Senior Build & Release Engineer

Senior Build & Release Engineer

Overview: We are seeking a Senior Build & Release Engineer to lead and own the design, stability, and reproducibility of build and release pipelines across Netgate's product portfolio. This role begins with direct responsibility for pfSense but will expand to support additional engineering teams and product lines. The engineer will be a platform-level resource, enabling CI/CD excellence across the company.

This dedicated position will drive the transition to a fully on-prem, infrastructure-as-code (IaC) model, ensuring long-term reliability, security, and maintainability of our release systems. The role also includes responsibility for preparing, validating, and publishing system images for sale via AWS and Azure marketplaces, including full compliance with security, metadata, and release requirements.

The ideal candidate will bring a strategic mindset, deep build system knowledge, and a collaborative approach to delivering shared CI/CD platforms used across diverse teams.

What We Are Looking For:

• Take full ownership of FreeBSD build infrastructure and packaging (via pkg, poudriere, rc.d)
• Design, author, and maintain Jenkins declarative/scripted pipelines for automated builds and releases
• Migrate and optimize build systems from cloud to on-prem, ensuring secure, repeatable, auditable environments
• Define and maintain environments using SaltStack for consistency and automation
• Lead architecture decisions for CI/CD systems, packaging strategies, and image pipelines
• Build, harden, and validate FreeBSD-based AMIs and Azure VM images for commercial distribution
• Maintain compliance with AWS Marketplace and Azure Marketplace publishing requirements, including metadata, licensing, and validation
• Tune and manage ZFS-based root filesystems and snapshot configurations used in build images
• Implement and validate cloud-init configurations for first-boot automation
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to junior engineers and peer teams
• Act as a centralized resource across Netgate product teams to unify and elevate CI/CD workflows
• Champion cross-product CI/CD best practices, shared tooling, and standardized release processes
• Collaborate closely with engineering leads, infrastructure teams, and the CTO to execute release plans

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting diverse Linux-based build/release pipelines
• Experience building shared CI/CD tooling across multiple teams or products
• Familiarity with IAM, secrets management, and secure automation
• Experience publishing production-grade CI/CD or build artifacts
• Familiarity with AWS Marketplace and Azure Marketplace workflows and policies 

It's Nice If You Have:

• 5+ years experience in build engineering, release automation, or DevOps roles
• Deep experience with FreeBSD packaging and build systems (pkg, ports, poudriere)
• Strong proficiency with Jenkins pipeline design (both scripted and declarative)
• Experience with SaltStack or similar infrastructure-as-code tools
• Experience preparing FreeBSD AMIs and Azure images for commercial distribution
• Experience with cloud-init and metadata configuration for first-boot automation
• Experience with ZFS administration and snapshot lifecycle management
• Strong shell scripting skills (sh/bash); familiarity with Python or similar languages a plus
• Demonstrated success supporting multiple product teams or managing cross-project build infrastructure
• Track record of building fully reproducible, IaC-defined environments
• Excellent communication skills and a history of cross-functional collaboration

Success Milestones

Why You'll Love This Role

• Influence release strategies across multiple products and platforms
• Own and shape foundational CI/CD infrastructure used by the company
• Serve as a core engineering resource across the organization
• Work in a hybrid environment with a strong engineering culture

Compensation

The U.S. base salary range for this full-time position is $104,000 - $151,000 DOE + bonus + benefits. When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected minimum and maximum hiring range for new hires in U.S. locations.  Compensation details reflect the base salary only and do not include bonuses or benefits.  Individual pay is determined by the work location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training.  Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. hiring location.  The manager can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

What We Offer

• Netgate offers comprehensive benefits designed to safeguard the physical, mental, and financial health of our employees and their families.  We cover a generous portion of the employees’ medical plan to minimize the cost to our employees.
• Netgate offers health plans through Aetna as well as access to dental, vision, long term/short term disability, life insurance, HAS/FSA, paid vacation.
• All-remote with the option to work from anywhere.
• A culture that values a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability.
• Our 401(k) program offers full and part-time employees the opportunity to contribute 1% - 80% of the pay on a pre-tax basis to Netgate’s 401(k).  Contributions made up the first 3% of pay are eligible for a 100% match from the company and are 100% vested from day one.

What We Do

Netgate offers robust, open-source firewall and routing solutions through its industry-leading products, pfSense® and TNSR. pfSense is a trusted firewall and VPN solution known for its reliability, scalability, and comprehensive features, while TNSR provides cutting-edge, high-speed packet processing ideal for modern networking demands. Choosing Netgate means joining a team dedicated to secure, high-performance networking solutions trusted by organizations worldwide, from small businesses to global enterprises.

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