Principal Site Reliability Engineer - Austin, Texas

ShipperHQ; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

22 days PTO

401k Match

Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance

Maternity and Paternity Leave

Hybrid work in Austin

Compensation based on experience

Job summary

ShipperHQ is seeking a Principal Site Reliability Engineer to lead the evolution of our cloud platform, reliability strategy, and infrastructure architecture. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for scalable, resilient systems and engineering best practices that enable teams to move quickly and confidently.

You will own the vision and roadmap for cloud infrastructure, design highly available AWS environments, and drive IaC, CI/CD, observability, and incident management while mentoring

Qualifications

• 10+ years in Site Reliability Engineering, Platform Engineering, DevOps, Cloud Infrastructure, or Software Engineering.
• Proven experience operating large-scale, highly available cloud infrastructure in AWS.
• Strong software engineering background with production-grade code/automation skills.
• Expert-level Infrastructure as Code experience, preferably Terraform.
• Deep experience with CI/CD pipelines in GitLab or similar.
• Strong knowledge of Kubernetes and cloud-native architectures.
• Extensive observability, logging, monitoring, and incident response experience.
• Experience defining SLOs/SLIs and reliability best practices.
• Solid networking, security, Linux admin, and cloud architecture fundamentals.
• Experience supporting high-traffic SaaS and production environments.
• Proven ability to influence technical direction and mentor multiple teams.
• Experience in Agile environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical vision and roadmap for the cloud infrastructure and platform engineering initiatives.
• Design, build, and maintain highly available, scalable, and secure cloud infrastructure in AWS.
• Define and evolve Infrastructure as Code standards across environments (Terraform).
• Design and optimize CI/CD pipelines to enable fast, reliable software delivery.
• Define reliability standards, SLOs, SLIs, and incident management practices.
• Lead observability, monitoring, logging, and alerting across the platform.
• Build self-service platform capabilities and automation to reduce operational overhead.
• Drive modernization initiatives including containerization, orchestration, and scalability.
• Collaborate with Security for cloud security practices and governance.
• Mentor engineers and promote best practices across teams.
• Evaluate new technologies to improve scalability and developer productivity.
• Participate in incident response and continuous improvement of production systems.

Skills

Site Reliability

Platform Engineering

DevOps

Cloud Infrastructure

AWS

Terraform

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Observability

Security

Incident Response

Mentoring

Agile

Tools

Terraform

GitLab

Kubernetes

Job description

ShipperHQ is a trusted leader in the e-commerce shipping space, with over 15 years of experience helping merchants deliver better checkout experiences. Founded in 2009, we power shipping logic and checkout optimization for thousands of brands, from DTC disruptors to enterprise retailers, in 150+ countries. Based in Austin with a global team, we’re a fast-moving, product-led company shaping the future of e-commerce logistics.

Position Overview

ShipperHQ is looking for a Principal Site Reliability Engineer to lead the evolution of our cloud platform, reliability strategy, and infrastructure architecture. This is a highly technical, hands‑on leadership role responsible for designing scalable, resilient systems while establishing engineering best practices that enable our teams to move quickly and confidently.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical vision and roadmap for ShipperHQ's cloud infrastructure, reliability, and platform engineering initiatives.
• Design, build, and maintain highly available, scalable, and secure cloud infrastructure in AWS.
• Architect and evolve Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) standards across all environments.
• Design and optimize CI/CD pipelines that enable fast, reliable, and repeatable software delivery.
• Define and implement reliability standards, SLOs, SLIs, error budgets, and incident management best practices.
• Lead the design and implementation of observability, monitoring, logging, and alerting across the platform.
• Build self‑service platform capabilities and automation that empower engineering teams and reduce operational overhead.
• Drive infrastructure modernization initiatives, including containerization, orchestration, and platform scalability.
• Partner with Security to implement cloud security best practices, compliance controls, and governance.
• Collaborate with Engineering teams to improve application reliability, performance, and operational excellence.
• Lead technical decision‑making for infrastructure architecture and serve as a trusted advisor across engineering.
• Mentor engineers and promote best practices in cloud architecture, automation, reliability, and operational excellence.
• Evaluate and introduce new technologies that improve scalability, reliability, developer productivity, and operational efficiency.
• Participate in incident response, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement efforts for production systems.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in Site Reliability Engineering, Platform Engineering, DevOps, Cloud Infrastructure, or Software Engineering.
• Proven experience designing and operating large-scale, highly available cloud infrastructure in AWS.
• Strong software engineering background with the ability to write production-quality code and automation.
• Expert‑level experience with Infrastructure as Code, preferably Terraform.
• Deep experience designing and maintaining modern CI/CD pipelines using GitLab or similar platforms.
• Strong knowledge of Kubernetes, containerized workloads, and cloud-native architectures.
• Extensive experience with observability platforms, distributed tracing, logging, monitoring, and incident response.
• Experience defining and implementing SLOs, SLIs, and reliability engineering best practices.
• Strong understanding of networking, security, Linux systems administration, and cloud architecture.
• Experience supporting high‑traffic SaaS applications and mission‑critical production environments.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills with the ability to simplify complex technical challenges.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction without direct authority while mentoring engineers across multiple teams.
• Experience working in Agile development environments and partnering closely with cross‑functional engineering teams.

Why ShipperHQ?

This is a highly fast‑paced environment where no two days will look alike. For the right candidate, with the right attitude, there are fantastic opportunities for career progression. We are an agile, fast‑moving team that likes to roll up our sleeves and solve some of the biggest issues in shipping. You will learn more at ShipperHQ in a year than you would in 3 years at other companies, thanks to our collaborative learning culture that fosters continuous growth and innovation.

Benefits and Perks

• Collaborate with a motivated team, directly tying your results to organizational success
• 22 days of PTO plus public holidays
• 401k Match
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Maternity and Paternity Leave
• This is a hybrid, full‑time position working out of our Austin, TX office in the Arboretum Area
• Compensation is based on experience

At ShipperHQ, we’re proud to be a team that’s as diverse as the merchants we serve. As a member of the e-commerce community, we take responsibility to empower shops large and small to grow and thrive through the power of technology to heart. With honesty, responsiveness, and innovation at the center of all we do, we remain committed to hiring the right people for the job, regardless of race, background, religion, or eccentricity.