Senior Kubernetes & Infrastructure Engineer

Location: Union City, Ca

Department: Engineering

Company Description

Third Wave Automation is a rapidly growing startup that has demonstrated its core technology components, proven its market fit, and just closed its Series C funding. If you are excited about cutting edge machine learning, robotics that affects the real world, and want to join a company where your skills can have a huge impact, you’ll fit right in. 

Third Wave Automation is applying modern machine learning to materials handling—delivering site-specific forklift navigation and infrastructure-free pallet handling that continuously adapts to changing floor configuration and warehouse demand. 

Job Description

Third Wave Automation is looking for a Senior Kubernetes & Infrastructure Engineer to help us build and scale the core systems powering our autonomous forklifts. This is a high-impact individual contributor role focused on designing, deploying, and debugging the robust, scalable, and efficient software infrastructure that supports our real-time, safety-critical robotic systems. You'll be a key player in our cloud and on-premise environments, ensuring our systems are reliable and performant at scale.

How You Can Make an Impact

• Design and Implement Deployment Strategies: Architect and implement deployment strategies for new services, focusing on reliability and scalability across both cloud and on-premises environments.
• Debug and Maintain Kubernetes Clusters: Take ownership of debugging complex issues within our on-premise and edge Kubernetes clusters, ensuring system reliability under real-world conditions.
• Develop and Maintain Helm Charts: Create, optimize, and manage Helm charts to streamline the packaging and deployment of our robotic applications.
• Optimize Networked Systems: Design and troubleshoot complex networked systems used in communication between vehicles, edge systems, and cloud services.
• Improve Core Infrastructure: Contribute to the design and implementation of core infrastructure components in the cloud and on-premises.
• Automate and Expand: Develop and maintain infrastructure as code to ensure the scalability and reliability of systems
• Collaborate and Lead: Partner with autonomy, perception, and other infrastructure teams to operationalize robotics software, and mentor other engineers on best practices for deployment and systems reliability.

Desired Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 2+ years in a senior individual contributor capacity.
• Deep expertise in Kubernetes, including experience with on-premises deployments, debugging, and advanced networking.
• Proven hands-on experience creating and managing Helm charts and designing deployment strategies.
• Thorough understanding of network protocols, distributed system design, and fault-tolerant communication.
• Understanding of Linux internals: namespaces, containers, filesystems and networking
• Proficiency in Terraform, Pulumi or other Infrastructure as Code platform
• Familiarity writing Python and Bash scripts
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Bonus Points For 

• Experience working in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or other real-time/safety-critical systems.
• Familiarity with container runtimes and edge deployment strategies.
• Exposure to real-time networking, QoS, or time synchronization in distributed systems.

The pay range for this position is $125,000 - $205,000/yr+ benefits+equity; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.  Base pay information is based on market location.

More About Working Here

Our Core Values:

• Safety. We consider safety in everything we do.
• People. We care about our teammates as people.
• Encouragement. We encourage teaching, asking questions, and sharing opinions.
• Transparency. We are transparent and sincere in our actions.

A robust set of benefits and perks:

• Comprehensive benefits. Health, Dental, Vision, and a 401k matching program, to boot!
• Flexible working schedule. Be productive when you work best.
• Show & Tell. We love to learn from one another, and see the cool stuff everyone is working on!
• Meals are covered. Lunch is provided every day, and dinner for those evenings that run long.
• Stacks of snacks. Donuts are a main food group, and the snack shelf is always stocked with a wide variety of items.
• Great teammates. One of the best parts of working here!

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We value each person's expertise and experiences. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. 

All qualified applicants able to work in the United States are encouraged to apply. We are unable to sponsor H-1 visas subject to fees required by the ‘Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers’ Presidential Proclamation dated September 21, 2025.