SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.
SR. LINUX SITE RELIABILITY ENGINEER
SpaceX is looking for an experienced engineer with deep working knowledge of Kubernetes and related containerized technologies. This employee will be a member of the Information Technology Linux Infrastructure team and will provide expertise in Kubernetes design, maintenance, scaling and optimization in support of critical business functions. The ideal candidate will be flexible and flourish in a fast paced and challenging environment. They should be a self-starter, self-motivator and possess ingenuity to excel at this position.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Build, install, manage, scale and optimize Kubernetes and RKE clusters using Ansible, Terraform and adjacent technologies in production environments.
- Work closely with other SpaceX engineers to gather requirements, research, evaluate, design, plan, deploy, and support software platforms and related technologies running in Kubernetes within a world-class environment that meets the needs of the demanding SpaceX engineering teams. Build highly resilient, high-performance, scalable, and robust systems.
- Exercise a high degree of personal responsibility for the processes, systems, and tools you create and manage; all supporting the goal of making humanity an interplanetary species.
- Make recommendations, justify, and implement improvements using an accepted change control methodology.
- Work within a diverse group to design and deliver creative solutions and resolve problems in a timely and proactive manner by interacting with internal business units.
- Define, document and follow standards and best practices for systems design, testing, and implementation.
- Foster an environment of collaboration and cross-training, upskilling the team in Kubernetes expertise and ensuring peers are developed into capable engineers.
- Drive scripting, self-service and automation to develop solutions to reduce administrative overhead and TOIL.
- Participate in on-call rotation to handle urgent after-hours work when necessary.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a STEM discipline and 5+ years of systems engineering experience; OR 7+ years of systems engineering experience in lieu of a degree.
- Experience deploying and supporting Linux servers in physical and virtualized environments (e.g. VMware via automation).
- Experience with the Linux shell as well as configuring and extending Linux instances (e.g. kernel modules, cgroups, pki, iptables, interfaces).
- Experience supporting and scaling containerized applications in Linux environments.
- Experience using automation frameworks (e.g. Ansible, Terraform) to manage provisioning and post-provisioning lifecycles of infrastructure and Kubernetes installations.
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Expertise in creating repeatable, reliable, scalable systems architectures, with high availability, fault tolerance, performance tuning, monitoring, and statistics/metrics collection.
- Expertise in source code version control tools such as Git and Subversion and collaborating on source code via Pull Requests and other Git-based workflows.
- Strong understanding of Linux Container Runtime.
- Experience implementing configuration management provisioning and workflow automation solutions via Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD and GitOps (e.g. Ansible, AWX/Tower, Vagrant, Puppet, Redfish, Jenkins, cloud-init, ArgoCD, etc).
- Experience writing test automation to ensure backwards compatibility of feature and change development for automation processes and Kubernetes deployments.
- Experience with programming and scripting languages such as Python and Golang to develop software solutions and integrate with external systems to implement automation against RESTful API services.
- Experience installing, configuring and troubleshooting Kubernetes internals, CNI, CRI and CSI plugins (e.g. Docker, Cri-O, Ceph, Cilium), load balancing (e.g. MetalLB), Service Mesh (e.g. Istio) and software-defined storage (e.g. rook-ceph) in cloud or on-premise environments.
- Experience developing solutions using Kubernetes patterns to extend system functionality and solve custom use cases (e.g. webhooks, controllers, operators, sidecars).
- Experience implementing proactive alert/monitoring workflows and dashboards for Linux systems and Kubernetes deployments using Prometheus, Grafana, InfluxDB or similar technologies.
- Experience with dynamic system configuration templating using Jinja, Jsonnet, YAML and Helm.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
- Ability to pass Air Force background check for Cape Canaveral.
ITAR REQUIREMENTS:
- To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.
SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to [email protected].
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or STEM discipline and 5+ years of systems engineering experience
- Experience deploying and supporting Linux servers in physical and virtualized environments
- Experience with Linux shell and configuring Linux instances
- Experience supporting and scaling containerized applications in Linux environments
- Experience using automation frameworks to manage infrastructure and Kubernetes installations
SpaceX Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about SpaceX and has not been reviewed or approved by SpaceX.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity grants are a core part of total compensation, with periodic company-run tender offers that create liquidity before any public listing. These mechanisms can make the equity component feel materially valuable in practice.
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Healthcare Strength — The package includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, with on-site clinics and health resources at major sites. This breadth of coverage is presented as a strong element of the offering.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Major locations feature on-site amenities such as fitness facilities, food/coffee, clinics, and other conveniences. These lifestyle perks enhance day-to-day value alongside cash and equity.
SpaceX Insights
What We Do
SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk to revolutionize space transportation, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary. SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones. It is the only private company ever to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in December 2010. The company made history again in May 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft attached to the International Space Station, exchanged cargo payloads, and returned safely to Earth — a technically challenging feat previously accomplished only by governments. Since then Dragon has delivered cargo to and from the space station multiple times, providing regular cargo resupply missions for NASA.
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