
Principal SRE Engineer
Mercury Insurance · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $171,148 / year
- United States
Tailored resume — keyword-matched to this role.
Hiring manager — we find who's hiring.
Intro email — drafted to reach them directly.
Job highlights
- Lead SRE for cloud database self-service tooling.
- Design, implement, and maintain reliable platforms.
- Orchestrate and automate software deployment processes.
- Collaborate with business, development, and security teams.
- Drive organizational automation and improve systems.
About the role
About Mercury Insurance
At Mercury, we have been guided by our purpose to help people reduce risk and overcome unexpected events for more than 60 years. We are one team with a common goal to help others. Everyone needs insurance and we can’t imagine a world without it. Our team will encourage you to grow, make time to have fun, and work together to make great things happen. We embrace the strengths and values of each team member. We believe in having diverse perspectives where everyone is included, to serve customers from all walks of life. We care about our people, and we mean it. We reward our talented professionals with a competitive salary, bonus potential, and a variety of benefits to help our team members reach their health, retirement, and professional goals. Learn more about us here: https://www.mercuryinsurance.com/about/careersPerks And Benefits
We offer many great benefits, including:- Competitive compensation
- Flexibility to work from anywhere in the United States for most positions
- Paid time off (vacation time, sick time, 9 paid Company holidays, volunteer hours)
- Incentive bonus programs (potential for holiday bonus, referral bonus, and performance-based bonus)
- Medical, dental, vision, life, and pet insurance
- 401 (k) retirement savings plan with company match
- Engaging work environment
- Promotional opportunities
- Education assistance
- Professional and personal development opportunities
- Company recognition program
- Health and wellbeing resources, including free mental wellbeing therapy/coaching sessions, child and eldercare resources, and more
Position Summary
The Principal Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) is a senior level technical position responsible for the design, implementation, and maintenance of a reliable, scalable, and agile enterprise hybrid application platform. A very significant part of Principal SRE’s responsibility is to orchestrate and automate software packaging, integration, testing, and deployment from technology, process, practice, and skillset perspectives. This individual must be a technologist & engineer at heart and be comfortable in enabling new technology and being hands-on with the execution of the strategy. Must exhibit a deep understanding of modern technology stack and agile delivery models, demonstrated focus on customer experience, and must have a proven track record of modernizing technologies. Close collaboration and alignment with business teams, application development teams and security will be required. As such, exceptional abilities in building and maintaining strong working relationships and organizational savvy will be required. High level communication and presentation skills are required. Ability to attract, retain, and develop engineering talent will be critical.Responsibilities
Essential Job Functions:- Works independently and under supervision, takes initiatives to gather requirements, design and implement CICD with tight collaboration with all other technical teams and customers. Must be able to work in agile style team as well as traditional project team, supporting multiple projects and teams simultaneously.
- Implement best practices for software delivery continuous integration and continuous deployment (CICD).
- Work with our infrastructure organization on environment setup, automation, and streamlining the stand up and scale out of infrastructure using infrastructure as code (IAC).
- Develop and improve our monitoring and alerting systems.
- Automate security-related activities such as code scanning, package scanning, and vulnerability scanning.
- Assist in developing automated test, deployment test, code versioning and Github actions.
- Defining and setting development, test, release, update, and support processes for DevOps operation in consultation with other teams of the technology group.
- Strive for continuous improvement and build continuous integration, continuous development, and constant deployment pipeline.
- Architect, design and deploy AWS resources including provisioning, monitoring and maintenance.
- Effectively manage and leverage Docker and Kubernetes container platforms.
- Work with various Engineering teams to outline the DevOps execution strategy for different projects.
- Drive Automation efforts across the organization utilizing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform, Configuration Management, and Continuous Integration (CI) / Continuous Delivery (CD) tools such as Jenkins.
- Assist with organization wide security considerations. Find the best ways to identify security risks and incidents and suggest improvements and create automation as needed to detect and mitigate those risks.
- Owns company’s CICD technology stack. Executes on roadmap items in collaboration with SME teams (e.g. infrastructure, application, QA, Governance) and system owners.
- Research and recommend new technology, solutions, protocols, and standards in support of adoption and upgrade of enterprise CICD platform.
- Owns company’s service hosting decision tree by developing a host of factors tilting decision on-prem, hybrid or in the Cloud.
