Senior Site Reliability Engineer, Core Cloud Engineering
Vultr · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $130,000 / year
- United States
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Job highlights
- Operate and scale global control plane infrastructure.
- Automate hypervisor fleets and supporting infrastructure.
- Enhance network reliability with OVS and BGP automation.
- Improve system performance and reduce single points of failure.
- Lead incident response and foster a postmortem culture.
About the role
Senior Site Reliability Engineer, Core Cloud Engineering
Who We Are
Vultr is on a mission to make high-performance cloud infrastructure easy to use, affordable, and locally accessible for enterprises and AI innovators around the world. With 33 global cloud data center locations, Vultr is trusted by hundreds of thousands of active customers across 185 countries for its flexible, scalable, global Cloud Compute, Cloud GPU, Bare Metal, and Cloud Storage solutions. In December 2024 Vultr announced an equity financing at a $3.5 billion valuation. Founded by David Aninowsky and self-funded for over a decade, Vultr has grown to become the world’s largest privately-held cloud infrastructure company.
Vultr Cares
- Excellent Medical Benefits w/ 100% company paid premiums for employee only plan + 100% company paid dental & vision premiums
- 401(k) plan that matches 100% up to 4% with immediate vesting
- Professional Development Reimbursement of $2,500 each year
- 11 Holidays + Paid Time Off Accrual + Rollover Plan
- Commitment matters to Vultr! Increased PTO at 3 year & 10 year anniversary + 1 month paid sabbatical every 5 years + Anniversary Bonus each year
- $500 first year remote office setup + $400 each following year for new equipment
- Internet reimbursement up to $75 per month
- Gym membership reimbursement up to $50 per month
- Company paid Wellable subscription
Join Vultr
Our Engineering team at Vultr is seeking a Senior Site Reliability Engineer, Core Cloud Engineering to report to the Director of Core Cloud Engineering. This role demands deep expertise in large-scale distributed systems, infrastructure automation, and production operations of hypervisor platforms and the control plane. The ideal candidate will combine hands-on systems engineering with a focus on reliability, scalability, and observability, ensuring Vultr’s cloud services remain performant and resilient for our 1.5 million users.
Key Responsibilities
- Production Control Plane Operations: Operate and scale Vultr’s control plane, ensuring availability, correctness, and performance across global datacenters.
- Hypervisor & Infrastructure Reliability: Design, implement, and maintain automation to manage hypervisor fleets (KVM, QEMU, libvirt) and supporting infrastructure at scale.
- Networking & Systems Automation: Develop tooling and automation for Open vSwitch (OVS), BGP routing, and other networking components to ensure resilient and self-healing network operations.
- Performance & Reliability Tuning: Continuously analyze and improve system performance across compute, storage, and network layers, with an emphasis on reducing toil and eliminating single points of failure.
- Observability & Incident Response: Implement advanced monitoring, logging, and tracing solutions (Grafana, Sentry, SumoLogic) while leading incident response to minimize impact and drive postmortem culture.
- CI/CD & Configuration Management: Maintain and evolve infrastructure pipelines (GitLab CI/CD, Puppet) to enable safe, fast, and reliable changes to both control plane and hypervisor infrastructure.
- Collaboration: Work closely with Software Engineers, Network Engineers, and Product teams to align platform reliability with business and user needs.
- Documentation & Standards: Produce clear technical documentation for runbooks, operational procedures, and automation frameworks to improve team efficiency and reliability standards.
- Mentorship & Leadership: Coach and mentor team members in best practices for site reliability, incident handling, automation, and low-level Linux systems debugging.
Qualifications
- Proficiency in PHP with strong scripting and automation skills.
- Experience running large-scale distributed systems and control plane infrastructure in production.
- Strong background in hypervisor technologies (libvirt, QEMU, KVM) and Linux systems administration.
- Expertise in networking protocols and tools, particularly BGP and Open vSwitch (OVS), with automation experience.
- Deep knowledge of observability and monitoring frameworks (Grafana, Sentry, SumoLogic) and incident management.
- Advanced troubleshooting skills across compute, networking, and storage subsystems.
- Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (GitLab) and configuration management (Puppet).
- Familiarity with MySQL or similar databases, with an understanding of operational considerations for reliability and scale.
