Senior Platform Software Engineer
Jupiter Volta Inc.
Berkeley, CARemote$135,000 - $150,000 a yearFull Time
Job Description
*Senior Platform Engineer*
*Platform, Infrastructure & Reliability (Hybrid Cloud / On-Prem)*
*About the role:*
Jupiter Volta is a fast-based startup based in Berkeley, California that is developing fusion energy systems and advanced plasma technologies that rely on industrial control hardware, high-performance simulation, and modern software platforms. Our software stack spans on-prem Kubernetes clusters, SCADA systems, Python microservices, React applications, and GPU-accelerated simulation workloads.
We are looking for a *Senior Platform Engineer* to help us modernize, stabilize, and scale this platform. This role is about owning production reality: CI/CD, Kubernetes, deployments, reliability, security, database lifecycles, environment management, observability, operational readiness, and helping a small team move fast without breaking critical systems.
You will play a major role in shaping how software is built and shipped across the company.
*What you’ll do:*
*Platform & Infrastructure Ownership:*
* Own and improve our *Kubernetes-based on-prem infrastructure*
* Diagnose, harden, and maintain our *Longhorn storage deployment* (replication, backups, recovery, performance)
* Design and maintain *containerized service deployments* using Docker, Kubernetes, and ArgoCD
* Establish safe, repeatable *deployment strategies* (rolling, blue/green, canary where appropriate)
* Design and manage *environment parity* across development, staging, and production systems
* Own *data durability and recovery strategies *for stateful systems, including backup verification and restore testing
* Apply *least-privilege access controls* and RBAC across infrastructure and services
*CI/CD, Testing & SRE Foundations:*
* *CI/CD, Testing & SRE Foundations*
* Design and implement *secure CI/CD workflows* for automated testing and deployment of our applications
* Establish *baseline observability* for both infrastructure and application layers
* Define, implement, and document *operational processes and procedures *such as secrets management, release deployments, and incident responses and postmortems
*Application Modernization:*
* Architect a well-scoped microservice ecosystem
* Define microservice service boundaries, APIs, versioning, and shared tooling
* Partner closely with backend engineers to ensure clean, production-ready integration and decomposition of any monoliths
*Technical Leadership:*
* Raise the bar on:
* Code quality
* Testing discipline
* Production awareness
* Modern architecture and development best practices
* Help the team balance development velocity and research flexibility with production reliability
*What we’re looking for:*
*Required experience:*
* 5+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time running production systems
* Strong experience with:
* Kubernetes (ideally including on-prem or hybrid deployments)
* Docker and containerized services
* CI/CD systems (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, etc.)
* Strong backend engineering background (Python preferred)
* Comfort working across infrastructure _and_ application layers
* Experience being “on the hook” for uptime, deploys, and failures
*Strongly preferred:*
* Experience with stateful workloads in Kubernetes (databases, storage systems, Longhorn, etc.)
* Experience introducing SRE practices into teams without prior production maturity
* Exposure to:
* On-prem networking
* Self-managed security
* Industrial, embedded, or hardware-adjacent systems
* Experience owning production incidents and improving system reliability over time
* Familiarity with security best practices for containerized and Kubernetes-based systems
* Strong opinions about operational simplicity, debuggability, and long-term maintainability
*Nice to have:*
* React or modern front-end deployment experience
* Familiarity with SCADA systems, PLCs, MQTT, or industrial control environments
* Experience supporting scientific computing or simulation-heavy teams
*Why this role is special:*
* You’ll help define the technical foundation of a fusion energy company at a critical growth stage
* You’ll work on systems that bridge real hardware, real physics, and real production software
* You’ll have genuine influence over architecture, tooling, and engineering culture
* You’ll solve problems most engineers never get to touch
We are looking for a self-directed engineer with a pragmatic, systems-focused mindset who can take ownership of complex problems and make steady progress toward ambitious goals using strong engineering fundamentals. This role is ideal for someone drawn to mission-driven technical challenges and excited to build foundational systems in a culture that values rigor, curiosity, and impact. You will have meaningful ownership, accelerated growth, and the chance to shape critical infrastructure at a fast-growing startup entering a major technical inflection point.
Jupiter Volta is an early stage startup. Compensation will include generous equity and be awarded based on experience. Work location is mostly on-site in Berkeley, California, with occasional remote work days.
