Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineer - US Government

Palantir Technologies; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; Confidential; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Commuter benefits

401k plan

Job summary

Palantir Technologies in the United States is seeking a Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineer to build, operate, and maintain high‑performance, scalable services for production infrastructure, primarily across on‑prem environments for the US Government.

You will travel to various locations as the expert for Palantir's infrastructure, helping partner teams configure hardware and network for reliable software operation. Strong automation and on‑call participation are expected.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of Linux system administration experience (RHEL or equivalent).
• Experience with hardware environments, including setup, configuration, and management of physical servers and networking equipment.
• Familiarity with monitoring systems like Prometheus and health checks.
• Proficiency in at least one programming or scripting language (e.g., Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, Bash).
• Strong engineering background in CS/Math/SE/Physics/Data Science.
• Active US Security Clearance at or above Top Secret.

Responsibilities

• Maintaining availability of physical Linux servers powering Palantir's platform in air-gapped production environments.
• Design, deploy, and operate infrastructure to support customer and product requirements via modern orchestration and monitoring platforms.
• Collaborate with product teams on requirements and SLOs for deploying software into air-gapped environments.
• Identify, troubleshoot, and solve network and systems issues.
• Create scripts to automate routine operational tasks.
• Provide technical troubleshooting for production issues and participate in on-call rotation.

Skills

Linux system administration

Docker/Podman

OpenShift/Kubernetes

Scripting

Observability/Monitoring

Programming languages (Java/Go/Python/

Security best practices

Travel readiness

Education

Engineering degree or equivalent

Tools

Prometheus

Docker

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Job description

A World-Changing Company

Palantir builds the world’s leading software for data-driven decisions and operations. By bringing the right data to the people who need it, our platforms empower our partners to develop lifesaving drugs, forecast supply chain disruptions, locate missing children, and more.

The Role

We’re looking for Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineers who can help us build, operate, and maintain high-performance, scalable, and reliable services for our production infrastructure, primarily across on‑prem environments for the US Government. Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineers combine engineering experience and an innate drive to improve existing systems and processes, with the creativity to develop novel solutions to evolving challenges. Our team strives to automate processes wherever possible, using whichever tools are best for the job. You will travel to various locations where you will be the expert for Palantir's infrastructure, helping partner teams build & configure their hardware and network for software to operate reliably within.

We strongly believe in engineering teams being responsible for the operations of their services in production. In this role, you’ll work closely with engineers to advocate and participate in sensible, scalable, systems design and share responsibility with them in diagnosing, resolving, and preventing production issues.

Core Responsibilities

• Maintaining availability of physical Linux servers that power the Palantir platform in air-gapped production environments
• Design, deploy, and operate infrastructure to support customer & product requirements via modern orchestration & monitoring platforms
• Collaborate closely with product teams on requirements & SLOs for deploying software into air-gapped environments
• Identifying, troubleshooting, and solving network & systems issues
• Scripting to automate away routine operational tasks
• Provide technical troubleshooting support for production issues, ensuring timely resolution and minimal impact on operations. Participate in a support on-call schedule

What We Value

• Confidence in troubleshooting complex systems issues independently using stack traces and observability & systems tools
• Comfort with configuration management, load balancing, monitoring & alerting infrastructure, and container orchestration on small hardware form factors.
• Demonstrated ability to continuously learn and work independently, making decisions with minimal supervision while working in secure facilities
• Experience with containers (Docker/Podman) and orchestration (OpenShift/Kubernetes) at scale is a plus
• Preferred Certifications: DOD 8570 IAT Level II or greater (CISSP, Sec+), Unix/Linux Computing Environment (e.g Linux+, RHCE)

What We Require

• Available for 50% travel (domestic and international)
• 4+ years of experience with Linux system administration (RHEL or equivalent preferred)
• Experience with hardware environments, including setup, configuration, and management of physical servers and networking equipment
• Familiarity with monitoring systems using tools like Prometheus and writing health checks
• Proficiency with at least one programming or scripting language, such as Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, Bash, or similar languages.
• Strong engineering background, preferred in fields such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Software Engineering, Physics, and Data Science.
• Active US Security Clearance at or above the Top Secret level

Salary

The estimated salary range for this position is estimated to be $125,000 - $185,000/year. Total compensation for this position may also include Restricted Stock units, sign-on bonus, and other potential future incentives. Further note that total compensation for this position will be determined by each individual’s relevant qualifications, work experience, skills, and other factors. This estimate excludes the value of any potential sign-on bonus; the value of any benefits offered; and the potential future value of any long-term incentives.

Our benefits aim to promote health and wellbeing across all areas of Palantirians’ lives. We work to continuously improve our offerings and listen to our community as we design and update them. The list below details our available benefits and some of the perks that can be enjoyed as an employee of Palantir Technologies.

• Employees (and their eligible dependents) can enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance as well as voluntary life insurance
• Employees are automatically covered by Palantir’s basic life, AD&D and disability insurance
• Commuter benefits
• Relocation assistance
• Take what you need paid time off, not accrual based
• 2 weeks paid time off built into the end of each year (subject to team and business needs)
• 10 paid holidays throughout the calendar year
• Supportive leave of absence program including time off for military service and medical events
• Paid leave for new parents and subsidized back-up care for all parents
• Fertility and family building benefits including but not limited to adoption, surrogacy, and preservation
• Stipend to help with expenses that come with a new child
• Employees can enroll in Palantir’s 401k plan

Life at Palantir

We want every Palantirian to achieve their best outcomes, that is why we celebrate individuals’ strengths, skills, and interests, from your first interview to your longterm growth, rather than rely on traditional career ladders. Paying attention to the needs of our community enables us to optimize our opportunities to grow and helps ensure many pathways to success at Palantir. Promoting health and well-being across all areas of Palantirians’ lives is just one of the ways we’re investing in our community. Learn more at Life at Palantir and note that our offerings may vary by region.

In keeping consistent with Palantir’s values and culture, we believe employees are "better together" and in-person work affords the opportunity for more creative outcomes. Therefore, we encourage employees to work from our offices to foster connectivity and innovation. Many teams do offer hybrid options (WFH a day or two a week), allowing our employees to strike the right trade‑off for their personal productivity. Based on business need, there are a few roles that allow for "Remote" work on an exceptional basis. If you are applying for one of these roles, you must work from the state in which you are employed. If the posting is specified as Onsite, you are required to work from an office.

If you want to empower the world's most important institutions, you belong here. Palantir values excellence regardless of background. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer for all, including but not limited to Veterans and those with disabilities. Palantir is committed to making the application and hiring process accessible to everyone and will provide a reasonable accommodation for those living with a disability. If you need an accommodation for the application or hiring process, please reach out and let us know how we can help.