Sr Principal Software Engineer; Azure

About the Job

The Azure Red Hat Open Shift (ARO) Engineering team is looking for a Senior Principal Software Engineer. In this high-impact role, you will be a lead technical voice in the development of ARO Hosted Control Planes (HCP), defining the infrastructure and lifecycle management patterns that power mission-critical workloads for global enterprises. You will bridge the gap between upstream open-source innovation and the operational excellence required to run a first-party Azure service, guiding the project from initial concept through to the delivery of a highly available, resilient global offering.

• Contribute to the evolution of Azure Red Hat Open Shift, focusing on scalability, high-availability, and seamless lifecycle management within the Azure ecosystem.
• Drive the strategy for AI integration within the platform while championing the use of AI-assisted development tools to improve team velocity and code quality.
• Act as a contributor to upstream projects, ensuring Red Hat’s interests and customer needs are represented in the broader CNCF community.
• Collaborate across organizational boundaries with Microsoft Azure engineering teams to co-develop integrated cloud-native solutions.
• Collaborate deeply with Product Management to advocate for the customer, reconciling customer demands with system constraints to define high-impact product specifications.
• Mentor senior engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning.
• Work with Red Hat's Global Customer Support team and partner support teams on resolving customer issues.
• Influence the long-term product roadmap by identifying customer needs and emerging industry trends, translating them into architectural requirements, design, and code.
• Publicize the team's work through blogs, web postings, or conference talks.

• 12+ years of software development experience in Linux environments, with mastery of Golang.
• Deep expertise in Azure cloud architecture and services (Compute, Storage, Networking).
• Proven success leading large-scale distributed systems from inception to production operations.
• Internal-level knowledge of Kubernetes (API machinery, Operators, or Networking stack).
• Mastery of Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, ARM/Bicep) and Git Ops workflows.
• Expert understanding of Hybrid Cloud networking and security (VNETs, Private Link, Encryption).
• Experience integrating AI/LLM frameworks into software engineering workflows or product features.
• Exceptional troubleshooting skills for complex, multi-layered distributed environments.

• Active maintainer status or significant contributions to relevant CNCF Open Source projects (e.g., Kubernetes, Cluster API, or Kube Virt).
• Deep experience with Red Hat Open Shift and the Operator SDK/Controller-runtime.
• Familiarity with Hosted Control Plane architectures (e.g., Hyper Shift) and high-density multi-tenant environments.
• Experience with Azure-specific hybrid technologies like Azure Arc or Private Link at scale.
• Background in SRE or Production Engineering for a global, 24/7 SaaS or managed service.

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The salary range for this position is $ - $. Actual offer will be based on your qualifications.

Red Hat determines compensation based on several factors including but not limited to job location, experience, applicable skills and training, external market value, and internal pay equity. Annual salary is one component of Red Hat’s compensation package. This position may also be eligible for bonus, commission, and/or equity. For positions with Remote-US locations, the actual salary range for the position may differ based on location but will be commensurate with job duties and relevant work experience.

Red Hat () is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open 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…