Software Developer IV-IN (Openstack)
Rackspace Technology has been a foundational contributor to OpenStack since its inception. The Private Cloud Product Software Engineering organization is looking for a Software Developer IV with deep OpenStack expertise to join our Bare Metal Infrastructure team.
In this role, you will write and maintain custom backends and drivers for core OpenStack projects — Ironic, Cinder, Nova, and Neutron — tuned specifically for bare metal infrastructure deployment at data center scale. You will work directly in the OpenStack codebases, own the full lifecycle of driver development from design through production operation, and contribute improvements upstream where your work benefits the broader community.
This is a senior individual contributor and technical leadership role. You will shape the architectural direction of our OpenStack integrations, raise the bar for quality and reliability in the services we run, and help other engineers grow their platform expertise.
Private Cloud Product Software Engineering at Rackspace Technology owns the design, build, and operational responsibility for:
- Programmatic bare metal infrastructure platforms, including hardware provisioning, lifecycle management, and data center automation
- Custom OpenStack backends and drivers that extend core services to meet the demands of large-scale private cloud operations
- Internal enablement tooling that accelerates product delivery across engineering teams
- The interaction layer between Private Cloud customers and the products and services Rackspace Technology provides
We work closely with product owners and infrastructure teams to deliver meaningful outcomes for our customers. Our services run in Kubernetes-native environments and we own them end-to-end — from application logic and driver code to deployment and operational health. We practice continuous integration and delivery, and we take operational responsibility for what we ship seriously.
At the Dev IV level, we expect you to lead technical decisions, not just execute on them. That means proposing architectural approaches, driving alignment across teams, reviewing and raising the quality of your peers' work, and maintaining a strong point of view grounded in real production experience.
- Design, implement, and maintain custom drivers and backends for OpenStack Ironic, Cinder, Nova, and Neutron, targeting bare metal provisioning and lifecycle automation use cases
- Contribute improvements and bug fixes to upstream OpenStack projects, working within the OpenStack community review and governance process
- Own the full lifecycle of your driver and backend work: design, code review, testing, deployment, and ongoing operational health
- Collaborate with infrastructure, networking, and storage teams to deeply understand the requirements that shape driver behavior
- Architect integrations between OpenStack services and internal systems, including DCIM/IPAM tooling such as NetBox or Nautobot
- Establish and uphold engineering standards for driver development: testing strategies, error handling, observability, and upgrade safety
- Investigate production incidents in OpenStack services; drive root cause analysis and durable fixes, including upstream patches where appropriate
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship across the team, particularly around OpenStack internals and bare metal infrastructure patterns
- Evaluate new OpenStack features and upstream developments; assess impact on our platform and make recommendations for adoption
- Ten or more years of software development experience, with at least four years of hands-on production work with OpenStack
- Deep working knowledge of at least two of: Ironic, Cinder, Nova, or Neutron — including their driver interfaces, plugin architectures, and internal request flows
- Demonstrated experience writing, debugging, or extending OpenStack drivers or backends in a production environment
- Strong Python skills, including proficiency with async patterns, testing frameworks (pytest, tox), and OpenStack SDK/client libraries
- Five or more years working in Linux/Unix environments, including systems-level debugging and network troubleshooting
- Experience operating services in Kubernetes or similar container orchestration environments
- Solid understanding of bare metal provisioning concepts: PXE, IPMI/Redfish, BMC management, network boot workflows, and hardware lifecycle states
- Familiarity with OpenStack's shared infrastructure: oslo.config, oslo.messaging, oslo.db, Keystone auth, and service deployment patterns
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines and test automation in the context of OpenStack or infrastructure software development
- Working knowledge of networking fundamentals relevant to data center environments: VLANs, bonding, LACP, routing, and DHCP/PXE interaction
- Strong debugging and observability skills in distributed systems — log analysis, tracing, and metric-driven incident investigation
- Ability to own and drive complex technical work from ambiguous requirements through to delivered, production-grade outcomes
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; comfortable writing design documents and presenting technical proposals to engineers and stakeholders
- Effective collaborator in a globally distributed engineering organization
- Strong sense of ownership: you treat the services and drivers you build as production responsibilities, not just code deliverables
- Prior upstream OpenStack contribution: merged patches, active code review participation, or engagement with project governance (PTL, core reviewer, or similar)
- Familiarity with the OpenStack development workflow: Gerrit, Zuul CI, OpenStack Discuss, and project-specific contributor guidelines
- Experience with Ceph or other distributed storage systems and their integration with Cinder or Nova
- Proficiency in Go (Golang) — applicable to tooling, automation, or Kubernetes Operator work adjacent to this role
- Experience with DCIM or IPAM platforms such as NetBox or Nautobot, including automation against their APIs
- Exposure to hardware attestation, secure boot, or firmware management workflows in a bare metal context
- Experience with network automation tooling or SDN integration relevant to Neutron ML2 drivers or agent development
About Rackspace Technology
We are the multicloud solutions experts. We combine our expertise with the world’s leading technologies — across applications, data and security — to deliver end-to-end solutions. We have a proven record of advising customers based on their business challenges, designing solutions that scale, building and managing those solutions, and optimizing returns into the future. Named a best place to work, year after year according to Fortune, Forbes and Glassdoor, we attract and develop world-class talent. Join us on our mission to embrace technology, empower customers and deliver the future.
More on Rackspace Technology
Though we’re all different, Rackers thrive through our connection to a central goal: to be a valued member of a winning team on an inspiring mission. We bring our whole selves to work every day. And we embrace the notion that unique perspectives fuel innovation and enable us to best serve our customers and communities around the globe. We welcome you to apply today and want you to know that we are committed to offering equal employment opportunity without regard to age, color, disability, gender reassignment or identity or expression, genetic information, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity status, military or veteran status, nationality, ethnic or national origin, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or any legally protected characteristic. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
