Staff Engineer - vSphere Kubernetes Service

Socket.dev; California (MO); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Broadcom is seeking a Staff Engineer for the vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS) embedded in VMware Cloud Foundation. Design and build a distributed management plane that runs Kubernetes control planes at scale across thousands of environments, while integrating storage, networking, identity, and VM infrastructure.

You will lead a team of engineers, shape the architecture, and ensure availability and upgrade strategies are robust.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building or operating Kubernetes-based systems.
• Deep understanding of control plane architecture and availability guarantees.
• Experience with Linux internals and container runtimes.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement distributed systems in Go / C++ / Java.
• Mentor and lead engineers, providing technical direction.
• Drive team processes and agile methodologies for delivery.
• Own the SDLC for assigned technical areas.
• Collaborate with TLs/architects to translate large problems into designs.
• Coordinate with Product Management on dependencies and risk.

Skills

Kubernetes

Go

C++

Java

Distributed systems

Agile

Git workflows

Education

Bachelor's degree +8+ years

Master's degree +6+ years

Tools

containerd

CSI

Job description

Job Description:

The Problem We’re Solving

Enterprises want to run Kubernetes at scale — without becoming Kubernetes experts.

Today, many Broadcom customers run mission-critical workloads on vSphere, but adopting Kubernetes often means:

• Operating a second control plane
• Stitching together storage, networking, identity, and lifecycle tooling
• Carrying ongoing operational and upgrade risk

This complexity slows adoption and creates reliability issues at scale.

Our mission: make Kubernetes boring and effectively disappear for enterprise operators — by embedding it directly into the vSphere control plane and making it behave like a first-class infrastructure primitive.

The Role: Staff Engineer, vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS)

You’ll join the VKS team, responsible for the Kubernetes control plane that is built into VMware Cloud Foundation.

Your job is to design and build a distributed management system that:

• Runs Kubernetes control planes reliably across thousands of enterprise environments
• Manages the full lifecycle of Kubernetes workload clusters
• Integrates deeply with storage, networking, identity, and VM infrastructure
• Preserves enterprise guarantees around availability, upgrades, and operability

This is platform engineering at scale, with real production impact to 1000s of enterprise customers.

What You’ll Actually Work On

You will tackle problems like:

• How do we manage Kubernetes clusters as infrastructure, not pets? Designing control-plane workflows that create, upgrade, and heal clusters safely.
• How do we reconcile Kubernetes abstractions with vSphere primitives? Bridging containers and VMs without leaking complexity to operators.
• How do we build a control plane that survives real enterprise failure modes? Partial upgrades, split-brain scenarios, networking failures, and version skew.
• How do we test distributed systems rigorously? Building automated tests that validate correctness, upgrades, and resilience.

Your Responsibilities

• Design and implement distributed systems in Go / C++ / Java
• Serve as a technical mentor and lead for a group of engineers, providing day-to-day technical direction and coaching to ensure successful project delivery.
• Drive and lead team processes and agile methodologies (sprint planning, execution, defect triages, etc.) to optimize quality and velocity for their assigned work.
• Own the complete Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) for assigned technical areas, including design, implementation, and quality assurance.
• Work with Technical Leads (TLs) and architects to translate ambiguous, large-scale problems into clear technical designs and execution plans.
• Collaborate with Product Management and other engineering teams to manage technical dependencies, risks, and communications.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.

What Makes You a Strong Fit

• Hands-on experience building or operating Kubernetes-based systems. A deep understanding of the control plane architecture (API server, etcd, scheduler, controller-manager, etc.) and how they maintain the desired state is required.
• Experience extending the Kubernetes API by designing declarative APIs and implementing reconciliation loops.
• Knowledge of Linux internals (cgroups, namespaces, etc.) and container runtimes like containerd.
• Knowledge of Container Network Interfaces (CNI) and managing traffic through Ingress controllers and Service Meshes (Istio, Linkerd etc.).
• Knowledge in Container Storage Interface (CSI) and managing Persistent Volumes (PVs) and PVCs.
• Strong systems design fundamentals (consistency, availability, failure handling)
• Comfort debugging production issues across multiple layers
• Ability to work independently on complex problems and collaborate across teams
• Experience working in an Agile environment using Git-based workflows
• Bachelor's degree plus 8+ years of related experience or Master's degree and 6+ years of related experience

Why This Role Is Interesting

• You’re leading the development of core infrastructure, not app-level glue.
• The problems are deeply technical and require strategic leadership to solve.
• Your work and your team's success directly affect enterprise production environments.
• You’ll help define how Kubernetes is delivered to some of the world’s largest companies.

If you enjoy making complex systems feel simple, building platforms that other engineers don’t have to think about, and empowering your team to achieve ambitious goals, this leadership role is for you.

Compensation and Benefits

The annual base salary range for this position is To

As a valued member of our team, you'll be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus and the opportunity to receive not only a competitive new hire equity grant, but also annual equity awards, connecting your success directly to the company's growth. All subject to relevant plan documents and award agreements.

Broadcom offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits package: Medical, dental and vision plans, 401(K) participation including company matching, Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), company paid holidays, paid sick leave and vacation time. The company follows all applicable laws for Paid Family Leave and other leaves of absence.

Broadcom is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We will consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability status, medical condition, pregnancy, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. We will also consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records consistent with local law.