Software Engineer, NVIDIA OpenShell at NVIDIA

NVIDIA is defining the next era of computing by tapping into the unlimited potential of AI, an era where our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars. Joining the Open Shell team offers a unique opportunity to work on a highly advanced platform that enables this future. This core system provides secure, sandboxed runtimes essential for autonomous AI agents. The Open Shell platform is sophisticated, incorporating a control-plane gateway, a privacy-conscious inference router, declarative policy enforcement, and specialized container and VM-based sandbox execution environments. This is a chance to make a lasting impact on the world alongside some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people on the planet.

What you’ll be doing:

• Work across the full stack of a distributed systems platform, from crafting gRPC contracts to building secure sandbox runtimes.

• Implement and harden network security features, including policy enforcement, L4/L7 proxies, and secure inter-service communication using mTLS.

• Develop core platform components such as inference routing, ensuring model provider adapters, credential management, and protocol translation integrate seamlessly with the sandbox and gateway.

• Build reliable configuration and control plane systems that handle state divergence, implement reconciliation loops, and support safe merging and hot-reloading policies.

• Own the operability experience by creating effective CLI tools, managing release automation, and instrumenting all systems for observability with structured logging and distributed tracing.

What we need to see:

• Minimum of a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.

• 8+ years of meaningful experience.

• Proficiency in systems programming, including building and debugging long-running services, async runtimes, and handling OS-level integration.

• Deep knowledge of distributed systems/control planes, including reasoning about state divergence, building reconciliation loops, and designing crash recovery paths.

• Experience with Container/Sandbox Internals, managing isolated workloads, process lifecycle, capabilities, and network namespaces.

• Familiarity with gRPC and Protobuf, including crafting machine-to-machine APIs with clean streaming semantics and version safety.

• Experience operating and extending workloads on Kubernetes, including working with compute drivers, image management, and detailed debugging.

• Ability to secure inter-service communication using mTLS, gateway registration flows, and non-browser identity verification.

• Proficiency in instrumenting systems with structured logging, health checks, and distributed tracing for production observability.

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

• Familiarity with virtualization technologies and alternative runtimes, such as microVMs (e.g., libkrun).

• Experience improving operator experience through CLI/TUI development, status reporting, and clear error messages.

• Comfort working at cross-language boundaries, specifically between Rust, Python, protobuf codegen, and shell scripting.

NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people on the planet working for us. If you're creative, passionate and self-motivated, we want to hear from you! NVIDIA is leading the way in groundbreaking developments in Artificial Intelligence, High-Performance Computing and Visualization. The GPU, our invention, serves as the visual cortex of modern computers and is at the heart of our products and services.

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 184,000 USD - 287,500 USD for Level 4, and 224,000 USD - 356,500 USD for Level 5.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until May 12, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.