Software Engineer, Infrastructure Resident | Persona Identities | Handshake

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APPLICATIONS CLOSE MONDAY, JUNE 29TH AT 11:59 PM PT

About the role

Persona's infrastructure team builds the foundation that everything else runs on: cloud platforms, Kubernetes, databases, CI/CD pipelines, networking, and observability. As an Infrastructure Engineering Resident, you'll work on real production systems from day one, contributing to the reliability and performance of our identity platform alongside seasoned engineers.

This position is based in San Francisco. The team is in the office Tuesday through Thursday, with the option to work from home on Monday and Friday. We offer relocation support for those based outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.

About the Program

Persona's Infrastructure Engineering Residency is a 3-month program for folks early in their career who are ready to get their hands on real systems from day one.
You won't be doing tutorial work. You'll embed with one of our infrastructure teams, pick up starter tickets, and build working knowledge of the tools that actually run production, such as cloud platforms, container orchestration, CI/CD, and more.
By the end, you'll have the fundamentals and a clear path to a full-time infrastructure engineering role.

What you'll bring to Persona

Engineers who are early in their careers or entering the industry for the first time

Systems-level curiosity: You want to know how things work, whether it's containers, networking, or deployment pipelines.

Independent thinking: You unblock yourself, learn from mistakes quickly, and drive toward solutions rather than waiting for direction.

People first: You care about more than just the systems; you care about the engineers who depend on them and the customers they serve.

Continuous learner: You are excited to pick up new tools, understand new services, and get comfortable not knowing everything yet.

Collaborative spirit: You thrive in team environments, value diverse perspectives, and are willing to pair, ask questions, and learn across functions.

What you'll gain from the Program

Hands-on experience: Solve real problems on production infrastructure, not simulations

Mentorship: You'll be paired with a dedicated mentor on your host team who owns your ramp, meets with you regularly, and is your first stop when you're blocked. You'll also learn from engineers who have built and operated infrastructure at some of the fastest growing or largest technology companies in the world

Fast-track to full-time: Excel in the program and join us as a full-time infrastructure engineer

Collaborative culture: Work across infrastructure, product engineering, and security teams to see how infra enables the entire business

Why this is exciting: You'll join a small, high-impact infrastructure team at a fast-growing startup where the systems you touch underpin everything Persona does. If you're driven, curious, and excited about building the foundation other engineers depend on, we want to hear from you.

What success looks like

By the end of your three months, you will have:

Built a working mental model of your team's slice of the stack, enough to explain it to the next new engineer

Shipped at least one change to production with guidance, and written up what you changed so the next person can follow it

Found and named at least one rough edge, a gap in tooling, docs, or observability, and proposed a concrete fix

Built working relationships with the engineers and partner teams you depend on, and know where to go when you're stuck

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