Senior Software Engineer - DevOps/SRE

project44; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

project44, a leading supply‑chain platform based in Chicago, is seeking a Senior DevOps/SRE/Platform Engineer to join our Foundations Engineering team. You’ll design, build, and operate the foundational systems powering our global logistics network, ensuring reliability, observability, and cost efficiency at scale.

This high‑ownership role collaborates across cloud infrastructure, data streaming, and developer enablement to deliver robust platform services.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in platform/infrastructure engineering, SRE, or DevOps.
• Strong experience with Kubernetes administration at scale (GKE preferred).
• Kafka operations and architecture experience.
• Terraform-based infrastructure-as-code with CI-driven plan/apply workflows.
• GCP across core services (GKE, GCS, IAM).
• Cloud observability, dashboards, and SLO/SLI practices.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, on-site team and communicate clearly.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate core infrastructure across GCP and AWS.
• Own and evolve Kubernetes platform—cluster lifecycle, networking, RBAC, reliability.
• Develop and maintain Terraform IaC across cloud environments with modular design.
• Manage Kafka and Strimzi streaming pipelines for real-time data.
• Lead cost optimization: rightsizing compute and improving utilization.
• Champion observability, incident response, on-call, and postmortems.
• Collaborate with application teams to define platform standards and security.
• Participate in on-call rotation and incident resolution with urgency.
• Contribute to architecture discussions, design reviews, and documentation.

Skills

Kubernetes administration

Kafka operations

Terraform IaC

GCP & AWS

Cloud observability

Cost optimization

On-call & incident response

Developer platform tooling

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes (GKE)

Kafka

Istio

ArgoCD

GCP

AWS

Job description

Why project44?

At project44, we believe in better.

We challenge the status quo because we know a better supply chain isn’t just possible—it’s essential. Better for our customers. Better for their business. Better for the world.

With our Decision Intelligence Platform, Movement, we’re redefining how global supply chains operate. By transforming fragmented logistics data into real-time, AI-powered insights, we empower companies to connect instantly, see clearly, act decisively, and automate intelligently. Our Supply Chain AI enhances visibility, drives smarter execution, and unlocks next-gen applications that keep businesses moving forward.

Headquartered in Chicago, IL with a 2nd HQ in Bengaluru, India we are powered by a diverseglobal team that is tackling the toughest logistics challenges with innovation, urgency, and purpose.

AI at project44

We expect every project44 team member, regardless of role or function, to actively leverage AI in their day-to-day work. Whether you're building product, serving customers, managing people, or running operations, AI is a tool you're expected to use with intent, curiosity, and judgment. We don't expect everyone to be a data scientist. We do expect everyone to be an intelligent user of AI: able to identify where it adds value, direct it effectively, evaluate outputs critically, and govern it responsibly. We invest in our team's AI fluency because we believe it's a competitive advantage for every person at project44, not just our engineers

If you’re driven to solve meaningful problems, leverage AI to scale rapidly, drive impact daily, and be part of a high-performance team – we should talk.

The Role

project44 is looking for a Senior DevOps/SRE/Platform Engineer to join our Foundations Engineering team. You will work in a fast-paced Agile environment designing, building, and operating the foundational systems that power project44's global logistics network—ensuring our platform is reliable, observable, cost-efficient, and built to scale. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, and developer enablement.

Key Accountabilities: Whatyou'llwork on

• Design, build, andoperatecore infrastructure across our primary GCP environment and secondary AWS footprint,leveragingmanaged services to deliver scalable, reliable, and cost-effective solutions

• Own and evolve our Kubernetes (GKE) platform—cluster lifecycle management, node pool strategy, networking, RBAC, and workload reliability—ensuring developer teams can ship safely and quickly

• Build andmaintainTerraform-based infrastructure-as-code across cloud environments, enforcing standards for modularity, state management, and repeatable, auditable provisioning

• Manage and improve our Kafka andStrimzistreaming infrastructure, supporting high-throughput event pipelines that are foundational to project44's real-time data capabilities

• Lead and execute cost optimization initiatives—rightsizing compute, improving resourceutilization, reducing waste, and creating visibility and accountability for cloud spend across engineering teams

• Champion observability and reliability practices — SLOs/SLIs, incident response, on-call processes, and postmortems — to reduce MTTR and prevent recurrence.

