Staff Engineer & Product Owner for ELS

Why This Role Exists Vendors stop supporting software. We don’t. The ELS Automation team builds the tooling that powers our backporting pipeline — discovering vulnerabilities, backporting patches, and shipping security updates for out-of-support Linux ecosystems: OS distributions, Java, Python, Go libraries, and more. We own a critical slice of this pipeline, and we need someone who can: Build it— hands-on, in the code, every day Shape it— own the product vision, roadmap, and stakeholder relationships for a part of the pipeline related to the patch processing automation Scale it— architect for reliability as usage grows No separate PdM. No architect handing down designs. You’re both. Requirements Must-Haves Engineering Depth 8+ years software engineering; 3+ years at senior/staff level Recent, daily coding inPythonandGo StrongGitLab CIandGitHubexperience (runners, pipelines, workflows) Solid Linux fundamentals: processes, permissions, shell, networking, packaging Track record refactoring legacy systems safely in production Comfortable with observability: monitoring, logging, metrics, alerting Product Thinking Experience owning a product or tool end-to-end (internal or external) Can build, communicate, and adapt a roadmap Makes scope/timeline/risk trade-offs and stands behind them Translates ambiguous requirements into concrete deliverables Communication Excellent English — written and verbal Explains complex technical topics to non-technical stakeholders Navigates conflicting priorities without burning bridges Says “no” or “not yet” constructively Mindset Ownership mentality: you define the work, not just execute it Thrives in fast-paced, prototype-heavy environments Steps into ambiguity and creates structure Comfortable wearing multiple hats Nice-to-Haves CVE/CVSS, vulnerability management, or backporting experience Linux packaging (RPM, DEB) or language ecosystems (Maven, pip, Go modules) Practical use of LLM/AI tools in development workflows Platform/enablement team background Prior tech lead or architect role Employment Type: Hybrid (technical contributor/product owner)