The Red Hat Developer Tools organization is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join the Kaiden team. Kaiden is an open-source platform for running AI coding agents — Claude Code, Goose, Cursor, OpenCode — in governed, isolated sandboxes. Every agent session runs inside its own container (via Podman) or microVM (via libkrun), while platform engineers control which models, tools, kills, secrets, and MCP servers are permitted through workspace-level governance.
Kaiden is built by the team behind Podman Desktop, with over 4 million downloads. The project is an Electron-based TypeScript application with a Svelte UI, structured as a pnpm monorepo with a plugin architecture. Extensions integrate AI model providers (Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Mistral, OpenAI-compatible endpoints, OpenShift AI, Ollama, RamaLama), Skills providers, MCP server registries, and RAG tooling. The codebase also spans other languages (Go, Rust) for container runtime and sandboxing infrastructure, and integrates with Kubernetes for remote agent execution.
The project is Apache-2.0 licensed and developed in the open at [github.com/openkaiden/kaiden](https://github.com/openkaiden/kaiden). The team works as a distributed, hybrid group spanning multiple time zones. We build in the open, contribute upstream, and welcome community participation.
What You Will Do
- Implement sandbox isolation backends.** Design and evolve the dual-backend execution model (Podman containers and libkrun microVMs) that isolates each AI agent session, ensuring security boundaries, fast startup times, and resource governance. Contributing to the upstream backend solution to add features required by users is also required.
- Lead the workspace governance system.** Define and build the configuration and policy layer that lets platform engineers control which models, MCP servers, skills, secrets, and context sources are permitted per workspace, enforcing organizational AI policies at the platform level.
- Extend the plugin and extension architecture.** Evolve the plugin system and TypeScript extension API to support new AI provider integrations, MCP server registries, maintaining backward compatibility as the surface area grows.
- Technical leadership and mentorship across the team.** As a Principal Software Engineer, you will influence and mentor engineers accross the team with collaboration with the team technical leader.
- Integrate AI-assisted development into team workflows.** Champion and refine the practice of AI-assisted coding (vibe coding), where developers describe intent and AI produces code. Establish patterns for prompt engineering, code review of AI-generated output, and productive human-AI collaboration within the team.
- Contribute to upstream open-source communities.** Participate in and drive contributions to upstream projects that Kaiden depends on, including Podman, libkrun, the MCP specification, devcontainers, and related container and AI tooling ecosystems.
- Mentor engineers and foster technical excellence.** Coach distributed team members through code reviews, design discussions, and pairing sessions. Raise the bar on testing, CI/CD practices, and security standards across the project.
What You Will Bring
- 7+ years of software engineering experience, with demonstrated technical leadership on complex, multi-component systems.
- Strong proficiency in TypeScript and experience building Electron or Node.js desktop applications; familiarity with Svelte or other modern frontend frameworks.
- Working knowledge of Go and experience with container runtimes, OCI specifications, or virtualization technologies (Podman, Docker, libkrun, or similar).
- Deep understanding of container orchestration (Kubernetes or Red Hat OpenShift), including deploying and managing workloads, writing controllers or operators, and working with cluster APIs.
- Experience designing and building plugin or extension architectures, dependency injection systems, or SDK/API surfaces consumed by third-party developers.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively in distributed, hybrid teams across multiple time zones, communicating asynchronously through written design documents, pull request reviews, and issue discussions.
- Practical experience using AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar) to accelerate coding, testing, and documentation — and the judgment to review and validate AI-generated output critically.
Preferred Qualifications
- Track record of contributing to or maintaining open-source projects, particularly in the container, Kubernetes, or AI tooling ecosystems.
- Experience with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), AI agent frameworks (LangChain, CrewAI), or building integrations for LLM-based tooling.
- Familiarity with microVM technologies (libkrun, Firecracker, Cloud Hypervisor) and hardware-level isolation for untrusted workloads.
- Experience with devcontainer specifications, workspace configuration standards, or developer environment provisioning at scale.
- Background in security engineering, secrets management, or building governance and policy enforcement systems for developer platforms.
- Experience with RAG pipelines, vector databases (Milvus), or document processing frameworks (Docling) in production contexts.
About Red Hat
Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver high-performing Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Spread across 40+ countries, our associates work flexibly across work environments, from in-office, to office-flex, to fully remote, depending on the requirements of their role. Red Hatters are encouraged to bring their best ideas, no matter their title or tenure. We're a leader in open source because of our open and inclusive environment. We hire creative, passionate people ready to contribute their ideas, help solve complex problems, and make an impact.
Inclusion at Red Hat
Red Hat’s culture is built on the open source principles of transparency, collaboration, and inclusion, where the best ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. When this is realized, it empowers people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences to come together to share ideas, challenge the status quo, and drive innovation. Our aspiration is that everyone experiences this culture with equal opportunity and access, and that all voices are not only heard but also celebrated. We hope you will join our celebration, and we welcome and encourage applicants from all the beautiful dimensions that compose our global village.
Equal Opportunity Policy (EEO)
Red Hat is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We review applications for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, veteran status, genetic information, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, or any other basis prohibited by law.
Red Hat does not seek or accept unsolicited resumes or CVs from recruitment agencies. We are not responsible for, and will not pay, any fees, commissions, or any other payment related to unsolicited resumes or CVs except as required in a written contract between Red Hat and the recruitment agency or party requesting payment of a fee.
Red Hat supports individuals with disabilities and provides reasonable accommodations to job applicants. If you need assistance completing our online job application, email application-assistance@redhat.com. General inquiries, such as those regarding the status of a job application, will not receive a reply.
