Lead Software Engineer (Kubernetes)

As a Lead Software Engineer in our Foundational Infrastructure Group, you will be helping re-architect the platform on public clouds to allow for frequent, predictable and high impact changes. You will ensure that our world-class infrastructure is always available, responsive, and capable of meeting the diverse needs of a dynamic and high-powered development team. You will work as part of an agile and global team to transform our architecture to a modern services architecture that makes it easy for feature teams to leverage microservices and containerization technologies.

This role is based at our HQ in McLean, VA. Appian was built on a culture of in-person collaboration, which we believe is a key driver of our mission to be the best. Employees hired for this position are expected to be in the office 5 days a week to foster that culture and ensure we continue to thrive through shared ideas and teamwork. We believe being in the office provides more opportunities to come together and celebrate working with the exceptional people across Appian.

To be successful in this role, you need:

• Expertise in working with AWS or other cloud infrastructures like Azure or Google Cloud, and using Infrastructure-as-Code tools
• Expertise working in Kubernetes ecosystem (e.g. Cilium, Istio, Knative, Keda)
• Experience coaching junior engineers and driving projects to impact
• Fluency in reviewing architecture / designs from team members, identify problems, and make suggestions for better practices
• Familiarity with conducting code reviews looking out for the elegant approach, performance, maintainability, and security
• Familiarity with DevOps, Release Engineering and trends including CI/CD
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code (e.g. Terraform)
• Familiarity with networking and information security in the cloud (e.g. VPN, compliance, etc.)
• Focus on keeping automated infrastructure up-to-date as dependent technologies evolve and scale
• Interest in automating every aspect of our development lifecycle and help us in our mission to achieve continuous delivery
• Excellent spoken and written communication with both technical and non-technical people
• Ability to identify dependencies between multiple teams. Ability to communicate blockers and escalate as needed
• Familiarity with leading response for severe issues, minimizing pain for the customer, weighing trade-offs in the moment; communicating clearly and concisely to the customer about the problem and solution

Some of the tools and resources we will equip you with include:

• Leveraging cutting edge technologies like Kubernetes, Docker, Gitlab, Prometheus, etc. to design and build new infrastructure features
• Valuing innovation and investment in our people by providing opportunities for growth and leadership. Whether it’s through Engineering IndieTime (dedicated time to build whatever you want with whomever you want), or annual hackathons, we value activities that inspire others and get creative juices flowing
• A large engineering team where you are made to feel autonomous by our engineering business group model. Working within an agile team allows our engineers and leaders to have a sense of community and accomplishment

Basic Qualifications:

• At least 7 years experience designing, building and architecting software in an enterprise software or Saas/Paas environment
• Fluency in at least one programming language, such as Python, Golang, or Java
• At least 5 years of experience working in Kubernetes ecosystem
• Bachelors in Computer Science or Engineering, or equivalent experience