Site Reliability Engineer - Data Infrastructure

TikTok; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 156,000 - 317,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) match

Parental leave

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Wellbeing benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

TikTok is seeking a Data Infrastructure SRE to ensure reliability and performance of core data services. You’ll work with Kubernetes, Redis, MySQL, and queues in a distributed environment, focusing on resilience rather than feature development.

The role includes an on-call rotation, incident response, and collaboration across time zones. You’ll automate toil with Python/Go/Bash and enhance observability while supporting data center and AI infrastructure needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 2+ years of experience in an SRE, DevOps, Systems Administration, or similar role.
• Experience with at least one scripting language (e.g., Python, Bash, Go).
• Solid understanding of Linux operating systems and networking concepts.

Responsibilities

• Incident response and triage: First responder for production alerts and incidents with runbooks.
• Operational excellence and change management: Deployments, configuration changes, and maintenance per change control processes.
• Iterative automation and AI augmentation: Automate repetitive tasks using scripting and AI Agents.
• Observability and monitoring: Refine dashboards, tune alert thresholds, instrument systems.
• Data Center and AI Infrastructure: Support data center and AI infrastructure operations.

Skills

Python

Go

Bash

Linux

Networking

SRE

Kubernetes

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

MySQL

Redis

PostgreSQL

Prometheus

Grafana

ELK Stack

Job description

Responsibilities

The Data Infrastructure SRE team is responsible for the reliability, scalability, and efficiency of the core data services that power our products. We manage a massive, distributed environment built on technologies like Kubernetes, Redis, MySQL, and Message Queue. Our work is not about building features, but about engineering the resilience and performance of the underlying platform that all product teams depend on. We are the guardians of production, ensuring our data systems run smoothly, constantly.

This role includes participation in a rotational on-call schedule to ensure constant coverage for our critical data infrastructure. You will be expected to respond to, troubleshoot, and resolve production incidents. Our team collaborates across multiple time zones, and you will engage in rigorous change management and post-incident review processes to maintain system stability.

Responsibilities:

• Incident response and triage: Serve as a first responder for production alerts and incidents. Execute established runbooks to mitigate issues and surge effectively when necessary.
• Operational excellence and change management: Perform routine operational tasks, such as deployments, configuration changes, and system maintenance, following established change control processes to minimize production risk.
• Iterative automation and AI augmentation: Identify and automate repetitive manual tasks using scripting (e.g., Python, Go, Bash) and AI Agents to reduce toil, improve operational consistency, and boost overall productivity.
• Observability and monitoring: Improve our observability posture by refining monitoring dashboards, tuning alert thresholds, and ensuring that our systems are sufficiently instrumented to detect and diagnose problems.
• Data Center and AI Infrastructure: Support the daily operations, construction, and maintenance of data center environments and AI infrastructure to meet the demands of large-scale data processing.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 2+ years of experience in an SRE, DevOps, Systems Administration, or similar role.
• Experience with at least one scripting language (e.g., Python, Bash, Go).
• Solid understanding of Linux operating systems and networking concepts.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with container technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
• Hands‑on experience with at least one common data store (e.g., MySQL, Redis, PostgreSQL).
• Experience with monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack).
• A strong desire to learn, a proactive attitude toward problem‑solving, and excellent communication skills.
• Experience in the operation and construction of Data Centers is a big plus.

About TikTok

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Why Join Us

Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy – a mission we work towards every day.

We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

TikTok Accommodation

TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $156000 - $316800 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
3. Exercising sound judgment.