Staff Software Engineer, OTA Services

Royper Royco LLC; United States; Remote; USD 230,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Equity package

Health/Dental/Vision

Flexible vacation

Parental leave

Job summary

Horizon3 AI is seeking an Expert Engineer for the OTA Services team to architect and deliver over-the-air updates for NodeZero across diverse environments. You will write production code, define architectures, and mentor P4 engineers while collaborating with the Image Build team. This remote role reports to the Client Platform Engineering Manager.

The role emphasizes scalable update delivery in constrained environments, with a focus on reliability, security, and leadership across teams.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, focused on distributed systems or fleet management.
• Deep understanding of remote update system design, delivery protocols, version negotiation, and rollback semantics.
• Experience designing rollout strategies for software across heterogeneous environments.
• Proficiency in Go, Python, or Rust for systems-level work.

Responsibilities

• Design and own the OTA update system architecture and rollout orchestration.
• Manage deployment fleet state across thousands of deployments.
• Develop safe rollout strategies including canaries and pinning.
• Create delivery mechanisms for air-gapped or restricted networks.
• Ensure OTA reliability and lead incident response for failures and drift.
• Mentor mid-to-senior engineers and drive architectural decisions.

Skills

Distributed systems

Remote update systems

Fleet management

Go/Python/Rust

Kubernetes

Security & mTLS

System design

Tools

Kubernetes

OCI artifacts

image manifests

layer caching

registry protocol

Job description

Application facts

• Application form: from 11 forms we checked, 1 asks for a cover letter; about 1 question only Horizon3 AI asks per form. What it asks
• Pay benchmark: Software Engineer postings that list pay show a $175K median (22,764 postings)
• Pay benchmark: Horizon3 AI postings that list pay show a $225K median (115 postings)

Get to Know Us

Horizon3 is a fast-growing, remote cybersecurity company dedicated to the mission of enabling organizations to proactively find, fix and verify exploitable attack vectors before criminals exploit them. Our flagship product, the NodeZero™ platform, delivers production-safe autonomous pentests and other key assessment operations that scale across the largest internal, external, cloud, and hybrid cloud environments. NodeZero has been adopted by organizations of all sizes, from small educational institutions to government agencies and Global 100 enterprises. It is used by IT Ops/SecOps teams, consulting pentesters, and MSSPs and MSPs.

We are a fusion of former U.S. Special Operations cyber operators, startup engineers & operators, and formerly frustrated cybersecurity practitioners. We're committed to helping solve our common security problems: ineffective security tools and false positives, resulting in alert fatigue, blind spots, "checkbox" security culture, cybersecurity skills shortage, and the long lead time and expense of hiring outside consultants. Collectively, we are a team of learn-it-alls, committed to a culture of respect, collaboration, ownership, and results.

As a remote first company, we require minimum 25Mbps consumer grade broadband connection.

What You'll Do

The Expert Engineer on the OTA Services team is the technical anchor for how NodeZero updates itself across thousands of customer deployments - without customer intervention, without downtime, and without introducing new vulnerabilities in the process. NodeZero runs as a container inside customer infrastructure. When a new image is ready, the OTA system has to find every deployed instance, negotiate the update, deliver it safely, validate it, and roll back gracefully if something goes wrong. Getting that right at scale, across diverse customer environments including air-gapped and restricted networks, is a genuinely hard systems problem.

This is a hands-on staff-level role. You will write production code, produce architecture designs, set the technical direction for update delivery and version management, and mentor P4 engineers on the team. The OTA Services team works in close partnership with the Image Build & Release team - your counterpart on the build side produces the artifacts you deliver. This role reports to the Client Platform Engineering Manager.

