Go Core Client Engineer

Tailscale is building the new Internet by delivering software that makes it easy to securely interconnect people and their devices, no matter where they are. From hobbyists to multinational corporations, teams of every size use Tailscale each day to protect their networks, share access to internal tools, and more. We're building a future for the Internet that's easy, sensible, and safe, like it used to be. Founded in 2019 and fully distributed, we're backed by Accel, CRV, Insight, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital.

Job Description

We’re hiring a Go Core Client Engineer. This remote role is for an engineer who will design, implement, and operate the Go-based shared client code that powers our product. You’ll work on core client subsystems: connection management, NAT traversal, control connection, encrypted transport, client lifecycle, and cross-platform runtime. You will be expected to ship end-to-end features, and improve reliability, performance, and observability.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, test, and maintain core client features in Go: connection orchestration, reconnection strategies, NAT traversal, encrypted transport lifecycle, and sync logic.
• Ship end-to-end client work: design, implementation, launch, and observability (metrics, logs, traces).
• Diagnose and reduce client performance and reliability issues.
• Collaborate closely with product, per-platform clients, and platform teams.
• Champion engineering excellence by driving code quality, architectural reviews, and design documentation.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to other engineers, fostering a culture of learning and knowledge sharing.

What We Are Looking For

The list below captures the skills and experiences we use to evaluate candidates. A strong candidate will typically demonstrate a subset of those items. You don’t need to meet every bullet to be a good fit, and we consider the overall combination of skills, growth potential, and impact.

• Strong production experience writing and shipping Go code (experience with Go is required).
• Experience operating large Go codebases and designing robust client or distributed systems.
• Startup mindset: flexibility to adjust to changing priorities and thrive in an async, remote environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication and the ability to collaborate across product and engineering stakeholders

Nice to Have

• Experience with concurrency, performance tuning, and debugging.
• Solid networking and systems fundamentals: IP, routing, NATs, TCP/UDP, and TLS.
• Experience with P2P, WireGuard or similar encrypted transports and NAT traversal techniques.

As a company, we strive to maintain fair and equitable compensation practices within our team across all roles and all levels. Tailscale's compensation package includes base salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits. The salary range displayed on each job posting represents the target range for a new hire's base salary. Individual offers may vary based on experience and skill set.