Senior Software Engineer — Container Images & Security

RapidFort, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 130,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

RapidFort, Inc. is seeking a hands-on Senior Software Engineer to own the container image lifecycle, including building minimal, hardened images and remediating CVEs across Linux distributions and runtimes. You will automate maintenance, publish images, and ensure compatibility with Kubernetes and diverse stacks.

The role emphasizes Linux engineering, vulnerability remediation, and software automation, with remote work and collaboration across security, infrastructure, and engineering teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, Linux systems, or SRE roles.
• Strong Linux distribution knowledge (Debian/Ubuntu/Alpine/RHEL).
• Experience building and optimizing Docker images and multi-stage builds.
• Proven CVE remediation experience in Linux packages and container images.

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 package compatibility, dependencies, and runtime issues while preserving functionality.
• Reduce image size and attack surface by removing unnecessary components.
• Build and improve automated pipelines for image builds, scans, remediation, testing, and publishing.
• Develop tooling for image versioning, dependencies, metadata, and release traceability.
• Generate and maintain SBOMs for supply chain visibility and compliance.
• Validate image functionality and compatibility with Kubernetes and other environments.
• Collaborate with teams to define image hardening standards and integrate workflows.
• Maintain clear developer-facing documentation.

Skills

Linux

Docker

Python

Go

CI/CD

SRE

Tools

Trivy

Grype

Cosign

Sigstore

Kubernetes

Job description

Senior Software Engineer — Container Images & Security

United States

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.

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.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in RapidFort, Inc.’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A \"disabled veteran\" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A \"recently separated veteran\" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An \"active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran\" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An \"Armed forces service medal veteran\" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.