[Remote] Backstage SME - Enterprise Platform Engineering

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Blankfactor is seeking a Backstage Subject Matter Expert (SME) to build and operate an enterprise-wide internal developer portal using the Backstage framework. The role involves driving architecture, best practices, platform reliability, and developer adoption while collaborating with various teams to enhance the developer experience.ResponsibilitiesOwn the enterprise Backstage roadmap, including platform vision, standards, best practices, and adoption strategyArchitect and maintain a scalable Backstage deployment (availability, performance, upgrade strategy, plugin lifecycle management)Establish and enforce Backstage engineering standards (plugin patterns, API design, code quality, testing strategy, documentation, release cadence)Design and implement core IDP capabilities: Software Catalog modeling and governance (ownership, metadata standards, entity schemas, lifecycle, compliance), Scaffolder templates and golden paths (bootstrap services, infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes workloads), TechDocs and documentation workflows (templates, publishing pipelines, quality gates), Search and discoverability, APIs, and developer self-service experiencesBuild and maintain custom Backstage plugins and extend existing plugins to support enterprise needsIntegrate Backstage with the engineering toolchain (examples: GitHub, Azure DevOps, CI/CD systems, cloud providers, Kubernetes, observability, ticketing, secrets, service ownership)Implement enterprise-grade authentication and authorization patterns (SSO/OIDC/SAML, RBAC/ABAC concepts, secure plugin boundaries)Ensure secure-by-default practices: dependency management, secret handling, API hardening, supply chain security, and vulnerability remediationDefine governance processes for onboarding teams, approving templates/plugins, catalog hygiene, and operational supportLead and mentor engineers contributing to the portal (code reviews, design reviews, technical direction, best-practice coaching)Partner with infrastructure, security, and application teams to drive adoption and remove friction from developer workflowsDefine success metrics (adoption, time-to-onboard, golden path usage, reliability, developer satisfaction) and continuously improve the platformSkillsDeep expertise in Backstage architecture and best practices, including hands-on experience building and operating enterprise-scale Backstage platformsDemonstrated experience leading a team (technical leadership, mentorship, prioritization, delivery accountability) while remaining hands-onStrong proficiency with React (TypeScript) for Backstage frontend customization and plugin developmentStrong understanding of Backstage backend development (Node.js ecosystem) and platform integration patternsWorking knowledge of cloud and platform engineering fundamentals, including: Azure and AWS (ability to integrate platform services and workloads across cloud environments), Kubernetes (deployments, services/ingress concepts, cluster operations awareness, workload onboarding patterns), Terraform (infrastructure provisioning patterns, modules, environment strategies)Strong familiarity with developer platform capabilities: CI/CD enablement, golden paths, self-service workflows, documentation automation, Observability concepts (logs/metrics/traces) and operational readiness (runbooks, on-call considerations)Strong communication skills and ability to influence standards across multiple engineering teamsPrior open-source contributions to Backstage (plugins, core framework, documentation, RFCs) or other CNCF / platform ecosystem projectsExperience implementing multi-tenant or multi-org Backstage patterns (segmented catalogs, authorization models, plugin governance)Experience with Backstage ecosystem tooling such as: Advanced Scaffolder patterns (custom actions, complex workflows, policy/guardrails), TechDocs scaling, doc-as-code enablement, standardization across many repos, Plugin development practices (shared components, design system alignment, versioning strategy)Familiarity with GitOps approaches and platform delivery patterns (e.g., Argo CD / Flux concepts)Experience integrating Backstage with enterprise systems (ticketing/ITSM, CMDB, identity, secrets managers, cost tooling, security scanning)Company OverviewBlankfactor is a team of engineers, project managers, issue solvers & tech consultants committed to developing & innovating tech solutions. It was founded in 2019, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, with a workforce of 501-1000 employees. Its website is https://blankfactor.com/.Company H1B SponsorshipBlankfactor has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 3 in 2025, 1 in 2024. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role.