Senior Software Engineer, Substrate

Palantir Technologies; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; Confidential; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Paid time off without accrual

401k plan

Job summary

Palantir Technologies is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join the Substrate team in Washington, D.C. You'll design and build managed Kubernetes products across various environments, ensuring scale, stability, and security. We're looking for someone with 4+ years of software development experience, proficiency in Golang, and knowledge of infrastructure automation tools. The estimated salary for this role ranges from $145,000 to $200,000 per year. Join us to innovate at scale while enjoying comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of professional software development experience on core infrastructure.
• 2+ years of experience in system design or architecture.
• Deep familiarity with hardware and OS configurations.

Responsibilities

• Deliver a container runtime to new environment types.
• Build automation for K8s operations with zero manual overhead.
• Design the next generation of Palantir's infrastructure.

Skills

Golang

C/C++

Terraform

Ansible

Kubernetes

Docker

AWS

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

K8s operators

Puppet

Job description

The Role

Substrate is the team responsible for Palantir's core production infrastructure – 100s of K8s clusters – from on‑prem to the major cloud hyperscalers, whether they are internet‑connected or air‑gapped, small hardware footprint or large. As a Senior Software Engineer on Substrate, you will design and build Palantir's managed Kubernetes product offerings across all these environments.

You and your team will be responsible for bootstrapping and operating the entire fleet of K8s clusters with zero manual steps by building industry‑leading tooling and contributing to core CNCF components. You will also be responsible for ensuring scale, stability and security across a matrix of compliance regimes and hosting infrastructure types. Your team culture emphasizes engineering rigor and operational excellence at scale. This means issues in production should be pre‑empted and deeply root‑caused, and investments in automation and self‑healing systems are key.

If you're excited about infrastructure at scale and working with Kubernetes, this is the right role for you.

Core Responsibilities

• Deliver a container runtime to challenging new environment types – new clouds, on premise, edge devices
• Build automation and establish standards for operating K8s securely at scale with zero manual ops overhead
• Drive innovation through adoption of novel K8s features and CNCF tools, making upstream contributions as needed
• Design the next generation of Palantir's infrastructure through a deep understanding of internal systems and CNCF standards

What We Value

• Systems programming experience with strong proficiency in Golang, C/C++ or equivalent
• Working knowledge or hands‑on experience of infrastructure automation tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Puppet or K8s operators, and competent coding in Go, Java, or equivalent for the purposes of automation or scripting
• Deep familiarity with hardware and OS configurations, diagnostic tooling, networking nuts and bolts
• Deep familiarity with containers (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes) at scale
• Experience working with a cloud provider (AWS/Azure/GCE), or sysadmin/SRE experience in data centers
• Experience designing, building, and operating high‑scale observability or infrastructure systems
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals, experience with CNIs or cloud networking infrastructure preferred

What We Require

• 4+ years of professional software development experience on core infrastructure with emphasis on operational excellence
• 2+ years of experience contributing to the system design or architecture (architecture, design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Salary

The estimated salary range for this position is estimated to be $145,000 - $200,000/year. Total compensation for this position may also include Restricted Stock units, sign‑on bonus and other potential future incentives.

Benefits

• Employees (and their eligible dependents) can enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance as well as voluntary life insurance
• Employees are automatically covered by Palantir's basic life, AD&D and disability insurance
• Commuter benefits
• Relocation assistance
• Take what you need paid time off, not accrual based
• 2 weeks paid time off built into the end of each year (subject to team and business needs)
• 10 paid holidays throughout the calendar year
• Supportive leave of absence program including time off for military service and medical events
• Paid leave for new parents and subsidized back‑up care for all parents
• Fertility and family building benefits including but not limited to adoption, surrogacy, and preservation
• Stipend to help with expenses that come with a new child
• Employees can enroll in Palantir's 401k plan

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer for all, including but not limited to Veterans and those with disabilities. Palantir is committed to making the application and hiring process accessible to everyone and will provide a reasonable accommodation for those living with a disability. If you need an accommodation for the application or hiring process, please reach out and let us know how we can help.

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