Backend Engineer, Control Plane

Tailscale is seeking a skilled and diligent full-time Software Engineer to join our growing Control Plane Team. You will work as part of the engineering team to develop the Tailscale product, contributing to both open source client code and related backend services; take ownership of the entire product lifecycle, from writing code to product ideation and strategic decision-making; and work closely with UX/UI designers and product managers to shape features.

• Work as part of a team of engineers to design, build, test, and document core software components.
• Develop product features in areas that include our control plane, our relay infrastructure, and our identity integrations.
• Exhibit ownership over the running services that comprise Tailscale’s product by building for observability, participating in incident response, and fielding customer support escalations.
• Analyze and improve efficiency, scalability, and stability of various system resources.
• Bring a security-first mindset to both design and implementation.

• Experience with distributed systems
• Experience with the Go programming language
• Experience with one or more SQL databases
• Familiarity with networking (IP addressing, routing, etc.)
• Ability to give and process constructive feedback, as well as work independently
• Flexibility to adjust to the dynamic nature of a startup
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Tailscale's compensation package includes base salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits. The US pay range for this role is $163,000—$226,000 USD. Benefits include an inclusive, flexible environment; comprehensive group benefits with no waiting period (health, vision, dental, and more); remote-first work with corporate co-working program; employer-funded retirement contributions (dollar-for-dollar match up to 0.75% of eligible compensation); annual company retreat and team off-sites; $1500 USD annually for professional development; flexible paid time off; home office setup with company-owned laptop, monthly internet reimbursement, and $500 USD workstation customization; and paid parental leave (20 weeks for birthing parents, 16 weeks for non-birthing parents).

If this job description resonates with you, please apply via the job posting. Tailscale encourages people from historically marginalized groups to apply even if they don't meet 100% of the qualifications. Legitimate emails from Tailscale's talent team will only originate from @tailscale.com, @greenhouse.io, and @interviews.modernloop.io email addresses.