Senior Software Engineer - GCP Hosted Control Planes (Ireland and Czechia)

Red Hat Engineering is looking for Senior Software Engineers to join the GCP Hosted Control Planes (HCP) team. This team builds and operates a managed service that enables organizations to run OpenShift Kubernetes clusters on Google Cloud Platform using HyperShift, hosting multiple Kubernetes control planes on shared GKE infrastructure to reduce cost and operational overhead for customers.

This is not a traditional software engineering role. Our team practices an agent-first development methodology where AI coding agents are a primary mechanism for producing, testing, and maintaining code. Engineers on this team function as harness engineers: they design the environments, constraints, and feedback loops that enable AI agents to do reliable work, while applying deep technical judgment to specify intent, review output, and maintain architectural integrity. You will write code, but you will also spend significant time crafting the documentation, linters, structural tests, and CI gates that keep both human and agent contributors producing high-quality, architecturally consistent work.

You'll work as part of a distributed engineering team, contributing to a platform built on Go, Kubernetes, GKE, Terraform, Tekton, and ArgoCD. You'll participate in open source communities and help deliver enterprise-grade managed Kubernetes at scale.

What you will do

• Design and implement features, bug fixes, and infrastructure automation for the GCP HCP platform using Go and Kubernetes
• Work within an agent-augmented development workflow: decompose work into well-specified tasks, guide AI agents through implementation, and rigorously review agent-generated code and tests
• Write and maintain custom linters, structural tests, and CI gate checks that enforce architectural boundaries and prevent drift — for both human and agent contributors
• Contribute to the team's structured documentation system (design documents, architecture decision records, AGENTS.md context files) that serves as the source of truth for AI agents and humans alike
• Build and maintain the observability, deployment pipelines, and automation that support multi-region managed OpenShift clusters on GCP
• Participate in peer code reviews with a focus on correctness, security, and adherence to established architectural constraints
• Own test strategy for the features you deliver — design test plans, write unit and integration tests, and ensure end-to-end coverage across the platform's multi-region architecture
• Troubleshoot complex issues across distributed systems spanning GKE host clusters, HyperShift control planes, and customer workloads
• Participate in on-call rotations to support production managed services
• Mentor peers and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement in both technical craft and agent-augmented workflows

What you will bring

• 5+ years of experience developing software in a Linux environment, with strong proficiency in Go
• Experience with the Kubernetes ecosystem, including writing and operating controllers and operators
• Experience with at least one major public cloud platform (GCP preferred; AWS or Azure also relevant)
• Experience with distributed version control (Git) and CI/CD systems
• Good understanding of Linux operating systems and container runtimes
• Demonstrated ability to review code critically and troubleshoot complex issues in distributed systems
• Excellent written communication skills — you will write documentation and specifications that serve as executable context for AI agents, not just other humans
• Comfort working with AI coding tools (code generation, agent-driven workflows, LLM-assisted review) as part of daily development practice

Preferred Skills

• Experience with GKE, GCP networking, GCP IAM, or Workload Identity Federation
• Understanding of HyperShift or multi-tenant Kubernetes control plane architectures
• Experience writing custom linters, static analysis rules, or structural/architectural tests
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code and GitOps tools (Terraform, Tekton, ArgoCD)
• Experience with observability systems (Prometheus, Google Managed Prometheus)
• Participation in open source communities; contributions to Kubernetes or OpenShift upstream projects
• Experience designing or maintaining CI/CD pipelines that serve as quality gates for agent-generated code
• Familiarity with prompt engineering, agent context design, or structured documentation practices for AI-assisted development

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.