• Partner with application engineering teams to define and implement platform standards for deployment, scaling, service mesh, secrets management, and infrastructure security

• Participate in a team on-call rotation, debugging and resolving infrastructure and platform incidents with urgency and rigor

• Contribute to technical design discussions, architecture reviews, and documentation—helping set a high bar for quality, reliability, and operational excellence across the engineering organization

• Mentor and support other engineers through code reviews, pairing, and technical guidance

• Evaluate and introduce new tools, platforms, and automation to continuously modernize the infrastructure stack.

• Drive cost-optimization initiatives across cloud spend without compromising reliability or performance.

Qualities

• Strong communicationskills, with the ability to clearly explain infrastructure decisions through design docs, postmortems, and cross-functional discussions, and collaborate effectively with both technical and non-technical partners

• A strong analytical approach to problem-solving, with comfort navigating ambiguity and making tradeoffs explicit—especially across reliability, velocity, and cost

• A sense of ownership, curiosity, and resilience—comfortable voicing ideas, incorporating feedback, and iterating toward better solutions

• A platform-minded builder who thinks about the engineers and systems they enable, not just the infrastructure they manage

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, SRE, DevOps, or a closely related role

Strong experience in:

• Kubernetes administration and operations at scale (GKE strongly preferred), including cluster networking, autoscaling, workload isolation, and upgrade management

• Kafka operations and architecture, including topic design, consumer group management, broker configuration, and integration with streaming workloads (Strimziexperience a plus)

• Infrastructure-as-code using Terraform—module design, state management, CI-driven plan/apply workflows, and drift detection

• Google Cloud Platform (GCP) across core services: GKE, GCS, Cloud NAT, VPC networking, IAM, Artifact Registry, and related managed services

• Cloud observability tooling and practices—building meaningful dashboards, alerts, SLI/SLO frameworks, and runbooks regardless of the tool stack

• Cloud networking fundamentals: VPCs, subnetting, private connectivity, DNS, load balancing, and security group/firewalldesign

• Cloud cost management:identifyingand executing on optimization opportunities, building spend visibility, and influencing engineering behavior around resource efficiency

Desirable and helpful (but not necessary):

• Experience with AWS services alongside a primary GCP environment

• Scripting or automation in Python, Go, Bash, or similar for operational tooling

• Experience with service mesh technologies (Istio,Linkerd) or advanced Kubernetes networking (Cilium, Calico)

• Familiarity with CI/CD systems andGitOpspatterns (ArgoCD, Flux, or similar)

• Experience building or operating developer platform capabilities (internal developer platforms, golden paths, self-service provisioning)

• Using AI-assisted development tools for infrastructure automation, runbook generation, or operational tooling (e.g., Claude, GitHub Copilot, or similar)

Work Authorization: Candidates must be authorized to work in the US without current or future employer-sponsored visa support.

In-office Commitment: Our office is where ideas spark, connections thrive, and innovation comes alive. We are looking for candidates who are enthusiastic and committed to joining our team on-site, in our beautiful headquarters 3 days a week. Together, we’re building something extraordinary—learn, grow, and thrive in our fast-paced, transformative environment.
We continually evaluate our pay ranges to reflect skills, experience, and market conditions. The base salary offered will be determined by assessing a candidate's experience and skills relative to the scope and responsibilities of the position, as well as the specific geographic location where the job will be performed. Base salary is one component of project44's total compensation package, which also includes stock options for all EOR and project44-employed team members, bonus or commission eligibility depending on role, and a benefits package tailored to your country of employment. Specific benefits package offerings vary by country and may include health, dental, and vision coverage, retirement plans, and paid time off, in line with local market standards and statutory programs. The base salary range for this position is USD 130,000 – USD 190,000

Diversity & Inclusion

At project44,we'redesigning the future of how the world moves. As we work to deliver a truly world-class product,we'reintentionally building teams that reflect the unique communities we serve.We'refocused on creating a company where all team members can bring their authenticselvesto work every day.

project44 is an equal opportunity employer. If you share our values and passion for the future oflogistics,we'dlove to review your application. Even if youdon'tmeet 100% of the requirements, please consider applying — studies show you can still be a strong candidate at 50%.

For any accommodation needed during the hiring process, please email [e-mail].