Lead and mentor the team focused on data systems and infrastructure. Oversee Dgraph modifications, Kubernetes platform improvements, and secure deployments while collaborating with product and security teams.
[ABOUT ISTARI DIGITAL]
Istari is a digital engineering software company enabling our customers to turn the physical world into the digital to accomplish their specific mission or business objectives.
Istari was founded with the vision of making open, scalable digital engineering ecosystems a reality – where new technologies and systems are created digitally, free from the real-world constraints of costs and schedules. We are creating the world’s best engineering model sharing platform, allowing our customers to simply and securely integrate their models across different engineering disciplines, organizations, and security levels.
At Istari, we are passionate about our mission of creating the world's first open and scalable industrial metaverse. Whether our customers are designing prototypes, performing virtual testing, or training AI and autonomy for complex systems, we know that going digital will save them time, resources, and reduce their environmental impact.
While we are a distributed team with most team-members working remotely, we place an emphasis on staying connected and collaborative, prioritizing in-person opportunities to build trust as a team. At Istari, we still believe that trust is best built in-person. To do this, we have an engineering headquarters in Cambridge, MA for focused technical development and several times per year we gather for an off-site that allows us to develop our professional skills and our team relationships.
[VALUES]
At Istari, we live by our values, which include:
Purposeful Autonomy
We value letting people self-organize and self-motivate.
Our flat structure and lack of meeting clutter are meant to empower individuals and teams to be proactive.
Our autonomy is measured, goal-oriented, and results-driven – not meandering.
Clear objectives help us prioritize our time.
Smart Transparency
We believe in honest-but-kind communication, transparency, and open-door policies.
We love learning about challenges and tackling them early, not hearing good or bad news late.
We share work-in-progress across our team.
Fast feedback keeps autonomy purposeful.
Continual Curiosity
At Istari, we love learning to do things ourselves.
We ask, read, share, teach – even watch YouTube videos – to learn new skills to solve problems.
When we make breakthroughs, we write them down.
Writing focuses ideas, helps us learn, and helps us share.
Equal Opportunity
Istari is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.
We are seeking an Engineering Manager – Data & Infrastructure to lead the team responsible for the core data layer and operational foundation of the Istari platform. This team owns our open-source graph database (Dgraph), Kubernetes deployments, installation tooling for self-hosted customers, and the infrastructure required to operate in ITAR-restricted spaces. This role blends hands-on technical leadership with people management, guiding engineers while setting direction for secure, reliable, and scalable data and infrastructure capabilities.
Key Responsibilities
- Leadership & Execution: Lead, mentor, and develop a team focused on data systems, DevOps, and infrastructure reliability. Drive technical strategy and ensure consistent, high-quality execution across all team initiatives. Collaborate closely with product and security leadership to set roadmap priorities.
- Data Platform Ownership: Oversee all engineering work related to Dgraph, including modifications to core database functionality, CI/CD pipelines, documentation and incident response. Assist in managing the open source community around Dgraph. Work across the team to develop a roadmap and priorities for Dgraph’s evolution.
- Infrastructure & Deployments: Mentor and guide a team improving Istari’s Kubernetes-based platform, including Argo CD, Helm charts, and deployment automation. Manage a roadmap for technical improvements to customer installation tooling, monitoring, and observability. Lead the team in planning and executing deployments into ITAR-controlled and other restricted environments, ensuring all compliance requirements are met. Partner with security teams on architecture reviews, risk mitigation, and secure-by-default practices.
Required Qualifications
- 7+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years leading technical teams.
- Experience leading teams managing infrastructure technologies like Kubernetes, ArgoCD, Postgres and other databases.
- Background in managing distributed systems, databases, and data infrastructure (stateful systems strongly preferred).
- Experience delivering and supporting self-hosted or on-prem enterprise software.
- Solid AWS experience (EKS, VPC networking, IAM, and related services preferred).
- Must be a US citizen living within the United States.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with developing database technologies - graph databases in particular
- Knowledge of cybersecurity and compliance frameworks such as NIST, CMMC, or FedRAMP.
- Experience supporting ITAR or other restricted federal environments.
- Familiarity with IaC tools (e.g., Terraform), service meshes, and observability stacks.
BENEFITS
We offer highly competitive benefits, including:
Health and Family
- Medical/Dental/Vision
- Employee Premiums are 100% Company Paid
- Life Insurance
- Flexible Work Hours
- Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO) with federal government holidays
Financial
- Competitive Compensation
- 401k
- Company Stock Options
- Home Office Setup Budget
Learning
- Reimbursement for approved trainings and subscriptions
- Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
Note - some benefits are not available to interns or contractors.
Thank you for your interest in Istari. Expect to hear back from us soon with next steps.
Top Skills
Argocd
AWS
Ci/Cd
Dgraph
Kubernetes
Postgres
Terraform
Similar Jobs
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • HR Tech • Information Technology • Productivity • Software • Automation
The Principal Platform Architect will design scalable solutions on the ServiceNow platform, engage stakeholders for alignment, mentor teams, and drive innovation to enhance customer success and operational efficiency.
Top Skills:
AWSAzureOracle CloudSalesforceServicenowWorkday
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • HR Tech • Information Technology • Productivity • Software • Automation
The role involves generating new business sales for ServiceNow.org targeting non-profits. It includes account planning, developing relationships, and achieving sales goals through effective strategies.
Top Skills:
AISaaS
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • HR Tech • Information Technology • Productivity • Software • Automation
The Customer Success Executive leads post-sales strategic efforts, ensuring customer transformations align with their goals and driving renewals and value realization.
Top Skills:
AIEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
What you need to know about the Los Angeles Tech Scene
Los Angeles is a global leader in entertainment, so it’s no surprise that many of the biggest players in streaming, digital media and game development call the city home. But the city boasts plenty of non-entertainment innovation as well, with tech companies spanning verticals like AI, fintech, e-commerce and biotech. With major universities like Caltech, UCLA, USC and the nearby UC Irvine, the city has a steady supply of top-flight tech and engineering talent — not counting the graduates flocking to Los Angeles from across the world to enjoy its beaches, culture and year-round temperate climate.
Key Facts About Los Angeles Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 375,800; 5.5% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Snap, Netflix, SpaceX, Disney, Google
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, adtech, media, software, game development
- Funding Landscape: $11.6 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Strong Ventures, Fifth Wall, Upfront Ventures, Mucker Capital, Kittyhawk Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: California Institute of Technology, UCLA, University of Southern California, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Quantum Science and Engineering
