Senior Staff Machine Identity and PKI Engineer

Description

About the role

Give every service account, workload, certificate, token and AI agent at Nscale an identity with a named owner, the least access it needs, and credentials that expire and renew automatically.

As our Senior Staff Machine Identity and PKI Engineer, you'll set technical standards across SRE, platform and product. You'll own decisions with long-term consequences, from certificate authority (CA) design to post-quantum planning, bringing deep specialist judgment to machine identity, secrets and PKI.

Responsibilities

• Build the non-human identity register, covering cloud service accounts, CI credentials, API keys, tokens, certificates and agent identities, each with an owner, scope and rotation date.
• Replace static, long-lived credentials with short-lived workload identity using GitHub Actions OIDC, cloud workload identity federation, Kubernetes service account tokens, and SPIFFE/SPIRE where it fits.
• Own Nscale's PKI and lead implementation of a certificate lifecycle management platform, with selection currently under way. Automate issuance and renewal using ACME, cert-manager and EST/SCEP, and implement device certificates for managed endpoints.
• Set the machine secrets standard and partner with SRE, who run HashiCorp Vault, on how workloads authenticate to it and use its PKI.
• Define how AI agents and tool integrations get their own identity, a human owner, scoped access and a tested kill switch.
• Plan for post-quantum cryptography across the certificate estate.
• What you'll bring
• 10+ years in platform engineering, infrastructure security or SRE, with deep work on workload identity, secrets and PKI, including designing CA hierarchies and leading standards adopted across several teams.
• Hands-on PKI expertise spanning CA hierarchy design, certificate profiles, revocation and HSMs, plus experience with a certificate lifecycle management platform such as Keyfactor, Entrust, AppViewX, DigiCert or similar.
• Production experience with HashiCorp Vault, including auth methods, dynamic secrets and the PKI engine.
• Experience with cloud workload identity, OIDC federation from CI, Kubernetes service accounts and RBAC.
• The ability to write code in Go or Python and work with Terraform.
• Helpful experience
• GCP workload identity experience.
• What we can offer you
• At Nscale, you'll find a collaborative, supportive, and innovative environment where your contributions spark real impact. We're building something extraordinary, and we want you at the core.
• Highly competitive US compensation package (base + bonus + equity), with performance reviews every 12 months.
• Join one of the fastest-growing AI infrastructure companies — your chance to directly shape how global AI capacity is planned and deployed.
• Expect a dynamic progression plan tailored to your ambitions. Grow by leading critical cross-functional initiatives and shaping capital strategy — always with our full support.
• Human-First Flexibility: We treat you as humans first. 🏽 Our flexible workplace trusts Nscalers to deliver, giving you the autonomy to shape your day around life's moments.
• Equal Opportunities Statement
• We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
• If there’s anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.
• The responsibilities outlined in this job description are not exhaustive and are intended to provide a general overview of the position. The employee may be required to perform additional duties, tasks, and responsibilities as assigned by management, consistent with the skills and qualifications required for the role.

Conditions

The range below reflects the base salary for the position. Actual compensation may vary based on job-related factors such as skill set, experience, education, and location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for bonus, equity, and/or commission programs. Nscale may offer a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, flexible paid time off, parental leave, and retirement plan participation.

The range below reflects the base salary for the position. Actual compensation may vary based on job-related factors such as skill set, experience, education, and location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for bonus, equity, and/or commission programs. Nscale may offer a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, flexible paid time off, parental leave, and retirement plan participation.

$210,000 - $270,000 USD

Nscale does not accept unsolicited candidate submissions from recruitment agencies.