Systems Engineer

About the role

Blacksmith is building a high‑performance CI platform powered by a global fleet of bare‑metal machines. As a Systems Engineer you will help design, build, and scale the distributed infrastructure that runs millions of Firecracker VMs each month for thousands of customers.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and scale core distributed systems that power CI workloads.
• Investigate and resolve performance and reliability issues across the filesystem, network, and storage stack.
• Write, debug, and optimise code in C, C++, Go, Rust, or Zig.
• Automate infrastructure provisioning and configuration using tools such as Ansible, Puppet, or Chef.
• Work with distributed storage solutions like Ceph or MinIO, including deployment, tuning, and troubleshooting.
• Collaborate closely with a small, in‑person team in NYC to ship features rapidly.

Required profile

• 2+ years of software development experience, preferably in performance‑critical or distributed environments.
• Passion for digging into low‑level system behaviour and improving efficiency, correctness, and safety.
• Comfortable working full‑time on‑site (5 days a week) in New York.
• Thrives in the ambiguity of an early‑stage startup and enjoys building from first principles.

Required skills

• C
• C++
• Go
• Rust
• Zig
• Ansible, Puppet, or Chef
• Ceph or MinIO

What we offer

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance.
• Competitive base salary plus equity.
• 401(k) match.
• Unlimited PTO and 12 weeks fully paid parental leave (US).
• Annual offsite and early‑exercise stock options.
• Compensation range: $200K‑$300K per year.