Senior Software Engineer II, Compute

Socket.dev; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 167,000 - 209,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Job summary

DigitalOcean is seeking a Senior Software Engineer II to design and implement scalable distributed control plane microservices in Go, orchestrating low-latency compute workloads across hypervisor nodes.

You will design gRPC interfaces and translate complex requirements into robust architectures while mentoring others.

Qualifications

• Experience with Go, high-throughput microservices architecture, gRPC, and building distributed control planes or low-latency infrastructure APIs.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement scalable distributed control plane microservices in Go in order to orchestrate low-latency compute workloads across hypervisor nodes.
• Design robust gRPC interfaces and service contracts in order to enable high-throughput, fault-tolerant communication across platform boundaries.
• Deconstruct complex customer and system requirements into decoupled technical architectures in order to drive predictable value delivery across cross-functional workstreams.
• Optimize Linux kernel interactions and virtualization subsystems (e.g., KVM, Firecracker, cgroups) in order to maximize compute performance and system uptime.
• Mentor multiple team members through technical guidance, architectural reviews, and code quality standards in order to accelerate team growth and execution velocity.
• Establish operational observability, failover strategies, and automated recovery frameworks in order to minimize platform toil and resolve critical production incidents.
• Participate in on-call operational support and continuous improvement retrospectives in order to maintain world-class availability across global data centers.

Skills

Go

gRPC

Distributed control planes

Low-latency infra APIs

Linux kernel concepts

Containerization

KVM

Firecracker

eBPF

cgroups

Tools

KVM

Firecracker

eBPF

cgroups

Go

gRPC

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 II who is passionate about building features that you and your peers will love.

As a Senior Software Engineer II, reporting to Mavis Franco (Manager, Software Engineering) at DigitalOcean, you will join a dynamic team dedicated to revolutionizing cloud computing and AI. In this high-impact IC4 role, you will apply advanced subject-matter expertise across Go, high-throughput microservices, distributed control planes, and low-level virtualization primitives. You will bridge high-level API design with kernel-level performance, lead complex technical projects across system boundaries, and mentor engineers to elevate engineering standards across the Compute ecosystem.

What You’ll Do:

• Architect and implement scalable distributed control plane microservices in Go in order to orchestrate low-latency compute workloads across hypervisor nodes.
• Design robust gRPC interfaces and service contracts in order to enable high-throughput, fault-tolerant communication across platform boundaries.
• Deconstruct complex customer and system requirements into decoupled technical architectures in order to drive predictable value delivery across cross-functional workstreams.
• Optimize Linux kernel interactions and virtualization subsystems (e.g., KVM, Firecracker, cgroups) in order to maximize compute performance and system uptime.
• Mentor multiple team members through technical guidance, architectural reviews, and code quality standards in order to accelerate team growth and execution velocity.
• Establish operational observability, failover strategies, and automated recovery frameworks in order to minimize platform toil and resolve critical production incidents.
• Participate in on-call operational support and continuous improvement retrospectives in order to maintain world-class availability across global data centers.

What You’ll Add:

• Experience with Go, high-throughput microservices architecture, gRPC, and building distributed control planes or low-latency infrastructure APIs.
• Experience with low‑level systems engineering, Linux kernel concepts, containerization, or hypervisor‑level virtualization (e.g., KVM, Firecracker, eBPF, cgroups).
• A deep understanding of distributed systems principles, concurrency patterns, failure modes, and performance optimization in Linux environments.
• Strong relational intelligence and communication skills, with a track record of driving complex cross‑team technical projects and mentoring engineers.
• 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:

• $167,200 - $209,000

*This is a hybrid role

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.