Pay: $135,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
Benefits:
* 401(k)
* Dental insurance
* Health insurance
* Paid time off
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Berkeley, CA
*Platform, Infrastructure & Reliability (Hybrid Cloud / On-Prem)*
*About the role:*
Jupiter Volta is a fast-based startup based in Berkeley, California that is developing fusion energy systems and advanced plasma technologies that rely on industrial control hardware, high-performance simulation, and modern software platforms. Our software stack spans on-prem Kubernetes clusters, SCADA systems, Python microservices, React applications, and GPU-accelerated simulation workloads.
We are looking for a *Senior Platform Engineer* to help us modernize, stabilize, and scale this platform. This role is about owning production reality: CI/CD, Kubernetes, deployments, reliability, security, database lifecycles, environment management, observability, operational readiness, and helping a small team move fast without breaking critical systems.
You will play a major role in shaping how software is built and shipped across the company.
*What you’ll do:*
*Platform & Infrastructure Ownership:*
* Own and improve our *Kubernetes-based on-prem infrastructure*
* Diagnose, harden, and maintain our *Longhorn storage deployment* (replication, backups, recovery, performance)
* Design and maintain *containerized service deployments* using Docker, Kubernetes, and ArgoCD
* Establish safe, repeatable *deployment strategies* (rolling, blue/green, canary where appropriate)
* Design and manage *environment parity* across development, staging, and production systems
* Own *data durability and recovery strategies *for stateful systems, including backup verification and restore testing
* Apply *least-privilege access controls* and RBAC across infrastructure and services
*CI/CD, Testing & SRE Foundations:*
* *CI/CD, Testing & SRE Foundations*
* Design and implement *secure CI/CD workflows* for automated testing and deployment of our applications
* Establish *baseline observability* for both infrastructure and application layers
* Define, implement, and document *operational processes and procedures *such as secrets management, release deployments, and incident responses and postmortems
*Application Modernization:*
* Architect a well-scoped microservice ecosystem
* Define microservice service boundaries, APIs, versioning, and shared tooling
* Partner closely with backend engineers to ensure clean, production-ready integration and decomposition of any monoliths
*Technical Leadership:*
* Raise the bar on:
* Code quality
* Testing discipline
* Production awareness
* Modern architecture and development best practices
* Help the team balance development velocity and research flexibility with production reliability
*What we’re looking for:*
*Required experience:*
* 5+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time running production systems
* Strong experience with:
* Kubernetes (ideally including on-prem or hybrid deployments)
* Docker and containerized services
* CI/CD systems (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, etc.)
* Strong backend engineering background (Python preferred)
* Comfort working across infrastructure _and_ application layers
* Experience being “on the hook” for uptime, deploys, and failures
*Strongly preferred:*
* Experience with stateful workloads in Kubernetes (databases, storage systems, Longhorn, etc.)
* Experience introducing SRE practices into teams without prior production maturity
* Exposure to:
* On-prem networking
* Self-managed security
* Industrial, embedded, or hardware-adjacent systems
* Experience owning production incidents and improving system reliability over time
* Familiarity with security best practices for containerized and Kubernetes-based systems
* Strong opinions about operational simplicity, debuggability, and long-term maintainability
*Nice to have:*
* React or modern front-end deployment experience
* Familiarity with SCADA systems, PLCs, MQTT, or industrial control environments
* Experience supporting scientific computing or simulation-heavy teams
*Why this role is special:*
* You’ll help define the technical foundation of a fusion energy company at a critical growth stage
* You’ll work on systems that bridge real hardware, real physics, and real production software
* You’ll have genuine influence over architecture, tooling, and engineering culture
* You’ll solve problems most engineers never get to touch
We are looking for a self-directed engineer with a pragmatic, systems-focused mindset who can take ownership of complex problems and make steady progress toward ambitious goals using strong engineering fundamentals. This role is ideal for someone drawn to mission-driven technical challenges and excited to build foundational systems in a culture that values rigor, curiosity, and impact. You will have meaningful ownership, accelerated growth, and the chance to shape critical infrastructure at a fast-growing startup entering a major technical inflection point.
Jupiter Volta is an early stage startup. Compensation will include generous equity and be awarded based on experience. Work location is mostly on-site in Berkeley, California, with occasional remote work days.
Pay: $135,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
Benefits:
* 401(k)
* Dental insurance
* Health insurance
* Paid time off
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Berkeley, CA