Build what’s next with us.

Your team has goals, and your leader will help you understand priorities. But within that, you have real agency. You're expected to understand why something matters, not just what needs doing. If you think something is more important than what's currently on the board, make the case.

More than you might expect, especially as you build context. We trust everyone to make decisions and get things done. That doesn't mean you go rogue, it means you use your judgment, communicate what you're doing and why, and course correct when you learn new information.

It's ok to break production, but not people. If you ship something that causes an incident, the right response is to fix it, write a post incident review, and make sure we learn from it. Nobody gets punished for honest mistakes in good faith. Repeating the same mistake because you didn't learn from it, that's a different conversation.

This is something we are always aiming to get better at. In a small, distributed company, information doesn't always flow as well as it should. Your best tools are: Slack channels, Notion docs, the All Buildkite Catch Ups (ABCs), and asking people directly. If you feel like you're missing context, you probably are, and the fix is usually to ask.

Yes, we encourage you to use AI like a power tool… verify its output, adapt it to your context, and understand what it's doing. Don't use it on autopilot.

A mix of Zoom calls, Slack, and a lot of written communication. We work async by default, which means you need to be good at writing clearly, communicating your thinking, and knowing when to pick up a call instead of going back and forth in a thread. We also make time to enjoy each other's company. Every two weeks we have an all-hands where we share what's happening across the company (and for those who are into it, a very competitive game of Kahoot).

We're flexible, we care about the work getting done, not when you're at your desk. Most of our team is based in Australia, with others spread across the US and beyond, so time zones are something we all think about and flex around together. In practice, that means AU-based team members often start a little earlier and finish earlier to get overlap with the US. Nobody is expected to be always on, but being thoughtful about communication (keeping people in the loop and being responsive within your working day) matters a lot in a distributed team.

We use a company-wide Career Framework that sets clear expectations for every level, so you always know what's expected of you and what growth looks like from where you are. Performance is a conversation, not a surprise. You'll have regular check-ins with your leader about how things are going, where you're excelling, and where to focus next.

The whole hiring process happens over Zoom. We put real thought into making it a good experience, we want you to be able to do your best, not just get through a gauntlet. Once you're in, onboarding runs on two tracks. There's a company-wide program to help you get familiar with how Buildkite works, the culture, the tools, the context. Then there's a team-specific onboarding that you drive, with a buddy to guide you through it. Your buddy will be there to help you get up to speed faster and feel connected to the team from day one.