About the Position

The Senior Software Engineer will be responsible for building the distributed software applications, tools, and services that power Gradient’s edge to cloud zero-trust platform, the first Trust Fabric for Everything Connected™.

Leveraging a technology stack that is the culmination of decades of secure architecture, systems, and cryptography research at MIT, Brown, Berkeley, and elsewhere, your work redefining identity and authentication for modern networks will involve a range of projects in areas such as: secure communications protocols, platform identity & authenticity, policy management and enforcement, credential management, key escrow, data provenance and governance, secure boot, attestation, and more.

You are a creative and self-driven team player who wants to work passionately on innovative new architectures and drive projects to closure in a fast-paced startup environment focused on delivering enterprise platform solutions. You are a strong software developer with skills across a range of disciplines. We care more about your attitude and aptitude than previously used tools and technologies. We strongly prefer teammates who propose their own path forward, require minimal guidance, and take pride in building high-quality, scalable solutions.

You’ll translate functional requirements into robust, efficient, supportable solutions that work well within the overall architecture, a complex system that spans a network of cloud and on-premise hosted, formally-verified secure enclave processors designed by Gradient, Intel-based servers, modern cloud technologies, and a variety of endpoints. As a key participant you’ll drive the full development cycle, end-to-end, from design, implementation, and testing to documentation and delivery.

This is an opportunity to be a key contributor to a world-class, highly scalable, distributed, low-latency platform that delivers best-in-class privacy and security services.

Why Gradient

A Boston-based, venture-backed technology company, Gradient Technologies® (www.gradient.tech) verifies the trustworthiness of every connected system to make communications secure and private by design. Gradient provides a unified security paradigm from edge to cloud with the first Trust Fabric for Everything Connected™, with a zero-trust approach that avoids the significant vulnerabilities, system complexities, and perimeter costs inherent to current approaches. Gradient’s Identity and Authentication as a Service (IDaaS) framework ensures that every interaction between devices, software, and users — for servers, containers, VMs, laptops, mobile, infrastructure, and IoT — comes with a cryptographic proof that the connected system is authentic and trustworthy. IDaaS is fully backwards compatible with existing certificate-based security infrastructure.

At Gradient we see a world in which the authenticity and integrity of every electronic device, the software it operates, data it originates, stores, and computes, are provable qualities by construction. Gradient is committed to getting security right, without sacrificing privacy. We have developed a truly full-stack approach to security: from secure software architecture and fault tolerant distributed systems to firmware and OS modules, state-of-the-art anonymous cryptographic signatures -- all the way to state-of-the-art secure enclave processor hardware architecture

Advised by industry leaders from healthcare to finance, our founding team comprises world-leading experts in cryptography and secure hardware. We believe in taking a first principles approach to problem solving — and share a common desire to build impactful technology for the betterment of society. In previous lives, Gradient team members have built human brain-machine interfaces, the Macbook Air, satellite constellations, and mission critical hardware and software. (We’ve also been known to, for example, hack the office espresso machine — sometimes open loop temperature control just don’t cut it.)

We have a lot to build! If you are a talented, productive, and curious engineer excited by a startup environment and comfortable tackling lightly scoped problems with others of your caliber, then at Gradient you will have the opportunity to help build and shape the technologies that bring much-needed reform to the field of secure systems.

Minimum Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree and seven years of professional work experience (or equivalent) (or a master's degree and five years of professional work experience (or equivalent), or a PhD degree) in Computer Science, or a related technical field, is required
• Proficiency in a several modern programming languages such as C/C++, Go or Python
• A strong understanding of the software development process and life cycle: agile/iterative methodologies, high-quality maintainable code, unit tests, etc.
• Strong problem solving and analytical skills; good written and oral communication skills; fast learner

Preferred Qualifications

• Domain expertise in any of the following areas: system or embedded software architecture, networking/communications systems; device and software security; public key infrastructure; and hardware root of trust, secure boot
• Have previous early-stage startup experience. Desire to work in a growing, fast-paced environment of innovation
• Enthusiastic self-starter with proven track record of execution and delivery
• Experience driving discussions with senior personnel regarding trade-offs, best practices, project management and risk mitigation
• Display strong collaboration skills
• Experience in setting up and driving Agile/SCRUM enterprise-scale software development
• Demonstrated ability to achieve stretch goals in a highly innovative and fast paced environment

Gradient is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.