Senior Site Reliability Engineer

Duckduckgo; Remote; ZAR 300 000 - 400 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading online protection company in Gauteng is seeking a Mid-Senior Site Reliability Engineer to build and maintain infrastructure for millions of users. This role emphasizes automation and reliability engineering, requiring over 7 years of experience. The ideal candidate has deep knowledge of Linux, high-level programming skills, and hands-on experience with Docker. Competitive salary plus stock options offered.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional experience in reliability, platform, infrastructure, or software engineering.
• Experience participating in a 24x7 on-call rotation for large-scale deployments.
• Ability to lead and collaborate on complex projects from proposal through post-mortem.
• Strong analytical skills to root-cause instability in high-traffic distributed systems.
• Deep knowledge of Linux and web technologies.
• Experience driving automation around infrastructure provisioning.
• Hands-on experience with Docker and cloud deployments.
• Advanced programming skills to triage production issues.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain world-class infrastructure serving millions of users.
• Focus on automation, process improvement, and reliability engineering.
• Participate in a 24x7 on-call rotation.

Skills

Reliability engineering

Automation

Process improvement

High-level programming (Perl, Go, Python)

Cloud-native services

Docker and Docker Compose

Analytical skills

Linux and web technologies

Leadership and collaboration

Job description

Who We Are

DuckDuckGo is an online protection company and remote‑first team dedicated to raising the standard of trust on the web.

Your Team & Role

As part of the Site Reliability Team, you will build and maintain world‑class infrastructure that serves millions of users. Your work will involve high‑level languages such as Perl, Go, and Python, and focus on automation, process improvement, and reliability engineering.

Recent Projects

• Preparing Duck.ai image uploads for production
• Reducing user impact of instances serving errors

About You

• 7+ years of professional experience in reliability, platform, infrastructure, or software engineering
• Experience participating in a 24x7 on‑call rotation for large‑scale deployments
• Ability to lead and collaborate on complex, high‑impact projects from proposal through post‑mortem
• Strong analytical skills to root–cause instability in high‑traffic distributed systems
• Deep knowledge of Linux and web technologies
• Experience driving automation around infrastructure provisioning, configuration management, and cloud‑native services
• Hands‑on experience with Docker, Docker Compose, and cloud deployments
• Advanced programming skills to triage production issues, write code, and improve performance
• Strategic foresight to steer future technical direction toward higher reliability and scalability

Compensation

Competitive salary of $[amount] USD annually plus stock options. Compensation is consistent across professional levels and is transparent across the organization.

Hiring Process

Our hiring process is a two‑way conversation. We encourage candidates to get to know DuckDuckGo, envision their future role, and learn how we bring people aboard.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

DuckDuckGo provides equal work opportunities to all team members and applicants, prohibiting discrimination and harassment of any type based on race, color, ethnicity, caste, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by our policies or laws.

Please Note

• Video conferencing meetings require camera usage.
• Travel may be required twice a year, each for approximately 4–5 days.
• Work is flexible with no core hours but expects a full‑time commitment of 40 hours per week.
• A background check is a condition of joining the team.
• By applying, you confirm that all information submitted is accurate and complete. False or fraudulent information may result in denial of an offer, revocation of any existing offer, or other adverse actions, including termination after starting work.

Seniority Level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment Type

Full‑time