Senior Site Reliability Engineer - Data-Centric Engineering (Remote)

Devopsroles; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Akamai is seeking a Data-Centric Site Reliability Engineer to optimize the performance, availability, and routing of our mappings service using advanced data science and ML. You will analyze telemetry streams, build predictive observability tools, and drive data-driven architecture decisions.

This senior role emphasizes quantitative modeling, ML, and enterprise observability, working with global traffic data to prevent outages and improve customer experience.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Data Science, Statistics, CS, ML or quantitative field.
• 5+ years of experience applying data science to large-scale distributed systems.
• Deep knowledge of Unix/Linux, networking, and distributed system design.
• Fluent in data science languages and frameworks (Python, R, Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Experience with Grafana or enterprise observability tooling.

Responsibilities

• Develop mathematical, statistical, and ML models to analyze global traffic and optimize routing efficiency.
• Design, track, and refine data-driven SLIs/SLOs and observability tooling.
• Build predictive tooling, data pipelines, and diagnostic algorithms to detect and prevent outages.
• Partner with product engineers to champion scalable, reliable architectures.
• Provide data-driven insights to guide strategic technology investments.
• Conduct deep root-cause analytics on outages and performance escalations.

Skills

Statistical modeling

Observability

Predictive tooling

Reliability engineering

Data-driven decision making

SQL/NoSQL querying

Education

Master's or PhD in Data Science / Statistics / CS / ML

Tools

Grafana

Python

R

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Job description

Do you like collaborating across teams to solve complex problems?

Do you enjoy solving large scale distributed systems problems?

Join the Mapping SRE team

As Akamai Mapping Data-Driven SREs, we leverage advanced data science, statistical modeling, and machine learning to optimize the reliability, performance, and scalability of a global system routing trillions of daily client requests and tens of terabits of traffic per second. We analyze massive, high-dimensional datasets to discover predictive insights, design critical KPIs, and build advanced algorithmic monitoring infrastructure. Our unique data-first methodology allows us to precisely measure, model, and continuously optimize how our mapping architecture impacts customer performance.

Partner with the best

As a Data-Centric Site Reliability Engineer, you will apply rigorous quantitative analysis, statistical modeling, and machine learning to optimize the performance, availability, and routing algorithms of Akamai's core Mapping Service. In this high-impact role, you will analyze massive telemetry streams, engineer predictive observability tools, and design data-driven architecture strategies. Operating at the forefront of data science and large-scale systems engineering, you will unlock deep analytical insights to diagnose and solve the internet's most complex content delivery challenges.

Note: This is a specialized data science and analytical engineering role requiring advanced quantitative and modeling expertise—not a standard DevOps, sysadmin, or routine operational position.

As a Senior Site Reliability Engineer, you will be responsible for:

• Advanced Statistical Modeling: Develop mathematical, statistical, and machine learning models to analyze global traffic flows, predict latency anomalies, and optimize routing efficiency.
• Drive Observability & Analytics: Design, track, and refine data-driven SLIs/SLOs, utilizing exploratory data analysis to proactively identify hidden bottlenecks and systemic performance trends.
• Engineer Predictive Tooling: Build and deploy automated data pipelines, predictive models, and custom diagnostic algorithms to detect, prevent, and analyze complex platform anomalies.
• Advocate for Reliability: Partner with product engineers to champion scalable, resilient, and highly supportable system architectures.
• Influence Strategy: Provide data-driven insights to guide executive-level decision-making and identify high-impact technology investments.
• Deep Root-Cause Analytics: Conduct advanced quantitative investigations and forensic telemetry analyses on complex system outages and high-priority performance escalations.

Do what you love

To be successful in this role you will:

• Master's or PhD in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a highly quantitative analytical field.
• 5+ years of experience applying data science, predictive modeling, or quantitative research to large-scale distributed systems or tech environments.
• Deep mastery of Unix/Linux internals, computer networking protocols, and distributed system design.
• Professional fluency operating within a command-line UNIX/Linux computing environment.
• Data & Observability
• Expertise in statistical analysis, machine learning algorithms, time-series forecasting, and advanced SQL/NoSQL big data querying.
• Proven ability to transform complex datasets into actionable strategic roadmaps.
• Practical knowledge of enterprise observability, logging, and alerting systems like Grafana.

• Data Science & Communication Skills

• High proficiency in data science languages and frameworks (e.g., Python, R, Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, or PyTorch).
• Self-motivated communicator capable of articulating complex systems to non-technical stakeholders while managing multiple timelines.

About us

At Akamai, we make life better for billions of people, trillions of times a day.
Whether you're streaming live events, scrolling social media, watching your favorite series, or managing your savings, we're the engine behind the scenes. We provide the world's most distributed platform from Cloud to Edge to help the giants of the digital world work faster and stay more secure, making the internet a better experience for everyone.
Our focus is simple:
Cloud and Edge: Running apps closer to users for instant performance.
Security: Neutralizing threats before they ever reach your data.
Content Delivery: Scaling the world's biggest moments without a glitch.
AI: Enabling our customers to build, secure, and scale AI apps on the world's most distributed cloud platform.
At Akamai, we don't just support the internet; we power and protect it, because behind every great digital experience is a massive hidden challenge. And we're the ones who solve it. When millions of people hit play or pay, Akamai ensures it just works.

Benefits at Akamai:

We support your health, well-being, finances, and life beyond work. See our benefits.

FlexBase adapts to your job's needs

Akamai's FlexBase program is yet another way we show our commitment to providing employees with an exceptional workplace experience. It's not about telling employees where to work; it's about supporting employees to do their best work.
We trust our incredible employees to work in ways that suit them best: at home, in an office, or a combination of both.

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