Site Reliability Engineer

Summary

Join Ably as a Site Reliability Engineer and play a key role in maintaining and advancing the infrastructure powering our real-time experience platform. You will be part of the Infrastructure team, responsible for all aspects of Ably's infrastructure services. This is primarily a software development role, focusing on maintaining and enhancing infrastructure services, driving infrastructure-as-code practices, developing software solutions, monitoring and improving system observability, and collaborating cross-functionally. You will ensure the reliability, scalability, and performance of Ably's infrastructure using cloud-native technologies and best practices. The ideal candidate possesses strong technical expertise in Linux systems administration, networking, and AWS, along with software development proficiency. Ably offers a remote-first and flexible work environment with various benefits.

Requirements

• Have a deep technical understanding of how systems work and a commitment to advancing that knowledge
• Understand the Site Reliability Engineering discipline and are excited by the idea of infrastructure-as-code and no manual maintenance of systems
• Possess strong technical expertise in Linux systems administration and networking
• Have in-depth experience operating production systems on public cloud platforms, particularly AWS, and a detailed understanding of their service offerings
• Demonstrate software development proficiency with an established record of software development in production systems
• Are skilled in delivering projects from initiation to completion, effectively managing resources, timelines, and stakeholders
• Value technical excellence and produce code that is both functional and maintainable

Responsibilities

• Maintain and enhance infrastructure services. Ensure the reliability, scalability, and performance of Ably’s infrastructure, leveraging cloud-native technologies and best practices
• Drive infrastructure-as-code practices. Develop and manage infrastructure with no manual maintenance, automating processes and ensuring system consistency
• Develop software solutions. This is primarily a software development role; not a traditional DevOps or Sys Admin role. Ably’s infrastructure operations are based on internally-developed software for deployment and orchestration, instance management and health monitoring, plus administration of the multiple ancillary systems used to operate the service
• Monitor and improve system observability. Utilize and enhance observability tools to gain actionable insights into system health and performance
• Collaborate cross-functionally. Work closely with Engineering, Product, and other teams to align infrastructure initiatives with business goals

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with containerization tools (e.g. Docker) and orchestration frameworks
• Proficiency in Go, Node.js, and/or Ruby
• Knowledge of Cassandra, PostgreSQL
• Experience with CI/CD systems
• Expertise in observability tools to enhance system monitoring and alerting

Benefits

• A remote-first and flexible work environment. UK-based teams come together in person once per month in our London hub (next to Old Street) and we get together as a company twice per year. Aside from that, you’re welcome to work wherever suits best for you
• Equity. We’re a growing start-up and we want all team to members to share in the success of the company through our EMI share options programme
• Enhanced holiday allowance. Our policy provides Ablyans with 28 days of paid annual leave (27 regular days, plus a day off to enjoy your birthday)
• Enhanced parental leave package, so that you can take the time you need to get to know your new family member, rest and recover
• Home workstation budget of £500 on joining (and £150 p/a thereafter), so that your home office is set up to serve you well and that you have everything you need to work comfortably
• Personal learning and development budget of £1000 annually, and 5% L&D time during working hours to focus on improving your skillset
• Private healthcare with BUPA
• Medical cash plan to cover a range medical and dental costs
• Mental wellbeing coaching and counselling from Self Space
• Monthly wellbeing budget via Juno
• Life assurance and income protection
• Access to Tech & Cycle to Work schemes
• Weekly snack allowance for our end-of-week “Need To Know” meeting
• A fully-paid one-month sabbatical after five years with Ably