Staff Software Engineer, Developer Productivity

We’re consistently recognized as a leader in the industry: a Leader in the Forrester Wave and Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contract Lifecycle Management, a Fortune Great Place to Work, and one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Workplaces. Ironclad has also been named to Forbes’ AI 50 and Business Insider’s list of Companies to Bet Your Career On. We’re backed by leading investors including Accel, Y Combinator, Sequoia, BOND, and Franklin Templeton. For more information, visit www.ironcladapp.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

The Role

As a Staff or Senior Staff Engineer on the Developer Productivity team, you’ll lead improvements to how Ironclad engineers build, test, and ship software. Our team owns local development tooling, build and test systems, release automation, and our Backstage developer portal. We work closely with SRE at the intersection of developer tooling and infrastructure.

We’re looking for a hands-on technical leader with deep JavaScript/Typescript build and test experience, a background in SRE or infrastructure, and a track record of delivering projects that other teams adopt.

You’ll help shape the team’s technical direction and roadmap, working closely with engineers across Ironclad to understand where development slows down and what would make the biggest difference. You’ll turn those problems into practical tools and features, lead implementation and adoption, and use feedback to guide what comes next. You’ll also mentor engineers and share responsibility for supporting the tools we own.

We’re hiring at both the Staff and Senior Staff levels, with level determined through the interview process. We expect technical leadership at both levels. At Senior Staff, you’ll take broader ownership of the team’s direction, align priorities across teams, and lead improvements that benefit engineering as a whole.

What you’ll do

• Make JavaScript/TypeScript builds and tests faster and more reliable across webpack, Jest, and Vitest. Improve our Bazel build system, including remote caching, and lead the remaining migration off NX.
• Build Kubernetes tooling that lets product teams make routine application changes independently.
• Own the path from commit to production, including CI, environment promotion through Kargo, verification, and rollback.
• Extend Backstage with plugins that connect deployment, monitoring, and incident data.
• Make local development environments quick to start and consistent across engineers’ machines.
• Use build times, CI reliability, lead time, and deployment frequency to identify problems and prioritize improvements.
• Help set the team’s technical roadmap in partnership with other engineering teams. Identify problems, define solutions, and lead delivery and adoption, keeping engineering leadership informed of priorities, progress, and tradeoffs.
• Lead technical discussions, mentor engineers, and participate in the team’s support rotation.

Our stack includes TypeScript, React, Node.js, and Docker containers running on Kubernetes in Google Cloud Platform.

What you’ll bring

• Staff: 8+ years of software engineering experience. Senior Staff: 12+ years. For either level, at least 3 years in SRE, infrastructure, build systems, CI/CD, or developer tooling.
• Deep experience with JavaScript and TypeScript build and test tools, such as webpack, Jest, or Vitest, including diagnosing slow builds and flaky tests at scale.
• Production experience with Kubernetes and containers on GCP, AWS, or Azure, and CI systems such as CircleCI or GitHub Actions.
• Strong programming skills in TypeScript, Go or Python, and comfort with shell scripting.
• Experience leading technical projects that required adoption across teams, as a tech lead or engineering manager while staying hands-on.
• Clear written communication, including design documents, technical proposals, and migration guides engineers can follow.
• Alignment with Ironclad’s values: drive, intent, integrity, and empathy.

Helpful experience

• Bazel or Nx, particularly migrations of JavaScript or TypeScript monorepos.
• Kargo, Argo CD, or other GitOps tooling.
• Building Backstage plugins.
• Infrastructure as code, such as Terraform or Pulumi.

Base Salary Range: $210,000 - $235,000, offers company bonus

The base salary range represents the minimum and maximum of the salary range for this position based at our San Francisco headquarters. The actual base salary offered for this position will depend on numerous factors, including individual proficiency, anticipated performance, and the location of the selected candidate. Our base salary is just one component of Ironclad’s competitive total rewards package, which also includes equity awards (a new hire grant, along with opportunities for additional awards throughout your tenure), competitive health and wellness benefits, and a commitment to career growth and development.

US Full-Time Employee Benefits at Ironclad:

• 100% health coverage for employees (medical, dental, and vision), and 75% coverage for dependents with buy-up plan options available
• Market-leading leave policies, including gender-neutral parental leave and compassionate leave
• Family forming support through Maven for you and your partner
• Paid time off - take the time you need, when you need it
• Monthly stipends for wellbeing, hybrid work, and (if applicable) cell phone use
• Mental health support through Modern Health, including therapy, coaching, and digital tools
• Pre-tax commuter benefits (US Employees)
• 401(k) plan with Fidelity with employer match (US Employees)
• Regular team events to connect, recharge, and have fun
• And most importantly: the opportunity to help build the company you want to work at