Senior Software Engineer - Platform Development

About the role

What is Shakudo?
The name is the Japanese word for alloy—different metals combined into something new. That's exactly what we're doing at Shakudo.
 
We're building the world's first OS for data and AI—an ecosystem that empowers software engineers to build sophisticated data and AI applications without becoming infrastructure experts. We use "operating system" in the truest product sense: like iOS, Windows, or Linux, Shakudo provides an end‑to‑end, ever‑evolving, automatically operated stack of best‑of‑breed open‑source components, applications and integrations tailored to each business's needs.
 
Which segment of the market do we serve?
As a startup, this evolves. Today, we serve large enterprises—often in air‑gapped data centers and complex deployment environments where failure isn't an option. It's one of our biggest value props and presents unique technical and product challenges. If you thrive in ambiguity and enjoy making the unknown known while solving problems that matter, you'll fit right in.
 
The role
We are looking for passionate engineers who have extensive experience operating Kubernetes, building Kubernetes controllers, and control flow design and implementation.
 
You'll lead and own complex platform features and enterprise customer implementations end‑to‑end—from architecture and development to deployment strategy and customer success. Your technical decisions directly impact how enterprise-scale organizations operate. You'll work on a platform with stakeholders from technical teams to C-suite executives, driving high-stakes projects with autonomy and self-direction while mentoring junior engineers. As a startup, you'll have significant influence on technical direction and team culture.
We're an onsite team. Join us in the office for fast feedback loops, and shipping together at high velocity.
 
The ideal candidate
We're an engineering‑first organization focused on solving the hardest problems in enterprise data and AI. We eat, breathe, and sleep the latest in systems engineering and customer delivery, adopting new tech when it's battle‑tested (half a step behind the bleeding edge). If you're excited about technical leadership that creates real-world impact and working on technology that transforms industries, you'll fit right in. We value high productivity, customer obsession, technical excellence, self-sufficiency, and autonomy without the ego.
 
What's the stack?
Multi-tenant platform components run on Kubernetes with React/TypeScript frontends and TypeScript backends. Enterprise deployments leverage our advanced DevOps automation built on Kubernetes, Helm, and Terraform, with sophisticated implementations for enterprise security, compliance, and air-gapped environments where security and reliability are paramount.
We believe in picking the right tool for the job. If another technology is a better fit for solving a customer's critical problem, we'll use it.
 
Examples of what we build
Enterprise-scale platform architectures that become the data backbone for Fortune 500 companies
Advanced deployment automation for the most secure and regulated environments
Complex customer integration systems that transform how organizations operate
 
You'll lead these initiatives from vision to reality, working directly with executive stakeholders to drive transformational outcomes.
 
Office Location
We have a strong 5 days a week onsite company culture, both to learn from others and to share experiences among the team. Our office is in Menlo Park, just off the 101.