Remote Lead DevOps Architect - VC backed Saas (Europe/Remote)

Description:

• Trace.Space is building an R&D engineering data platform for top engineering companies designing critical hardware/software systems.
• The company is backed by $6M in pre-seed and seed funding and is looking for a Lead DevOps & Kubernetes Architect.
• The role involves leading the design and implementation of Kubernetes-based infrastructure across cloud and on-premise environments.
• The architect will define the deployment architecture for a real-time, multi-service platform that includes WebSockets, PostgreSQL, SQS-like queues, ElasticSearch, and AI-powered microservices.
• Responsibilities include building and maintaining a secure, scalable, and observable system with best-in-class instrumentation such as Prometheus and OpenTelemetry.
• The position requires defining and implementing CI/CD pipelines and deployment strategies using tools like Terraform, Helm, and GitHub Actions.
• The architect will also architect on-premise deployment workflows for air-gapped or restricted network environments.
• The role includes ownership of infrastructure security, secrets management, TLS, RBAC, and compliance-ready configuration management.
• Collaboration with founders and engineering leads is essential to shape the future scalability of Trace.Space.

Requirements:

• Candidates must have solid experience in DevOps, SRE, or Infrastructure Engineering roles, specifically in designing and operating Kubernetes-based platforms.
• Proven experience in architecting and operating secure, scalable infrastructure for production systems with real-time, multi-service architectures is required.
• A deep understanding of Kubernetes, including Helm, Operators, Networking, Ingress, RBAC, CRDs, and multi-tenant setups is necessary.
• Expertise in infrastructure-as-code with Terraform and deployment tooling like Helm is essential.
• Strong knowledge of observability stacks such as Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, OpenTelemetry, and Jaeger is required.
• Experience in designing CI/CD pipelines for complex backend systems, including multi-service, event-driven, and WebSockets, is necessary.
• Candidates should have experience building on-premise deployment options, including air-gapped environments.
• The ability to work independently and lead end-to-end delivery of infrastructure projects is required.
• Candidates must be legally allowed to reside and work in the EU, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, or Norway and be comfortable working remotely.

Benefits:

• The salary for this position ranges from $96,000 to $114,000 per year.
• A significant equity grant is offered as part of the compensation package.
• The company provides a remote-first work environment with flexible hours.
• Employees will have ownership and transparency, operating as a lean team with high trust and impact, allowing for direct influence over key technical and product decisions.
• Top-tier equipment is provided, allowing employees to choose their MacBook and receive everything needed to perform their best work.
• A home office set-up is provided, including a desk, monitor, keyboard, mouse/trackpad, and chair if needed.
• In-person team gatherings are held every couple of months to foster team collaboration.