Strategic Overview
Staff Software Backend Engineer, Tech Lead - Foundations at NetBox Labs is a dev opportunity centered on the specialist responsibilities and outcomes described in the employer's listing.
The published role emphasizes work such as Own the architecture of the Platform Authorization Service (PAS), the system that controls access across the platform. Set the technical direction for identity, single sign-on (SSO), access control, secrets management services and more.
The role is listed for United Kingdom, United States with remote working arrangement, giving candidates the practical context needed to assess fit before applying. Relevant signals in the listing include Software Engineering, Senior.
Key information at a glance
About This Role
NetBox Labs seeks a Staff Software Backend Engineer to technically lead our Foundations team. Foundations is the platform team that builds shared platform primitives that other engineering teams depend on including core services for authentication, access control, customer secrets management, and customer telemetry. This role will own the technical direction for Foundations. You will partner with the Foundations…
Key Responsibilities & Objectives
- Own the architecture of the Platform Authorization Service (PAS), the system that controls access across the platform.
- Set the technical direction for identity, single sign-on (SSO), access control, secrets management services and more.
- Lead delivery of Foundations core services, including login, authorization, and tenancy.
- Act as the primary technical decision maker for Foundations.
Required Qualifications & Candidate Blueprint
- 7+ years of software development experience, including technical ownership of a platform or infrastructure area.
- 3+ years of experience in a B2B software startup or high-growth organization.
- Direct experience with authentication and authorization systems (for example, OAuth, SSO, or role-based access control).
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration.
- Experience with network management or infrastructure software (for example, NetBox).
- Open-source contributions or project involvement.
Salary & Benefits
Published compensation: USD 215,000 – 235,000 / yearly
Salary Benchmark
This role’s published compensation is compared with current employer-disclosed salary ranges for the same role at the Staff level in the same currency.
Benchmark uses active employer job postings in our database and excludes this listing. It is not a third-party salary estimate, and currencies are not converted.
Full Job Description
The following is the complete job description supplied by the source. We sanitize unsafe markup and remove external links, but do not shorten or rewrite the employer's source content.
NetBox Labs seeks a Staff Software Backend Engineer to technically lead our Foundations team. Foundations is the platform team that builds shared platform primitives that other engineering teams depend on including core services for authentication, access control, customer secrets management, and customer telemetry. This role will own the technical direction for Foundations. You will partner with the Foundations Engineering Manager, who owns people and process, while you own architecture and technical execution.
Responsibilities:
Own the architecture of the Platform Authorization Service (PAS), the system that controls access across the platform.
Set the technical direction for identity, single sign-on (SSO), access control, secrets management services and more.
Lead delivery of Foundations core services, including login, authorization, and tenancy.
Act as the primary technical decision maker for Foundations.
Lead and mentor the Foundations engineering team through daily technical work.
Partner with the Foundations Engineering Manager and Product Manager on team execution.
Drive core components through to GA (general availability) launch.
Define API contracts for platform services that others consume, including Delivery Platform and Application teams.
Work with the Foundations Product Manager to align technical plans with product priorities.
Set engineering standards for code review, testing, and documentation across the team.
Requirements:
7+ years of software development experience, including technical ownership of a platform or infrastructure area.
3+ years of experience in a B2B software startup or high-growth organization.
Direct experience with authentication and authorization systems (for example, OAuth, SSO, or role-based access control).
Experience leading engineering work without formal manager authority.
Backend programming experience in Python and Go.
Experience designing APIs consumed by other engineering teams.
Strong Linux and distributed systems fundamentals.
A track record of making technical decisions under ambiguity.
Nice to Have:
Experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration.
Experience with network management or infrastructure software (for example, NetBox).
Open-source contributions or project involvement.
Comfort with AI-enhanced tooling (for example, Copilot, ChatGPT, Cursor).
Join NetBox Labs. Help build the identity and access foundation the rest of the platform relies on.
About NetBox Labs:
NetBox Labs helps companies build and manage complex networks. We help customers accelerate network automation by delivering open, composable products and supporting the network automation community.
NetBox Labs is the commercial steward of open source NetBox, the world’s most popular network source of truth, and Orb, the next-generation open source network observability platform. Our products include NetBox Enterprise, a fully supported self-managed NetBox with advanced features, and NetBox Cloud, a secure, scalable, and reliable SaaS edition of NetBox.
NetBox powers thousands of companies, and NetBox Labs is backed by investment from Notable Capital (formerly GGV), Grafana Labs CEO Raj Dutt, Flybridge, IBM, Salesforce Ventures, and Mango Capital.
Our culture and values:
We own and solve problems with high attention to detail.
Our open source contributors, users, customers & team are all part of our community. When our community wins, we win.
We prioritize simplicity and think twice before adding complexity
Clear communication helps keep our team aligned and collaborating smoothly.
NetBox Labs is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We believe diverse teams build better software, and we welcome applicants of every race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, and veteran status. If you need accommodation at any point in the process, just let us know.
Editor’s Market Perspective (Our Custom Analysis)
Why This Position Matters
This dev opening is a useful opportunity for candidates whose experience matches Software Engineering, Senior. Its strongest career signal is the scope of the work itself — particularly Own the architecture of the Platform Authorization Service (PAS), the system that controls access across the platform. — rather than a generic title alone.
Resume & Application Strategy
For the application, mirror the employer's language where it truthfully matches your background: foreground Software Engineering, Senior, quantify outcomes from comparable work, and place the most relevant experience near the top of the resume. If the listing specifies tools, platforms, leadership scope, or domain experience, use those exact terms in context instead of presenting an unrelated keyword list.
We organize source-provided information into this independent job-seeker overview. Compensation is shown only when the source provides it; the official listing remains the authority for current requirements and application instructions.