- Demonstrates Mercury’s core values of People, Service Excellence, Trustworthiness, Process Simplicity and Product Value
- Interacts cordially and professionally with customers, vendors, superiors, and peers
- Regular attendance on a full-time schedule including 7x24 system support as required
- Various marginal functions
Qualifications
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technology areas. Minimum:- 18 – 20 years overall related technology experience
- 8 - 10 years’ experience in heavy infrastructure, DevOps / CICD in large transformation organizations.
- Experience working with Agile tools such as Jira / Confluence etc.
- Knowledge of web application development
- Deep experience with Docker, Apache Camel, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation, Python and scripting languages.
- Experience working within Agile development teams.
- Knowledge / Expertise in cloud platforms, Linux Operating Systems, Networking, and Database.
- Deep experience with DevOps Management tools (repository, packaging, unit testing, code scanning, package scanning such as Maven, Gradle, Helm, Sonatype).
- Prior exposure to continuous integration/delivery tools such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI
- A DevOps Engineer Certificate preferred
- 5 or more years of hands on experience with cloud database technologies (AWS RDS, Aurora, and DocumentDB)
Knowledge And Skills
- Ability to work on demand to provide 7x24 mission critical support.
- Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal skills, with strong ability to collaborate throughout all levels of the organization and with vendors and external partners.
- Initiative driven; self-motivated.
- Learner
- Curious and ask questions.
- Open to new experiences and ideas.
- Willing to take imperfect steps, make mistakes, and learn from them.
- Action oriented
Key skills/competency
- Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
- DevOps
- CI/CD
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Cloud Platforms (AWS)
- Containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Automation
- Scripting (Python)
- System Administration (Linux)
- Database Management
Skills & topics
- Principal SRE Engineer
- Site Reliability Engineering
- DevOps
- CI/CD
- Infrastructure as Code
- Cloud Computing
- AWS
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- Automation
- Python
- Terraform
- Jenkins
- Agile
- System Administration
- Linux
- Networking
- Database Management
- Security Automation
- Software Development
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight your 18-20 years of tech experience, specifically 8-10 years in DevOps/CI/CD and cloud databases.
- Showcase your skills: Emphasize expertise in Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Python, and AWS.
- Demonstrate collaboration: Provide examples of working with diverse teams and improving processes.
- Prepare for technical interviews: Be ready to discuss CI/CD, IaC, cloud architecture, and automation strategies.
- Research Mercury's values: Align your application with their focus on People, Service Excellence, and Trustworthiness.
Technical preparation
Master CI/CD tools like Jenkins and GitHub Actions.,Deep dive into Docker and Kubernetes orchestration.,Practice Infrastructure as Code with Terraform.,Scripting in Python for automation tasks.
Behavioral questions
Describe a complex system failure and your role.,How do you collaborate with non-technical teams?,Share an example of driving automation initiatives.,How do you handle learning new technologies?
Frequently asked questions
- What is the salary range for a Principal SRE Engineer at Mercury Insurance?
- The salary range for this Principal SRE Engineer position at Mercury Insurance is between $104,839 to $252,194 annually, with specific scales varying by state. For instance, in California, the typical hiring range is $171,148 to $237,706.
- What are the primary responsibilities of a Principal SRE Engineer at Mercury Insurance?
- As a Principal SRE Engineer, your primary responsibilities include designing, implementing, and maintaining reliable enterprise hybrid application platforms, orchestrating and automating software deployment, and collaborating with various technical and business teams to drive automation and improve system reliability.
- What technical skills are most important for this Principal SRE Engineer role?
- Key technical skills include deep experience with Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, Python, and cloud platforms like AWS. A strong understanding of CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), monitoring, and security automation is also crucial.
- Does Mercury Insurance offer remote work for Principal SRE Engineers?
- While the job description mentions flexibility to work from anywhere in the United States for most positions, it also states that an in-person interview may be required. Specific work arrangement details should be confirmed during the application process.
- What is the required educational background for this role?
- A Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or a related technology area is required for this Principal SRE Engineer position.
- How much experience is needed for the Principal SRE Engineer position?
- The position requires a minimum of 18-20 years of overall related technology experience, with 8-10 years specifically in heavy infrastructure, DevOps, or CI/CD within large transformation organizations.
- What are the benefits of working at Mercury Insurance?
- Mercury Insurance offers competitive compensation, bonus potential, health benefits, 401(k) with match, paid time off, educational assistance, and a focus on professional and personal development, including mental wellbeing resources.
- What kind of team environment can I expect as a Principal SRE Engineer?
- You can expect to join a team recognized for its achievements and culture, including a Forbes award. The environment encourages growth, collaboration, and embracing diverse perspectives.