As a Software Engineer at Open Systems, your daily focus revolves around building high-performance, secure, and reliable software. You will spend your time writing production-ready code, optimizing critical paths, and collaborating closely with cross-functional teams.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

• Designing and implementing scalable, low-latency software components in Go for our Network Detection and Response (NDR) platform.
• Optimizing network packet processing pipelines to handle massive throughput while maintaining a low resource footprint.
• Collaborating with security researchers to translate complex threat patterns into efficient, automated detection algorithms.
• Debugging complex, distributed systems issues across our global deployment footprint, ensuring high availability and system resilience.
• Participating in code reviews, architectural discussions, and mentoring junior engineers to maintain high engineering standards.
• Staying current with emerging system technologies, performance optimization techniques, and cybersecurity trends to continuously improve our product offerings.

To succeed in this role, you need a strong foundation in computer science, systems engineering, and practical software development. The team looks for candidates who are passionate about low-level systems and security.

• Must-have skills – Strong proficiency in Go (or a solid systems language like C/C++ with a proven ability to adapt quickly to Go), deep understanding of Unix/Linux systems programming, and expert-level knowledge of TCP/IP networking and network protocols.
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience in cybersecurity, threat detection, or network security engineering; familiarity with cloud-native architectures, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and modern CI/CD practices.
• Experience level – Typically 3+ years of professional software engineering experience for mid-level roles, and 6+ years for senior-level positions, preferably working on high-performance, distributed, or security-focused systems.
• Soft skills – Strong analytical thinking, excellent communication skills, ability to collaborate effectively in a cross-functional team, and a calm, methodical approach to solving complex problems under pressure.

Q: Do I need to have professional experience in Go before applying? A: While strong experience in Go is highly preferred, developers with deep systems programming experience in languages like C, C++, or Rust who can quickly master Go syntax and concurrency models are also highly competitive. However, you should expect to be evaluated on Go-specific code optimizations during the technical rounds.

Q: How difficult is the technical interview process? A: The process is considered average to difficult, depending on your familiarity with network protocols and systems-level programming. The interviewers go in-depth and test your ability to perform under pressure, but they are also very supportive and collaborative throughout the sessions.

Q: Is relocation assistance provided for roles in Zürich? A: Yes, Open Systems is highly supportive of relocation efforts and has a reputation for being very helpful and quick to assist successful candidates with the practicalities of moving to Zürich.

Q: What distinguishes a successful candidate from an average one? A: Successful candidates demonstrate a deep curiosity about how systems work under the hood. They don't just write code that works; they understand its impact on CPU, memory, and network resources, and they demonstrate a strong interest in modern cybersecurity challenges.

• Master Go concurrency and profiling: Before your interview, practice writing concurrent code in Go, and make sure you understand how to use profiling tools to identify memory leaks and CPU bottlenecks.

• Brush up on Unix network utilities: Be ready to discuss how you would use tools like tcpdump, wireshark, netstat, and lsof to diagnose real-world networking and system performance issues.

• Keep up with cybersecurity news: Be prepared to talk about recent high-profile cyber attacks, vulnerabilities (like Log4j or recent supply chain compromises), and how network-level visibility plays a role in detecting them.
• Communicate your design trade-offs: During system design and optimization tasks, clearly explain the trade-offs you are making between performance, readability, memory consumption, and security.

A Software Engineer position at Open Systems offers an exciting opportunity to work on cutting-edge network security technology that protects global enterprises. You will work alongside a talented, supportive engineering team, tackle complex systems-level challenges, and write high-performance software in Go within a stimulating and positive environment.

To give yourself the best chance of success, focus your preparation on core Unix systems programming, practical Go coding and optimization, deep TCP/IP networking, and modern cybersecurity concepts. Approach your interviews with a collaborative mindset, a passion for security, and a structured approach to problem-solving.

To explore further insights, detailed compensation data, and additional preparation resources, you can access comprehensive candidate reports and community data on Dataford. Good luck with your preparation—your journey to securing global enterprise networks starts here!

The compensation data above represents the competitive salary ranges offered for engineering roles at Open Systems in key hubs like Zürich. When evaluating your offer, consider the complete package, which often includes comprehensive benefits and support for relocation. Use this data to benchmark your expectations based on your experience level and technical expertise.