Senior / Staff / Principal Platform Engineer

About AppGate

AppGate secures and protects an organization’s most valuable assets with its high-performance Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution and Cyber Advisory Services. AppGate ZTNA is the only direct-routed Zero Trust solution built for peak performance, superior protection and seamless interoperability. AppGate Cyber Advisory Services harden your security posture and ensure business continuity. AppGate safeguards enterprises and government agencies worldwide.

As we continue to evolve our platform, we are investing in the foundational systems that power the AppGate appliance and the services it depends on. This includes Linux system integration, service orchestration, observability, networking, distributed data systems, software packaging and secure platform automation.

This is a rare opportunity to join a small, private, high-impact company where your work will directly shape the reliability, security and architecture of a mission-critical cybersecurity platform.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior, Staff or Principal Platform Engineer with deep expertise in Python, Linux systems and production platform engineering.

You’ll design, build and maintain the software that integrates AppGate services with the underlying operating system. Your work will span Python application development, systemd and journald integration, Linux namespaces and process management, networking, PostgreSQL, application observability and internal engineering tooling.

This is a highly technical, hands-on role for an engineer who is comfortable working close to the operating system, diagnosing complex production issues and building reliable software and automation.

Depending on level, you will own significant platform components, lead cross-cutting initiatives, establish technical direction and mentor other engineers while continuing to contribute production code.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement and maintain reliable, testable and maintainable Python services, applications and libraries that support AppGate ZTNA’s platform.
• Build software that manages Linux processes, services, namespaces, permissions, capabilities, signals, filesystems and other operating-system primitives.
• Design and maintain systemd units, service dependencies, socket-activated services, cgroup-based resource controls and application lifecycle management.
• Instrument applications and platform services using OpenTelemetry, including metrics, logs and distributed traces.
• Establish consistent observability practices, operational health indicators and debugging standards across the platform.
• Develop and troubleshoot services involving TCP/IP, TLS, routing, firewalls, network namespaces and secure communication between platform components.
• Develop software and automation for provisioning, configuring, upgrading and operating distributed PostgreSQL databases.
• Build software using internal development, testing, build and release tools while also improving the reliability, usability and maintainability of those tools.
• Apply strong testing, fault-handling, observability and security practices to software that runs in production and supports mission-critical workloads.
• Contribute to or define architecture, engineering standards and best practices for Linux platform development, Python services and systems integration.
• Lead complex initiatives across teams, contribute to design and code reviews and mentor engineers working on platform and systems-level problems.
• Communicate clearly through technical documentation, design proposals, code reviews and written project updates in a distributed, remote work environment.

Required Qualifications

Experience: Significant software, platform or systems engineering experience, with a track record of designing, building and operating production systems. Senior-level candidates typically bring 5+ years of relevant experience, Staff-level candidates 8+ years and Principal-level candidates 12+ years, though we hire based on demonstrated technical ability, scope and impact.

Python expertise: Expert proficiency in Python, including writing production-grade, maintainable and testable code.

Programmatic Linux Integration: Experience implementing Linux functionality programmatically in Python, including wrapping system calls, managing system resources and automating operating-system configuration.

Observability: Strong understanding of observability principles and experience designing and integrating OpenTelemetry into applications and distributed systems.

Networking: Strong understanding of TCP/IP, TLS, routing, firewalls and network troubleshooting.

Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively in an asynchronous, remote work culture.

Ownership: A willingness to learn independently, investigate unfamiliar systems and take responsibility for expanding both personal and team knowledge.

Tooling Mindset: Comfortable developing software with internal engineering tools while also maintaining and improving the tools, pipelines and workflows used by the broader engineering organization.

Leadership: Senior-level candidates should demonstrate ownership of complex systems and projects. Staff- and Principal-level candidates should also have a record of setting technical direction, leading initiatives across teams and mentoring experienced engineers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience creating and maintaining Debian packages.
• Experience applying Security Technical Implementation Guides, or STIGs, when developing and maintaining hardened software platforms.
• Experience using TeamCity for continuous integration, build automation and release workflows.
• Experience operating EnterpriseDB PGD.
• Experience using VMware vSphere or other virtualization software.
• Experience using Docker as a development, build and deployment environment.
• Experience with AWS.
• Experience deploying applications to Kubernetes and maintaining Kubernetes cluster infrastructure.
• Solid understanding of cryptography fundamentals, including symmetric and asymmetric encryption, hashing, digital signatures and key exchange.

AppGate is An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and a federal contractor subject to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 as amended, and their corresponding regulations. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.  Further, AppGate is an affirmative action employer committed to taking positive steps to employ, advance in employment and otherwise afford equal employment opportunity to protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  In furtherance of AppGate’s policy regarding affirmative action and equal employment opportunity, AppGate has developed a written affirmative action program. This program is available for review upon request by any applicant or employee during normal business hours by contacting the company’s EEO Coordinator.