-to-end CVE remediation across OS packages, libraries, runtimes, and dependencies, including analysis, patching, rebuilding, and validation.
• Troubleshoot complex package compatibility, dependency, build, and runtime issues while preserving application functionality.
• Reduce image attack surface and size by removing unnecessary packages, binaries, and dependencies.
• Build and improve automated pipelines for image builds, vulnerability scanning, remediation, testing, and publishing.
• Develop tooling to manage image versioning, dependency updates, metadata, and release traceability.
• Generate, validate, and maintain SBOMs to support software supply chain visibility and compliance.
• Validate image functionality, reproducibility, and compatibility with Kubernetes and other containerized environments.
• Collaborate with platform, infrastructure, and security teams to define image hardening standards and integrate curated images into development and deployment workflows.
• Maintain clear documentation that helps developers adopt and use curated images.
• Continuously improve remediation speed, image quality, build reliability, and operational efficiency.

What You Bring

• 5+ years of relevant experience in software engineering, Linux systems engineering, platform engineering, DevSecOps, or SRE.
• Deep understanding of Linux systems, with hands-on experience across distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, Alpine, or RHEL.
• Strong experience building and optimizing Docker images, including multi-stage builds, image layering, and container filesystem structures.
• Proven experience investigating and remediating CVEs in Linux packages and container images, including patching, rebuilding, and validating fixes.
• Strong working knowledge of Linux package management and dependency resolution using tools such as apt, apk, yum/dnf, or rpm.
• Strong programming or scripting skills in Python, Go, or Bash, with experience building maintainable automation and internal tooling.
• Experience developing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, or similar tools.
• Hands-on experience with vulnerability scanners such as Trivy, Grype, or Clair, along with SBOM generation.
• Solid understanding of Kubernetes concepts, container lifecycles, and image deployment requirements.
• Ability to independently troubleshoot complex technical issues and collaborate effectively across engineering teams.

Nice to Have

• Experience building minimal or distroless images and maintaining a large catalog of container images.
• Experience building Linux packages from source or backporting security fixes.
• Familiarity with SBOM formats and tools such as SPDX, CycloneDX, and Syft.
• Experience with image signing, provenance, and verification using Cosign or Sigstore.
• Knowledge of software supply chain security frameworks such as SLSA.
• Familiarity with container registries such as Docker Hub, Harbor, or Amazon ECR.
• Experience with Helm, Kustomize, GitOps, or infrastructure-as-code workflows.
• Experience in a startup environment or regulated industry.

What Success Looks Like

• Reliable delivery of production-ready, hardened images with near-zero exploitable CVEs.
• Scalable automation for image builds, remediation, validation, and publishing.
• Faster remediation turnaround while maintaining runtime compatibility and image quality.
• Measurable reductions in image size and attack surface.
• Repeatable standards for secure, reproducible container image delivery.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary: $130,000-$200,000, depending on experience and technical depth.
• Equity participation.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Remote-first work environment.
• Opportunity to solve complex Linux, container, and software supply chain security challenges.
• Career growth within a rapidly scaling cybersecurity company.