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Tenable · 7 hours ago

Staff Software/Systems Engineer - Low-Latency & Systems Programming | Cloud Security

United States

Full-time

Remote

Senior Level, Lead/Staff

$162K/yr - $216K/yr

4+ years exp

Tenable is the Exposure Management company, trusted by 44,000 organizations globally to reduce cyber risk. They are seeking a Staff Software/Systems Engineer who will focus on writing high-performance, low-latency code and maintaining complex systems while collaborating with cross-functional teams.

ComplianceNetwork SecurityRisk ManagementSecurity

No H1B

Security Clearance Required

U.S. Citizen Only

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and maintain complex, scalable, and high-performance systems with a focus on writing clean, efficient, and maintainable code

Aggressively reduce memory allocations and GC pressure using profiling tools (like PerfView, dotTrace, YourKit) and advanced techniques (e.g., object pooling, custom data structures, Span/Memory/ByteBuffer concepts)

Identify and troubleshoot production issues, conducting root cause analysis and implementing fixes to ensure system reliability

Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers and architects, to implement technical solutions aligned with business objectives

Provide input on architectural design and participate in technical planning to ensure long-term maintainability and compliance with standards

Analyze and articulate the trade-offs of different low-level design choices (e.g., bitmap vs. free-list allocators, array vs. list memory layout, speed vs. memory)

Participate in the design and development of new features, integrations, and enhancements to software applications, databases, and interfaces

Collaborate with other staff engineers to drive technical direction and foster a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and memory-aware development

Qualification

C/C++/RustMemory ManagementPerformance TuningHigh-Performance SystemsProfiling ToolsTechnical PlanningCollaborationProblem SolvingCommunication

Required

A High-Performance Background: You have a proven track record working in the performance-critical domains listed above

Fluency in Memory Fundamentals: You don't just 'know' the difference between an array and a linked list; you can explain their memory layout and cache-locality trade-offs from first principles

Deep Understanding of Memory Management: Able to instantly recognize and describe strategies for managing a large, fixed block of memory. You can confidently discuss concepts like bitmap allocators, free lists, and memory fragmentation

A 'Systems' Mindset: You are fluent in bit manipulation and pointer/offset arithmetic (even if it's abstracted). You can calculate the memory overhead of your own metadata

A Track Record of Performance Tuning: You have a story to tell about a time you used a profiler to find a bottleneck and made a non-obvious, low-level fix

Language Experience: 4+ years of professional experience. This role is language-agnostic, but your experience in C++, C, Rust, C#, or Java is preferred

Requirements: BSc in Computer Science/Engineering (or equivalent experience) and US Citizenship (for security clearance)

Preferred

Deep C/C++/Rust Experience: A background in these languages is strongly desired. If you're a C# or Java developer, we're looking for you to have this experience or a provably equivalent low-level mindset

Security & Compliance: Experience in secure environments (FedRAMP, IL5/IL6) or an active security clearance