Staff Site Reliability Engineer (Kubernetes)

Okta; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 194,000 - 267,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

401(k)

Flexible spending account

Paid leave including PTO and parental leave

Job summary

A leading technology company is seeking a Site Reliability Engineer to build and manage scalable Kubernetes platforms on AWS. The ideal candidate will ensure high availability and performance while optimizing costs. Key qualifications include extensive experience with Kubernetes, AWS, and Terraform, alongside a strong foundation in automation and CI/CD processes. This role is integral to maintaining the reliability and efficiency of cloud-native applications, offering competitive compensation and a vibrant company culture.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience with Kubernetes/Helm.
• 4+ years of experience with Terraform.
• 5+ years of experience with AWS.
• Experience with multi-region cloud environments.
• Strong expertise in Kubernetes platform creation, management, and optimisation.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain Kubernetes platforms.
• Build, manage, and optimize AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Utilize Helm to automate application deployments.
• Implement and manage Karpenter for scaling.
• Automate deployment, scaling, and management of infrastructure.

Skills

Kubernetes/Helm

Terraform

AWS

CI/CD pipelines

Scripting in Python, Bash, or Go

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Prometheus

Grafana

CloudWatch

ELK Stack

Job description

Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building the trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era. This work requires a relentless drive to solve complex challenges with real-world stakes. We are looking for builders and owners who operate with speed and urgency and execute with excellence. This is an opportunity to do career-defining work. We're all in on this mission. If you are too, let's talk.

Workforce Identity Cloud

Okta Workforce Identity Cloud (WIC) provides easy, secure access for your workforce so you can focus on other strategic priorities like reducing costs, and doing more for your customers.

If you like to be challenged and have a passion for solving large-scale automation, testing, and tuning problems, we would love to hear from you. The ideal candidate is someone who exemplifies the ethics of "If you have to do something more than once, automate it" and who can rapidly self-educate on new concepts and tools.

Position Overview

The Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) will play a key role in building and managing Kubernetes platforms that support cloud-native applications and services. This position focuses on architecting and managing reliable, scalable, and secure Kubernetes-based platforms on AWS, ensuring high availability and performance while optimizing costs and automation. The ideal candidate will have hands‑on experience with AWS infrastructure, Kubernetes platform creation, Helm charts, Karpenter scaling, and Istio service mesh.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain highly available, scalable, and fault‑tolerant Kubernetes platforms. Ensure clusters are optimized for production workloads, providing high resilience and operational efficiency.
• Build, manage, and optimize AWS cloud infrastructure, including EKS, ECS, S3, VPCs, RDS, IAM, and more. Implement best practices for cost management, scaling, and security within AWS.
• Utilize Helm to automate and streamline the deployment of applications and services to Kubernetes clusters. Create, maintain, and manage Helm charts for production‑ready deployments.
• Implement and manage Karpenter to dynamically scale Kubernetes clusters in response to workload demands.
• Configure and manage Istio to provide service‑to‑service communication, security, and observability within the Kubernetes clusters. Enable fine‑grained traffic management, service discovery, and policy enforcement.
• Automate the deployment, scaling, and management of infrastructure and applications. Work with CI/CD pipelines to ensure a seamless flow from development to production with minimal downtime.
• Respond to incidents, troubleshoot, and resolve system issues related to performance, availability, and security in a timely and effective manner.
• Design and implement secure cloud infrastructure with appropriate access controls, network security, and compliance frameworks.
• Create and maintain detailed documentation for Kubernetes platform setup, operational procedures, and best practices. Promote knowledge sharing across teams.

Required Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience with Kubernetes/Helm.
• 4+ years of experience with Terraform.
• 5+ years of experience with AWS.
• Experience with multi‑region cloud environments.
• Proven experience with AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, CloudFormation, IAM, etc.) and a solid understanding of cloud‑native architectures.
• Strong expertise in Kubernetes platform creation, management, and optimisation (e.g., setting up highly available clusters, networking, and storage).
• Hands‑on experience with Helm for Kubernetes application deployment and management.
• Practical experience with Karpenter for dynamic scaling of Kubernetes clusters and optimising resource usage. Expertise in managing and securing Istio for service mesh, including traffic management, security, and observability features.
• Proficiency in CI/CD pipelines and automation tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab, CircleCI, Terraform, Ansible, Spinnaker). Strong scripting and automation skills in Python, Bash, or Go for infrastructure management and platform automation.
• Experience with monitoring, logging, and alerting tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch, and ELK Stack.

Preferred Qualifications

• Understanding of security best practices for cloud platforms and Kubernetes (e.g., role‑based access control (RBAC), encryption, and compliance frameworks).
• Familiarity with Docker and containerization principles.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent professional experience).
• Certifications: CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator), CKAD (Certified Kubernetes Application Developer), or AWS Certified DevOps Engineer are highly desirable.

Additional Requirements

• This position requires the ability to access federal environments and/or have access to protected federal data. As a condition of employment for this position, the successful candidate must be able to submit documentation establishing U.S. Person status (e.g. a U.S. Citizen, National, Lawful Permanent Resident, Refugee, or Asylee. 22 CFR 120.15) upon hire.
• Requires in‑person onboarding and travel to our San Francisco, CA HQ office or our Chicago office during the first week of employment.

#LI-Hybrid

#LI-LSS1

requisition ID- (P16373_3396241)

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between $194,000 — $267,000 USD.

Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York and Washington. Your actual base salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Okta offers equity where applicable, bonus, and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. To learn more about our Total Rewards program please visit https://rewards.okta.com/us.

The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York, and Washington is between $174,000 — $214,000 USD.

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