Lead / Principal DevOps Engineer / SRE

Phaxis; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Phaxis is partnering with a major risk-modeling SaaS provider to hire a Principal DevOps Engineer / Site Reliability Engineer. The role leads DevOps and SRE initiatives for the platform, shaping architecture, automation, and standard practices so product teams can build, test, and deploy safely and independently.

The ideal candidate has 10+ years in DevOps/Platform Engineering, 3+ years AWS design/operations, and hands-on coding in Python or Java.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in DevOps/Platform Engineering with at least 5 years in senior/lead roles.
• 3+ years designing and operating AWS-based solutions.
• 5+ years hands-on development in Python or Java.
• Proven experience deploying microservices in distributed production environments.
• 2+ years hands-on with GitHub Enterprise.
• Experience architecting scalable microservices and CI/CD.
• Expert Terraform at scale; Docker & Kubernetes experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve a modern DevOps platform for end-to-end build, test, and deployment workflows.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines for microservices, data workloads, and batch jobs.
• Enforce repository standards, code quality, and automation patterns across teams.
• Architect infrastructure-as-code with AWS CDK and Terraform.
• Provide automated deployment workflows and reusable infrastructure patterns.
• Set technical direction on resiliency, security, and scalability.
• Improve observability with dashboards, alerts, logs, and traces.
• Create documentation and templates; mentor engineers through reviews.

Skills

DevOps leadership

Python/Java development

AWS cloud

CI/CD design

Observability & reliability

Tools

GitHub Enterprise

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS CDK

Job description

Our client, a major provider of risk modeling tools that has been around for over 40 years is looking for a Principal DevOps Engineer / Site Reliability Engineer to lead and drive the DevOps and SRE initiatives for their SaaS platform. The Principal DevOps Engineer will lead the design of their engineering platform, standards, and automation to enable product teams to build, test, and deploy independently and safely. The role is a hands‑on leader that can partner with engineering teams to create self‑service pipelines and infrastructure that production teams can confidently operate and build from.

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve a modern DevOps platform that enables engineering teams to own their build, test, and deployment workflows end‑to‑end.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions or similar) for microservices, data workloads, and batch jobs.
• Define and enforce repository and branching standards, code quality practices, and automation patterns across engineering teams.
• Architect and implement infrastructure‑as‑code using AWS CDK and Terraform for consistent provisioning.
• Partner with teams to give them strong, automated deployment workflows and infrastructure patterns rather than directly running production.
• Collaborate with architects and senior engineers to set technical direction and make key platform decisions around resiliency, security, and scalability.
• Drive best practices around observability and reliability (dashboards, alerts, logs, traces) so production teams have the insight they need to operate services.
• Produce clear documentation, reference implementations, and templates.
• Mentor and coach engineers by pairing, code reviews, and design reviews.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in DevOps / Platform Engineering, with at least 5 years in a senior or lead role.
• 3+ years designing and operating solutions on AWS cloud services and architecture.
• 5+ years of hands‑on development experience in Python or Java.
• Proven experience architecting, building, and deploying microservices in distributed, production environments.
• 2+ years of hands‑on experience with GitHub Enterprise.
• Experience designing and evolving microservices architectures for scalability.
• Strong architecture experience designing large‑scale CI/CD and release engineering infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience establishing and enforcing repository standards, naming conventions, and governance policies at scale.
• Expert‑level proficiency with Terraform for infrastructure‑as‑code at scale.
• Practical experience with Docker and Kubernetes for containerization and orchestration.

Big Pluses

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer or Solutions Architect certification.
• Experience with platform tools like Backstage.
• Experience implementing DevOps KPIs AKA DORA.