Senior Software Engineer - Developer Experience (DevEX)

Location:Palo Alto, CA

Department:Engineering

About the Role:

Our mission is to build the software and platforms that empower product engineers to ship high-quality code at the speed of thought. We believe that internal infrastructure should be invisible; our goal is to design elegant abstractions and self-service tools that remove the cognitive load of deployment, allowing developers to focus entirely on building value for our customers.

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Developer Experience team, you will treat our internal engineers as your primary customers. You will architect and build the robust tooling layer that sits between raw infrastructure and product code, ensuring that every interaction with our platform is seamless, intuitive, and highly automated.

This is a high-leverage infrastructure role. You won't just be managing a single pipeline; you'll be building the platform that manages hundreds of them. Your success is measured by the stability of the production fleet despite an unprecedented rate of change.  We are building the rails for the future of software development. If you want to be the engineer who ensures we ship at the speed of thought with total safety, let’s talk.  

What You’ll Do:

  • You will lead the development of internal software products that automate complex release and verification workflows. By building internal portals and API-driven automation, you will abstract away the underlying complexity of our delivery engine, providing a "golden path" for product engineers to move from development to production without friction.
  • Develop Core Platform Services & APIs: Design and implement high-performance, internal services that expose CI/CD capabilities as self-service APIs to reduce "Lead Time to Production."
  • Engineer Self-Service Environment Provisioning: Build the internal software and APIs that allow product engineers to programmatically provision, orchestrate, and instantly tear down high-volume, ephemeral test environments for rapid, throwaway validation of AI-authored code.
  • Build Automated Release Agents: Develop intelligent software agents that consume real-time telemetry and health signals to automate "Go/No-Go" progressive rollout decisions, granular traffic shifting, and automatic rollbacks.
  • Integrate Developer Observability Tools: Implement and integrate "Shift-Left" observability features directly into the developer workflow and Internal Developer Portal, allowing feature teams to quickly distinguish between traditional bugs and behavioral drift in AI-integrated services.
  • Enforce Standards via Policy-as-Code Guardrails: Implement and manage policies, defined as code (e.g., using Rego or built-in IaC controls), that automatically enforce compliance, security, and architectural standards (e.g., resource tagging, mandatory security headers, PII filtering) as a non-negotiable step in the CI/CD pipeline.
  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC) at Scale: Own the provisioning and management of our service fleet. Manage the scaling and resource allocation for hundreds of task-specific services using modern IaC patterns (Terraform, AWS CDK, etc.).

What We Are Looking For:

  • A minimum of 5+ years of progressive industry experience in a software engineering role is required.
  • Proficiency in Python and experience building high-performance, API-driven internal services, preferably using Go or Rust.
  • Deep experience architecting and operating modern CI/CD systems (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab).
  • Proven background in designing and deploying systems using container orchestration (e.g., ECS Fargate, Kubernetes).
  • Demonstrable history with advanced deployment strategies (Blue/Green, Canary, Feature Flags) and automating real-time "Go/No-Go" decisions.
  • Experience implementing Policy-as-Code (e.g., Rego or IaC controls) to enforce architectural, compliance, and security standards in a pipeline.
  • Hands-on experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform or AWS CDK to manage a large service fleet
  • The Automation Expert: You are a Senior-level Software Engineer with deep experience in modern CI/CD (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, etc.) and container orchestration (ECS Fargate).
  • A "Scale-First" Thinker: You understand that AI-driven code changes the math of CI/CD. You are comfortable building systems that handle 10x the typical PR volume and require massively parallel testing.
  • Reliability Strategist: You have experience with advanced deployment patterns (Blue/Green, Canary, Feature Flags) and know how to automate the "Go/No-Go" decision based on real-time data.
  • Rigorous & Deterministic: You are obsessed with consistency. You believe that while code generation may be probabilistic, the pipeline that delivers it must be a fortress of determinism.

 

The posted pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the compensation for this position and is subject to change based on business need. To determine a successful candidate’s starting pay, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location, an evaluation of the candidate’s skills and experience, market demands, and internal parity.

For roles with on-target-earnings (OTE), the pay range includes both base salary and target incentive compensation. Target incentive compensation for some roles may include a ramping draw period. Compensation is higher for those who exceed targets. Candidates may receive more information from the recruiter.

Pay Range
$113,400$252,000 USD

About Navan

Navan (Nasdaq: NAVN) is the global AI-powered business travel and expense platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers. From finding flights and hotels, to automating expense reconciliation, with 24/7 support along the way, Navan delivers an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on. See how Navan customers benefit and learn more at navan.com.

Culture of Excellence

Our team is our competitive edge — a high-performance group of smart, driven people committed to winning together. This dedication to excellence is why we’ve been recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In (2023–2026), a G2 Best Global Software Company (2025–2026), Forbes Cloud 100 (2022–2025), and CNBC Disruptor 50 (2022–2025). At Navan, we provide an environment where top talent excels, offering the autonomy and fast-paced trajectory needed to build a defining career and do the best work of your life.

Our Benefits

Navan offers a comprehensive benefits program designed to support your well-being, financial security, and life outside of work. Our benefits, thoughtfully tailored by country to meet local needs, include healthcare coverage, insurance offerings, and wellness resources for you and your family.

We support long-term financial growth through retirement savings programs and opportunities to participate in our equity plans, so you can share in Navan’s success. To promote balance, we offer flexible time off, country-specific holidays, and paid parental leave for all new parents. Additional benefits include connectivity and commuting support*, mental health resources, and exclusive travel-related perks. Wherever you’re based, our benefits evolve with you.

Workplace Policy

Navan believes in the value of in-person connections, whether that’s sitting down to have lunch with one another, taking a walking 1:1, or collaborating in a room together. The connections forged through face-to-face interactions improve company culture and drive business results. Navan invests in global office spaces — in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, among others — that feel welcoming. In-office perks such as company-provided lunches and happy hours create a strong team environment to help you do your best work. Our employees work from the office four days a week. Please expect this policy for all roles that are tied to an office.

Equal Opportunity

Navan is an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions based solely on merit. We provide equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees without discrimination on the bases of race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We prohibit any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring.

Accommodations

Navan complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act, and all applicable state or local law. Navan will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability in connection with applications for employment as required by law.

If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, you are welcome to email us at talent-accommodations@navan.com.

Candidate Privacy Notice and Use of AI

As part of the recruitment process, certain personal data may be processed using automated tools, including tools that use AI. For details on how Navan collects and uses your personal data, please review Navan's Candidate Privacy Notice here.

Job Search Best Practices

We have been made aware of recruitment scams involving fraudulent attempts to lure job seekers into sending money or personal information in return for fake job offers or coerce them into purchasing equipment by electronic funds transfer (Zelle, Venmo, etc.) Legitimate Navan recruiters will never ask for money in any recruitment or onboarding activities. All available job openings at Navan will be posted on Navan’s website and all Navan recruiters will be reachable through an email address ending in “@navan.com” or “@navan.tech” or "@talent.navan.com".

*Applies to select locations.