Staff SoftwareSystems Engineer Low-Latency & Systems Programming | Cloud Security

Who is Tenable

Tenable is the Exposure Management company. 44000 organizations around the globe rely on Tenable to understand and reduce cyber risk. Our global employees support 65 percent of the Fortune 500 45 percent of the Global 2000 and large government agencies. Come be part of our journey!

What makes Tenable such a great place to work

Ask a member of our team and theyll answer Our people! We work together to build and innovate best-in-class cybersecurity solutions for our customers; all while creating a culture of belonging respect and excellence where we can be our best selves. When youre part of our #OneTenable team you can expect to partner with some of the most talented and passionate people in the industry and have the support and resources you need to do work that truly matters. We deliver results that exceed expectations and we win together!

Your Role:

We are looking for a Staff software/systems programmer who is obsessed with performance. This role is for a developer who might come from a background in game engine development high-frequency trading (HFT) database internals real-time simulation or similar. We are looking for engineers who currently apply these skills in a managed environment (like C# or Java) or who come directly from a deep C/C/Rust background.

Your mission is to write high-performance low-latency code that handles massive throughput on a single machine. You will dig into memory profiles hunt down GC pressure eliminate allocations and write code that is has a deep awareness of memory layout and hardware architecture to ensure maximum cache-locality and performance If your first instinct for solving a performance problem is to optimize a data structures memory layout not to add a Redis cache you are the person were looking for.

Your Opportunity:

• 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.

What Youll Need:

• A High-Performance Background: You have a proven track record working in the performance-critical domains listed above.
• Fluency in Memory Fundamentals: You dont 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 its 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).

And Ideally:

• Deep C/C/Rust Experience: A background in these languages is strongly desired. If youre a C# or Java developer were 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

#LI-Hybrid

#LI-LP1

Were committed to promoting Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) at Tenable - through all equal employment opportunity laws and regulations at the international federal state and local levels. If you need a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or recruiting process please contact for further assistance.

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