Data Center Operations Engineer — Automation & Uptime

Meta; Richmond (VA); On-site; USD 84,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Meta is seeking a forward-thinking Production Operations Engineer for its Data Center Operations team in Richmond, VA. The role focuses on hands-on Linux server management, hardware expertise, and automation to support a rapidly scaling infrastructure.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years in IT infrastructure, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to drive root-cause analyses across large-scale data centers. This position includes on-call shifts and travel up to 15% to meet site needs.

Qualifications

• BS, BA or BEng in technical field or commensurate experience.
• 5+ years of technical IT experience within an infrastructure environment, in a role such as Systems Administrator, DevOps Engineer, or Site Reliability Engineer.
• Intermediate-level understanding in Linux (or equivalent OS) in a complex IT environment with the ability to triage, debug, and troubleshoot server issues.
• Hands-on experience and knowledge of server hardware and components, including storage.
• Intermediate-level knowledge of data center interdependencies including electrical, cooling, structured cabling, security, and network.
• Experience managing technical issues and driving to root cause.
• Experience in technical projects related to process improvement, technology, and/or automation.
• Ability to communicate effectively to diverse audiences.
• Intermediate knowledge of HTTP, DNS, RAID, and DHCP.
• Experience in providing technical guidance to external vendors.
• Experience in scripting languages such as Bash, Python, SQL, Go or Perl.
• Knowledge of IPMI and serial console for out-of-band management.
• Experience using data and metrics to drive decisions.

Responsibilities

• Support platform health by resolving tickets, addressing root causes, and performing remote troubleshooting and physical inspections in data halls.
• Participate in deep dives and root cause analyses of highly technical issues.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on projects related to process, hardware and automation.
• Be point of contact for introducing new platforms and hardware to the site, accelerating mass production.
• Use data and tooling to identify issues and communicate with stakeholders; escalate as needed.
• Identify corrective actions for hardware issues and coordinate with internal teams and vendors.
• Influence future design changes to improve serviceability and scalability.
• Solve hardware/software issues at scale using scripting, automation, and tooling.
• Continuously evaluate processes, tools and systems to improve efficiency and repair quality.
• Use data analytics to maximize server uptime and utilization; monitor failure rates and SLAs.
• Provide mentoring to team members and define updates to tools and processes.
• Offer engineering support and be a go-to technical resource for teams and leadership.
• Maintain and update runbooks, procedures, and guides.
• Build cross-functional relationships to improve global data center operations.
• Participate in 24/7 on-call rotation.
• Travel up to 15%.

Skills

Linux

Server hardware

Scripting

Networking

Automation

DevOps

Data center

Education

BS/BA in technical field

Tools

IPMI

Serial console

SQL

Job description

Meta is seeking a forward-thinking Production Operations Engineer for its Data Center Operations team in Richmond, VA. The role focuses on hands-on Linux server management, hardware expertise, and automation to support a rapidly scaling infrastructure.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years in IT infrastructure, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to drive root-cause analyses across large-scale data centers. This position includes on-call shifts and travel up to 15% to meet site needs.