Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer Focused On Interoperability Engineering

Make a difference in the technology that powers some of the most innovative and influential businesses in the world. Red Hat's Multi-product and Engineering Experience (MPEX) Integrity Engineering team is looking for a highly skilled Principal Software Engineer focused on Interoperability Engineering to join us in the U.S.

In this role, you will have the opportunity to work for the world's leading provider of open-source technology. You'll help build the frameworks, automation, and infrastructure that ensure Red Hat's hybrid platform products work seamlessly together-delivering freedom, flexibility, and outstanding performance from day one.

You'll serve as a technical architect and developer, collaborating closely with the Hybrid Platforms engineering teams using agile methodologies. Collaboration is key at Red Hat-you'll contribute to the future of our technology alongside developers across the open-source community, with opportunities to lead, learn, and grow both professionally and personally.

What You Will Do:

• Architect and develop frameworks, pipelines, and services that enable scalable interoperability and upgrade testing across Red Hat products.
• Design and implement integrations between OpenShift CI and other validation tools to improve visibility, automation, and reporting.
• Drive a shift-left approach to interoperability testing by enabling earlier detection of integration issues, improving developer feedback loops, and embedding Interop checks into CI workflows.
• Collaborate with product teams (ACM, CNV, ODF, etc.) to co-develop test automation that reflects real customer topologies and hybrid scenarios.
• Partner with UX and Product Management teams to provide actionable feedback on the integrated portfolio experience, helping shape more cohesive hybrid-product workflows.
• Enhance CI/CD efficiency by optimizing workflows, improving cluster lifecycle management, and automating environment provisioning.
• Develop and maintain APIs and data pipelines to track test execution, component health, and quality metrics.
• Mentor and guide engineers in development best practices and scalable system design.
• Drive innovation by leveraging AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Gemini, Cursor) to improve productivity and maintainability.
• Participate in design and code reviews, ensuring architectural consistency, scalability, and reliability of the Interop testing platform.

What You Will Bring:

• 7+ years of software development experience, preferably in infrastructure, automation, or distributed systems.
• Strong proficiency in Python or Go, including experience building APIs, automation frameworks, or backend services.
• Strong proficiency in Bash shell scripting, including best practices.
• Deep understanding of Linux, Kubernetes/OpenShift, and containerization.
• Familiarity with virtualization technologies (KVM, VMware, CNV, Libvirt) and networking fundamentals.
• Proven experience integrating with CI/CD systems (Prow, Jenkins, GitHub Actions) and automating build/test pipelines.
• Experience working in large, cross-functional engineering organizations.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to lead technical discussions and mentor peers.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Ansible or IaC tooling (Terraform, Helm).
• Knowledge of open-source development practices and community collaboration.
• Familiarity with observability and metrics frameworks (Grafana, Prometheus).
• Background in test automation or quality-driven development.
• Certifications such as RHCE or similar.