Site Reliability Engineer

trivago N.V.; Düsseldorf; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Visa support

Relocation package

Remote work days up to 20/year

On-site gym

Job summary

trivago seeks a Site Reliability Engineer to keep our data backbone running, managing Kafka clusters and data services at scale. You’ll own reliability with a strong software engineering mindset and collaborate across teams to improve performance and resilience.

You’ll work in a hybrid setup in Düsseldorf, contributing to runbooks, automation, and AI-assisted tooling while growing into senior SRE responsibilities with clear ownership of critical infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Hands-on production Kubernetes experience.
• Strong troubleshooting in distributed data systems.
• Experience with cloud/on-prem infrastructure setups.

Responsibilities

• Join on-call rotation for Kafka, Flink, Cassandra, Redis.
• Operate infrastructure across Google Cloud Platform (GKE, Compute Engine) and Rancher on-prem.
• Build monitoring and observability for data services.
• Automate repetitive tasks and leverage AI-assisted tooling.
• Contribute to runbooks, docs, and engineering blogs.

Skills

Kubernetes in prod

Kafka experience

GCP (GKE)

Rancher

Monitoring/Observability

Incident response

Automation/AI tooling

Tools

Kubernetes

Kafka

GKE

Rancher

Flink

Cassandra

Redis

MySQL

Job description

When travelers are searching for a hotel, we want the obvious choice to be trivago! Our leading metasearch engine is super fast and constantly optimized - enabling millions of travelers to compare hotel prices from hundreds of booking sites and find great deals in just a few clicks. We use cutting-edge technology, real-time auction, and machine learning techniques with petabytes of data to create an experience - time and money saved! In the lively city of Düsseldorf, we seize opportunities to learn everyday, innovate, and make an enduring mark on the travel industry. At trivago you will find those who aren't afraid of change but rather embrace it, turning every challenge into a pathway for growth. Join trivago, work with a great team, and grow with us!

Join us in making a difference

As a Site Reliability Engineer in our SRE Data Squad, you'll help keep trivago's data backbone running — 8 production Kafka clusters moving over 900K messages per second, plus our managed Flink, Cassandra, and Redis services. You'll apply a software engineering mindset to operations, building the bridge between the two and turning reliability into a craft. You'll grow into a trusted voice on some of trivago's most demanding data systems, deepening your infrastructure expertise with real ownership, a clear path toward senior SRE work, and the stability to build a lasting career here. trivago is a place where ambition and support go hand in hand — we hold high standards and genuinely invest in each other's growth.

Curious how your day-to-day could look?

How you’ll make an impact

• Join our on-call rotation for trivago's Kafka, Flink, Cassandra, and Redis services — we use a 4-person rotation, so incident duty is shared and recovery time is protected.
• Run and operate our infrastructure across Google Cloud Platform (GKE and Compute Engine) and our on-premises datacenter (Rancher).
• Build monitoring and observability for the applications and data services the team supports.
• Document the actions you take and turn repetitive work into automation — including with AI-assisted tooling where it genuinely helps.
• Contribute to runbooks, technical documentation, and our engineering blog.
• Debug issues across services and levels of the stack, and contribute to the team's issues and OKRs.

What you’ll need to thrive

• Hands-on experience operating Kubernetes in production, together with practical Kafka experience — the two technologies this squad works with every day.
• Experience running infrastructure in both cloud and on-premises environments, ideally Google Cloud Platform (GKE and Compute Engine) and Rancher; experience with Flink, Cassandra, Redis, or MySQL is a welcome bonus.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills in distributed, data-intensive systems — you move from first symptom to root cause across multiple services, and you're comfortable setting your own priorities, including under incident pressure.
• A genuine learning mindset — you approach challenges with curiosity, seek out feedback, and continuously look for ways to develop and grow.
• A performance mindset — you set ambitious goals for yourself and have the determination and resilience to follow through and achieve them.
• An open and curious mindset toward AI tools and automation — you actively explore how AI can support incident triage, runbook automation, and daily operations, and you're excited to grow alongside evolving technologies.

Not ticking every box? We still want to hear from you. Your application does not need to include a photo.

Want to know more about life at trivago? Check out what our colleagues say on kununu and Glassdoor.

Recruiting process for this role

• Asynchronous video interview
• Case study
• Technical interview + case study presentation
• Profile Dynamics Assessment
• Final interview with key stakeholders

What you can look forward to

trivago is a place where technical ambition meets genuine investment in your growth — here's what you can look forward to:

Own your stack. We give engineers real agency over technical decisions. You'll work in small, autonomous teams with direct access to production, where your choices have measurable impact and your input actively shapes how we build.

Stay sharp with dedicated learning opportunities. Beyond our campus library and free online courses, engineers get access to specialist technical meetups, internal guilds, architecture reviews, certifications, specialist tools, and hands-on experimentation time.

Ship fast, learn faster. We run a continuous deployment culture with short feedback loops. You'll move from idea to production in days — with the autonomy, tooling, and trust to iterate quickly and own your outcomes end to end.

AI-native engineering environment. We actively invest in AI tooling for developers — including coding assistants, AI-powered workflows, and dedicated experimentation time. We build it into how we work.

As you grow, so do we. This is why at trivago, we prioritize your development, offer personalized coaching through Nilo, and provide workshops, educational meetups, conferences, free online learning courses, and access to a fully-equipped campus library.

Enjoy your office days. Use your daily canteen budget to share lunch with colleagues in our canteen, help yourself to complimentary snacks and drinks in our kitchens, choose from a variety of fitness options with our on-site gym, sports classes, and Urban Sports Club membership, and enjoy the comfort of ergonomic desks and focused work areas.

Moving to join us? No problem. You can count on the visa support from our talent support team, a relocation package, interest-free newcomer loan, free language classes, regular team and many company-wide events to build experiences together.

Life happens. We offer self-determined vacation (with a minimum of 25 vacation days), flexible working hours, up to 2 work from home days weekly. Additionally you can work remotely from a different location, within Germany or selected countries abroad for up to 20 days per year. You also get free access to the Heycare platform for personalized nanny assistance, and an on-campus kids room.