- Strong problem-solving abilities and the drive to tackle complex, low-level reliability challenges.
- Effective cross-team communication and collaboration skills.
- A commitment to continuous improvement and fostering a culture of operational excellence.
Key skills/competency
- Site Reliability Engineering
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Distributed Systems
- Infrastructure Automation
- Hypervisor Technologies
- Networking Protocols
- Observability
- Incident Response
- CI/CD
- Linux Systems Administration
Skills & topics
- Site Reliability Engineer
- Cloud Engineering
- Distributed Systems
- Infrastructure Automation
- Hypervisor
- KVM
- QEMU
- libvirt
- Open vSwitch
- BGP
- Grafana
- Sentry
- SumoLogic
- GitLab CI/CD
- Puppet
- PHP
- Linux
- MySQL
- Observability
- Incident Response
- Production Operations
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience with large-scale distributed systems, hypervisors (KVM, QEMU, libvirt), networking (BGP, OVS), and observability tools (Grafana, Sentry, SumoLogic).
- Showcase automation skills: Emphasize proficiency in PHP, scripting, CI/CD (GitLab), and configuration management (Puppet).
- Prepare for technical interviews: Be ready to discuss incident response, system performance tuning, and low-level Linux debugging.
- Demonstrate collaboration: Highlight experience working with cross-functional teams to ensure platform reliability.
Technical preparation
Master PHP for scripting and automation.,Deepen knowledge of KVM, QEMU, libvirt.,Practice BGP and Open vSwitch configurations.,Build monitoring and alerting with Grafana.
Behavioral questions
Describe a complex system failure you resolved.,How do you reduce operational toil?,Share an experience mentoring junior engineers.,How do you ensure platform reliability?
Frequently asked questions
- What is the salary range for a Senior Site Reliability Engineer at Vultr?
- The advertised salary range for a Senior Site Reliability Engineer at Vultr is $120,000 - $130,000 per year. The final compensation will be determined based on factors such as your years of experience, specific skill set, location, and other applicable laws.
- What are the key responsibilities of a Senior Site Reliability Engineer at Vultr?
- As a Senior Site Reliability Engineer at Vultr, you will be responsible for operating and scaling the control plane, ensuring hypervisor and infrastructure reliability through automation, developing network automation for OVS and BGP, tuning system performance, leading incident response, and maintaining CI/CD pipelines.
- What qualifications are essential for the Senior Site Reliability Engineer role at Vultr?
- Essential qualifications include proficiency in PHP, experience with large-scale distributed systems and control plane infrastructure, strong background in hypervisor technologies (KVM, QEMU, libvirt) and Linux administration, expertise in networking (BGP, OVS), deep knowledge of observability tools (Grafana, Sentry, SumoLogic), and experience with CI/CD (GitLab) and configuration management (Puppet).
- Does Vultr offer remote work opportunities for a Senior Site Reliability Engineer?
- The job description implies a remote office setup reimbursement, suggesting that remote work may be an option for this role. However, it's best to confirm the specific work arrangement (remote, hybrid, or on-site) with the hiring team.
- What benefits does Vultr provide to its employees, including a Senior Site Reliability Engineer?
- Vultr offers comprehensive benefits including 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision premiums for employees, a 401(k) with immediate vesting and company match, professional development reimbursement, generous PTO with sabbaticals, remote office setup stipend, internet reimbursement, and gym membership reimbursement.
- How can I best prepare my resume for the Senior Site Reliability Engineer position at Vultr?
- To prepare your resume for the Senior Site Reliability Engineer role at Vultr, focus on highlighting your experience with large-scale distributed systems, hypervisor technologies, networking protocols like BGP and OVS, and your expertise with observability and monitoring tools such as Grafana, Sentry, and SumoLogic. Quantify your achievements in automation and incident response whenever possible.
- What technical skills are most valued for a Senior Site Reliability Engineer at Vultr?
- Vultr highly values technical skills in PHP for scripting and automation, deep understanding of hypervisor technologies (KVM, QEMU, libvirt), Linux systems administration, networking protocols (BGP, OVS), observability tools (Grafana, Sentry, SumoLogic), CI/CD pipelines (GitLab), and configuration management (Puppet).
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