Back to jobs
New

Senior Linux Distribution Engineer — Software Supply Chain Security

Remote
Senior Linux Distribution Engineer — Software Supply Chain Security
About the Role

We are looking for a deeply technical Linux Distribution Engineer to build, maintain, and secure Linux package ecosystems and hardened container images across modern cloud-native platforms.

This role sits at the intersection of Linux distributions, package management, and software supply chain security. You will own the lifecycle of identifying vulnerabilities, validating fixes, rebuilding or backporting packages across distribution branches, maintaining trusted package repositories, and ensuring secure software delivery at scale.

You will work across multiple Linux distribution ecosystems to build, maintain, secure, and deliver production-ready packages and container images tailored to customer environments. The role requires deep expertise in Linux packaging, dependency management, repository management, compatibility validation, and automated software delivery at scale.

This is a hands-on engineering role focused on Linux internals, package systems, dependency management, build pipelines, repository management, and automation — not simply vulnerability scanning or policy compliance.

You will collaborate closely with platform engineering, infrastructure, DevOps, release engineering, and security teams to improve how software is built, validated, secured, and distributed across containerized environments.

What You’ll Do
  • Own end-to-end vulnerability remediation across Linux package ecosystems and container images.
  • Analyze CVEs affecting OS packages, runtimes, libraries, and transitive dependencies across multiple Linux distributions.
  • Validate upstream fixes, evaluate patch applicability, and determine appropriate remediation strategies.
  • Rebuild, backport, patch, curate, sign, and publish packages across multiple Linux distribution branches.
  • Maintain and manage trusted package repositories across diverse Linux ecosystems.
  • Resolve complex dependency, compatibility, and ABI issues across distributions and package versions.
  • Ensure package and image updates do not break customer environments, builds, or runtime compatibility.
  • Design and scale automated pipelines for package rebuilding, validation, remediation, signing, publishing, and image generation.
  • Integrate package validation, repository management, and remediation workflows into pipelines.
  • Generate and maintain SBOMs, package metadata, provenance data, and trusted software artifacts.
  • Improve image performance, package footprint, startup efficiency, and operational reliability.
  • Research emerging threats and best practices in Linux distributions, containers, Kubernetes, and software supply chain security.
What You Bring
  • 5+ years of experience in Linux systems engineering, Linux distribution engineering, platform engineering, DevSecOps, release engineering, or SRE.
  • Deep expertise in Linux distributions and package ecosystems.
  • Strong experience with Linux package build systems and tooling including rpmbuild, dpkg-buildpackage, APKBUILD/abuild, and associated repository and release tooling.
  • Strong hands-on experience with Linux package managers including dpkg/apt, rpm/yum/dnf, apk, and associated repository tooling.
  • Proven experience rebuilding, patching, backporting, maintaining, or publishing Linux packages across distribution versions.
  • Strong understanding of package repositories, dependency resolution, ABI compatibility, package signing, and release workflows.
  • Experience identifying and remediating vulnerabilities within Linux packages and containerized environments.
  • Deep understanding of container internals, Linux, namespaces, and runtime behavior.
  • Strong scripting or programming skills in Bash, C/C++, Python, Go, and other languages.
  • Experience building CI/CD automation for package validation, remediation, release, and repository management workflows.
  • Familiarity with software supply chain security concepts including SBOMs, provenance, signing, and artifact trust.
  • Strong troubleshooting skills across Linux systems, package ecosystems, dependency graphs, and build pipelines.
Nice to Have
  • Experience maintaining or contributing to Linux distributions or open source package ecosystems.
  • Experience with package build infrastructure such as mock, Koji, OBS, Launchpad, or similar systems.
  • Experience building minimal, distroless, or hardened container images.
  • Familiarity with SBOM tooling and standards.
  • Familiarity with SLSA, reproducible builds, or software supply chain security frameworks.
  • Contributions to open source infrastructure, Linux packaging, or container ecosystem projects.
What Success Looks Like
  • Fast and reliable remediation of vulnerabilities across supported Linux distributions.
  • Stable and trusted package update pipelines that avoid breaking customer builds and runtime environments.
  • Automated and scalable systems for package rebuilding, validation, signing, publishing, and remediation.
  • Significant reduction in image attack surface, package sprawl, and operational overhead.
  • Repeatable standards and tooling for trusted software delivery across Linux and container ecosystems.

Compensation: This Senior Linux Distribution Engineer — Software Supply Chain Security role offers a base salary range of $150,000–$200,000, depending on experience, along with a competitive benefits package including healthcare, PTO, and equity participation. Total compensation is designed to reflect the deep technical nature of the role and its impact on securing Linux distributions, package ecosystems, and software supply chain integrity at scale.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in RapidFort, Inc.’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.