About this role.
NetBox Labs is hiring a Staff Software Backend Engineer and technical lead for its Foundations platform team. The role owns architecture and technical execution for core identity, authentication, authorization, SSO, secrets-management, telemetry, and tenancy services. This engineer will define API contracts, guide technical decisions, establish engineering standards, and mentor engineers in partnership with an Engineering Manager and Product Manager. Strong Python, Go, Linux, distributed-systems, and B2B SaaS platform experience are required, with direct authorization-domain expertise being central to the role.
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4/5Autonomy Level
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Sample interview questions
I would begin by clarifying the resource model, tenant boundaries, principals, roles, permissions, and required policy-evaluation latency. I would define versioned APIs and a consistent authorization decision model, separate policy administration from runtime evaluation, and build strong auditability, caching, and failure-mode controls. I would also establish a staged migration path so existing services can adopt the platform safely.
I would describe the problem, competing options, and the evidence I gathered from stakeholders, production data, and prototypes. I would make tradeoffs explicit in a short design document, invite focused review from affected teams, recommend a decision, and align execution around measurable success criteria. After delivery, I would review outcomes and adjust the approach where needed.
Key considerations include tenant-specific identity-provider configuration, secure redirect URI validation, PKCE, token lifetimes and rotation, session management, account linking, just-in-time provisioning, SCIM integration where appropriate, and robust audit logs. I would also plan for IdP outages, clear administrator workflows, least-privilege defaults, and careful testing of cross-tenant isolation.
I define the consumer use cases, resource semantics, authentication model, error behavior, idempotency expectations, and compatibility guarantees before implementation. I use versioning deliberately, publish examples and schemas, provide a review process for consumers, and add contract and integration tests. I treat observability and deprecation timelines as part of the contract, not as afterthoughts.
I would set lightweight, repeatable expectations for design reviews, code review quality, automated testing, documentation, operational readiness, and incident learning. I would pair those standards with templates, examples, and coaching so they improve delivery rather than create bureaucracy. Metrics such as deployment health, incident recurrence, test reliability, and adoption of shared services would help validate progress.
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.
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