Staff Site Reliability Engineer

Join DevOps; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 223,000 - 253,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative company is seeking a Staff Site Reliability Engineer to enhance system reliability and performance. This role involves optimizing infrastructure, developing CI/CD tools, and leading projects that ensure scalability and security. You'll collaborate with cross-functional teams, mentor engineers, and drive best practices in a dynamic environment. If you're passionate about technology and improving systems, this opportunity offers a chance to make a significant impact while enjoying a flexible work culture that values collaboration and innovation.

Benefits

Health, Dental, & Vision benefits

Mac computers + work-from-home stipend

Monthly internet and phone reimbursement

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)

401(k) plan with company match

Robust tuition reimbursement program

$1,000 travel perk on Earnie-versary

Competitive annual PTO

Competitive parental leave

Qualifications

• 8+ years in reliability and enterprise system architecture.
• Strong coding skills in Go, Python, or Java Spring Boot.
• Experience with CI/CD tools and containerization.

Responsibilities

• Ensure reliability, scalability, and security of systems.
• Develop and enhance observability and CI/CD tools.
• Lead product initiatives and mentor engineers.

Skills

Reliability Engineering

Scalability

Performance Optimization

Security Best Practices

Coding (Go, Python, Java Spring Boot, .NET)

Monitoring and Telemetry

Networking Troubleshooting

Education

Formal Training in Software Engineering

Certification in Software Engineering

Tools

Splunk

New Relic

GitHub Actions

Terraform

Grafana

Prometheus

Datadog

Jenkins

Kubernetes

Docker

Job description

Our mission is to make higher education accessible and affordable for everyone. We empower students with financial support and supercharge their ability to pay down their debt, so they can get on the right financial track, fast.

We build tools that help people feel in control of their financial future, including:

1. Private student loans - low rates, people-first service, and flexible payments.
2. Student loan refinancing - break free from high-interest rates or monthly payments.
3. Scholarships - access to thousands of scholarships to help students pay less.

Earnies are committed to helping students live their best lives, free from the stress of student debt. If you’re as passionate as we are about our mission, read more below, and let’s build something great together!

The Staff Site Reliability Engineer position will report to the Lead Cloud Engineer.

As a Staff Site Reliability Engineer, you will:

• Ensure the reliability, scalability, performance, and security of systems while managing and optimizing infrastructure for efficiency and minimal downtime.
• Develop, maintain, and enhance observability and CI/CD tools (Splunk, New Relic, GitHub Actions, Terraform, etc.), streamline deployments, update documentation, and improve internal tools for efficiency and scalability.
• Lead product initiatives, conduct resiliency reviews, coordinate cross-team efforts, and manage goals, risks, and resources for successful delivery.
• Advise on reliability, mentor engineers on best practices, facilitate cross-team communication, and translate stakeholder needs into technical solutions.
• Lead key projects, stay current with industry trends, formalize best practices, and mentor engineers in building and troubleshooting reliable distributed systems.

About You

• 8+ years of experience in reliability, scalability, performance, security, and enterprise system architecture, with a focus on toil reduction and best practices implementation.
• Strong coding skills in at least one language (Go, Python, Java Spring Boot, .NET, etc.) and deep knowledge of software applications, technical processes, and emerging disciplines.
• Hands-on experience with monitoring and telemetry tools (Grafana, Prometheus, Datadog, Splunk, etc.), SLO alerting, and CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Terraform).
• Expertise in containerization and orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker, ECS) and troubleshooting networking and distributed system issues.
• Experience creating infrastructure resources using Terraform or OpenTofu, with formal training or certification in software engineering and 5+ years of applied experience.
• Willingness to travel to the Oakland office monthly to collaborate with other Earnies.

Where

• This role will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• While you’ll enjoy the flexibility of remote work, we also love to see our Earnies face-to-face! We ask you to join us at our Oakland office for 3 consecutive days a month for team collaboration and some fun. It's a chance to connect, share ideas, and maybe even grab some coffee together!

A little about our pay philosophy: We take pride in compensating our employees fairly and equitably. We are showcasing a range of your potential base salary based on the role's location. The successful candidate’s starting pay will also be determined based on job-related qualifications, internal compensation, candidate location, and budget. This range may be modified in the future.

Pay Range

$223,000—$253,000 USD

Earnest believes in enabling our employees to live their best lives. We offer a variety of perks and competitive benefits, including:

• Health, Dental, & Vision benefits plus savings plans
• Mac computers + work-from-home stipend to set up your home office
• Monthly internet and phone reimbursement
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
• 401(k) plan to help you save for retirement plus a company match
• Robust tuition reimbursement program
• $1,000 travel perk on each Earnie-versary to anywhere in the world
• Competitive days of annual PTO
• Competitive parental leave

What makes an “Earnie” culture

• Drivers – Drivers are satisfied by making things happen, not coming along for the ride. They feel a strong sense of ownership for their projects and teams and demand high standards from themselves and others.
• Humility – Humble team players check their egos and consider the team’s needs above their own. They are self-aware of their strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• Growth Mindset – People with a growth mindset approach challenges and failures as learning opportunities. They seek feedback to improve, give feedback to others, and genuinely want to perform well.

At Earnest, we are committed to building an environment where our employees feel included, valued, and heard. Our belief is that a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging enables us to move forward with our mission. We are dedicated to adding new perspectives to the team and encourage anyone to apply if your experience is close to what we are looking for.

Earnest provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, or genetics. Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for the position in a manner consistent with the Fair Chance Ordinance.