Staff Platform Infrastructure Engineer

SPAN is enabling electrification for all

SPAN is mission-driven to design, build, and deploy products that electrify our built environment, decarbonize our world, and slow the effects of climate change.

• Decarbonization is the process to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, from entering our atmosphere.

• Electrification is the process of replacing fossil fuel appliances that run on gas or oil with all-electric upgrades for a cleaner way to power our lives.

At SPAN, we believe in:

• Enabling homes and vehicles powered by clean energy

• Making electrification upgrades possible

• Building more resilient homes with reliable backup

• Designing a flexible and distributed electrical grid

We are seeking an experienced Staff Platform Engineer who is a self-starter with an entrepreneurial spirit to lead the design, implementation, and maintenance of our next-generation infrastructure and developer platforms. This role will focus on leveraging Kubernetes, Pulumi, Istio, AWS, and related technologies to deliver robust and scalable systems in a microservices environment. You will also play a critical part in shaping our CI/CD pipelines, IoT integrations, and developer tooling strategies to ensure efficient, reliable, and secure delivery of software services.If you thrive in a fast-paced setting, enjoy taking initiative, and are passionate about building innovative platform solutions, we’d love to speak with you!

Automate & Refine: You’ll spend most of your day automating and improving how we run things in AWS and Kubernetes—basically making sure our microservices (and IoT systems) run smoothly, securely, and cost-effectively.
Support & Collaborate: You’ll jump in with the dev teams, troubleshoot issues, and share best practices so everyone’s more productive—think of it as making the lives of your teammates easier through better tools and guidance.
Strategize & Innovate: You’ll also have a seat at the table for bigger decisions—suggesting new tech, tweaking our pipelines, or finding ways to streamline processes, so we keep pushing the envelope on performance and reliability.

1. Platform Architecture & Strategy

   • Define and drive the platform engineering vision and roadmap, ensuring alignment with overall business objectives.

   • Architect and implement Kubernetes-based infrastructure solutions for microservices at scale, with a strong emphasis on reliability and security.

   • Evaluate new technologies, tools, and frameworks to enhance the platform’s capabilities and developer experience.

2. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) & Automation

   • Develop and maintain infrastructure-as-code (IaC) solutions using Pulumi to automate provisioning, configuration, and lifecycle management of cloud resources.

   • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify and automate manual processes, streamlining operations and CI/CD pipelines.

3. Microservices CI/CD Pipeline

   • Design, build, and maintain continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines for microservices.

   • Ensure best practices for testing, observability, and security are baked into the pipeline workflows.

   • Identify and implement optimizations to reduce build, test, and deployment times, increasing reliability and quality.

4. Service Mesh & Network Management

   • Lead the deployment and maintenance of Istio to enable efficient traffic management, observability, and security across microservices.

   • Oversee the lifecycle management of Istio and related service mesh components, ensuring minimal downtime and seamless upgrades.

5. Cloud & IoT Integrations

   • Architect and manage AWS services (e.g., EC2, EKS, Lambda, S3, IoT Core) for scalable and cost-effective solutions.

   • Collaborate with IoT-focused teams to design and implement secure and robust data ingestion, storage, and processing pipelines.

6. Developer Tooling & Enablement

   • Own the developer experience by providing and maintaining internal tools, environments, and frameworks that boost productivity and quality.

   • Work closely with software engineers to integrate best practices, guidelines, and tools that streamline development workflows.

7. Leadership & Mentoring

   • Act as a technical mentor, sharing knowledge and best practices within the engineering organization.

   • Guide engineering teams on platform adoption, architecture decisions, and complex troubleshooting.

   • Represent platform engineering in cross-departmental meetings, shaping and influencing strategic decisions.

8. Monitoring & Reliability

   • Implement observability solutions (logging, monitoring, alerting) for critical platform components using tools like Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, or equivalent.

   • Define SLOs/SLAs and ensure the platform meets or exceeds reliability standards.

Required Qualifications

We are seeking a seasoned infrastructure engineer with 8+ years demonstrating knowledge and experience in:

• Education & Experience

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent hands-on experience).

  • 8+ years of experience in software engineering, DevOps, or platform engineering roles, with proven leadership in large-scale system design and operations.

• Technical Skills

  • Kubernetes: Deep experience in architecture, scaling, and operating Kubernetes clusters in production environments.

  • Python

  • CI/CD: Proficiency with tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or similar, specifically geared toward microservices deployment.

  • Pulumi / IaC: Hands-on expertise in Pulumi or similar IaC tools (Terraform, AWS CloudFormation) for cloud resource provisioning.

  • Istio / Service Mesh: Proven track record in deploying and managing Istio or similar service mesh solutions.

  • AWS: Strong knowledge of core AWS services (EC2, ECS/EKS, Lambda, S3, RDS, IoT Core) and best practices (networking, security, cost optimization).

  • IoT: Familiarity with IoT technologies, protocols, and data ingestion strategies.

  • Developer Tooling: Experience with build tools, code quality metrics, package management, and integrated developer experiences.

• Soft Skills & Attributes

  • Self-Starter: Demonstrated initiative in identifying problems, owning solutions, and driving innovation.

  • Leadership: Ability to influence and guide teams through complex technical decisions and transformations.

  • Collaboration: Effective communication and interpersonal skills to work across diverse teams (software, QA, product, security).

  • Problem-Solving: Proven ability to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve complex issues in distributed systems.

  • Adaptability: Comfortable working in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment with evolving priorities.

Headquartered in San Francisco’s vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a ‘make it happen’ approach to addressing complex challenges. 

SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. 

We’re hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN.

The Perks:

⚡ Competitive compensation + equity grants at a well-funded, venture-backed company

⚡ Comprehensive benefits: 100% employee premiums for base plans on medical, dental, vision with options for additional coverage.  Parental leave up to twenty four (24)  weeks depending on eligibility

⚡ Comfortable, sunny office space located near BART and Caltrain public transit

⚡ Strong focus on team building and company culture: Employee Resource Groups, monthly social events, SPANcakes recognition breakfast, lunch, and learns

⚡ Flexible hours, one holiday per month, and flexible time off

Interested in joining our team? Apply today and we’ll be in touch with the next steps!