Senior Software Engineer - CoreOS (Image Mode & Pipelines)

About The Job:

Red Hat Engineering is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join the CoreOS team with a focus on building, optimizing, and maintaining the CoreOS and Image Mode (bootc) automation pipelines.

In this role, you will act as a senior individual contributor who designs, implements, and ensures the quality of complex software solutions to meet our customers' needs. You will be part of a distributed agile team, collaborating with other engineers, product managers, and upstream community members to deliver new features for a rapidly changing container orchestration space. This role focuses heavily on strong independent execution, code quality ownership, and pipeline automation, allowing you to develop critical workflow solutions from inception through to adoption.

What will you do?

• Technical Contribution: Independently design, develop, and deliver software solutions for the CoreOS pipeline and bootc subsystems.

  
  
  

• Pipeline Automation: Build, optimize, and maintain automated continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflows, focusing heavily on Tekton, GitHub Actions, and container image building automation.

  
  
  

• Leverage AI Tools: Exercise judgment to identify and resolve moderately complex engineering pipeline constraints by implementing AI-powered agents and workflows (e.g., OpenCode, custom agent skills) to automate non-routine workflows and enhance efficiency.

  
  
  

• Software Quality & Reliability: Take complete ownership of the quality of your code, design automated test cases, analyze defects, and contribute effectively to automated testing frameworks.

  
  
  

• Upstream Collaboration: Act as an active contributor to internal tooling and upstream open-source communities like Fedora, Fedora CoreOS, OKD, and Kubernetes through code and documentation.

  
  
  

• SDLC Execution: Apply and help refine the team's software development lifecycle (SDLC), identifying areas for workflow improvement to ensure predictable feature delivery.

  
  
  

• Agile Participation: Participate actively within scrum boundaries, complete assigned pipeline tasks, and demonstrate completed automation enhancements to your peers.

  
  
  

What will you bring?

• Linux & Bootc Acumen: Strong engineering experience using Linux, with exposure to Image Mode Linux (bootc) being a plus.

  
  
  

• Pipeline & CI/CD Automation: Proven experience building, updating, and maintaining automated software delivery pipelines, and container image assembly tools.

  
  
  

• Agentic AI Development: Experience applying or utilizing AI-powered agents and workflows (such as OpenCode, Claude Code, Cursor, or constructing custom AI agent skills) to streamline development and automate processes.

  
  
  

• Container Technologies: Familiarity with Linux containers, container orchestration toolsets, or Kubernetes architecture.

  
  
  

• Technical Acumen: Strong history of independently writing and debugging code for complex features, troubleshooting technical challenges, and performing thorough peer code reviews, leading design/architectural decision making.

  
  
  

• Core Engineering Tools: Experience using git for version control and workflow management, alongside hands-on experience with at least one major public cloud platform.

  
  
  

• Communication & Collaboration: Good written and verbal English communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across a distributed engineering team and maintain clear documentation.

  
  
  

The following are considered a plus:

• Experience with Linux distribution contributions.

  
  
  

• Understanding of how Open Source and Free Software communities operate.

  
  
  

• Ability to present technical enhancements or project status to internal stakeholders.

  
  
  

• RHCSA certification or a Red Hat Certified Specialist in Containers designation.

  
  
  

About Red Hat

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterpriseopen source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver high-performing Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Spread across 40+ countries, our associates work flexibly across work environments, from in-office, to office-flex, to fully remote, depending on the requirements of their role. Red Hatters are encouraged to bring their best ideas, no matter their title or tenure. We're a leader in open source because of our open and inclusive environment. We hire creative, passionate people ready to contribute their ideas, help solve complex problems, and make an impact.

Inclusion at Red Hat
Red Hat’s culture is built on the open source principles of transparency, collaboration, and inclusion, where the best ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. When this is realized, it empowers people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences to come together to share ideas, challenge the status quo, and drive innovation. Our aspiration is that everyone experiences this culture with equal opportunity and access, and that all voices are not only heard but also celebrated. We hope you will join our celebration, and we welcome and encourage applicants from all the beautiful dimensions that compose our global village.

Equal Opportunity Policy (EEO)
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