Responsibilities

• OTA Architecture: Design and own the over-the-air update system - the delivery protocol, version negotiation, rollout orchestration, health verification, and automatic rollback
• Deployment Fleet Management: Own the systems that track the version state of every NodeZero deployment - know what's running where, what's pending, and what's stuck
• Rollout Strategy: Design safe rollout strategies for updates - phased rollouts, canary deployments, customer pinning, and emergency hold mechanisms
• Constrained Environment Delivery: Design delivery mechanisms that work reliably across diverse customer environments including air-gapped networks, strict egress policies, and minimal-footprint deployments
• Reliability & Incident Response: Own OTA system reliability end-to-end - on-call for delivery failures, stuck updates, and version drift incidentsMentorship: Mentor P4 engineers through design review, code review, and technical pairing; be the person the team turns to when delivery semantics get complicated

What You'll Bring

Distributed Systems & Delivery

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with deep specialization in distributed systems, remote update systems, or fleet management infrastructure
• Deep understanding of remote update system design - delivery protocols, version negotiation, delta delivery, health verification, and rollback semantics
• Experience designing rollout strategies for software deployed across heterogeneous, customer-managed environments - you understand the difference between a lab rollout and rolling something out to thousands of production deployments you don't control
• Strong proficiency in Go, Python, or Rust for systems-level infrastructure work

Platform & Infrastructure

• Experience building software that operates in constrained or air-gapped environments - you know how to design delivery systems that don't assume good connectivity
• Deep understanding of Kubernetes - how deployments are managed, updated, and monitored in running clusters
• Experience with container image distribution: OCI artifacts, image manifests, layer caching, and registry protocol
• Strong understanding of mTLS, certificate lifecycle, and secure channel establishment for update delivery

Technical Leadership

• Track record of setting engineering standards that other engineers adopt - protocol designs, reliability requirements, and testing standards for distributed systems
• Ability to produce clear architecture documents and drive technical decisions across team boundaries (especially with the Image Build team that produces your input artifacts)
• Experience mentoring mid-level engineers through design review and code review

Nice to Haves

• Experience with Kubernetes operators or controller patterns - OTA delivery in Kubernetes environments often benefits from operator-style lifecycle management
• Background in cybersecurity or experience building software for regulated or high-security environments
• Familiarity with Fleet (or similar open-source fleet management tools) and where custom infrastructure is preferable
• Experience with signed artifact delivery and chain-of-custody verification end-to-end

Travel Required

We are a fully remote company, and this job may require up to 5% of travel to be successful.

Compensation and Values

At Horizon3, we believe that our people are our greatest asset, and our compensation philosophy reflects this core value. We are committed to fostering an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and rewarded for their contributions. Our compensation structure is designed to be fair, competitive, and transparent, ensuring that every team member is recognized and compensated equitably across roles, levels, and locations.

In accordance with various State's transparency regulations, we provide the following salary range information for this position:

• Base salary range: $229,500 - $260,000 annually. The exact salary will be determined based on the selected candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and relevant skills.
• Additional compensation: This role may also be eligible for an equity package (in the form of stock options). If any other compensation benefits apply, they will be discussed during the interview process.

Perks of Horizon3

• Inclusive Team: We value diversity and promote an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.
• Growth Opportunities: Be part of a dynamic and growing team with numerous career development opportunities.
• Innovative Culture: Work in a collaborative environment that encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.
• Remote Work: We are a 100% remote company. Enjoy the flexibility to work in the way that supports you and brings out your best.
• Competitive Compensation: We offer competitive salary and benefits which includes health, vision & dental care for you and your family, a flexible vacation policy, and generous parental leave.

You Belong Here

Horizon3 is not just an equal opportunity employer - we are a community that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental principles of our culture and success. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace where everyone feels welcome and respected, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, or any other legally protected status by law.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion means we strive to attract, develop, and retain a workforce that reflects the varied communities we serve. We believe that diverse perspectives drive innovation and strengthen our ability to create cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. At Horizon3, every team member is valued and supported in an environment that encourages personal and professional growth.

We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences, and we encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Come be a part of Horizon3, where your unique contributions are recognized, and your potential is limitless.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Application Note

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

What the Horizon3 AI application asks

From 11 application forms we checked.

• If you selected Other, please specify below. asked on 6 of 11 forms
• If you selected Other Job Board, please specify below. asked on 2 of 11 forms
• Contact details: 11 of 11 forms
• Resume or CV: 11 of 11 forms
• Cover letter: 1 of 11 forms