Staff Site Reliability Engineer

The Staff Site Reliability Engineer at ClickUp is tasked with improving the stability, availability, and reliability of our infrastructure. This includes designing systems for performance, collaborating with engineering for product design, increasing observability metrics, responding to downtime events, and developing safeguards to proactively prevent issues. You're at the core of maintaining ClickUp's reputation for reliability.

To qualify for the Staff Site Reliability Engineer role at ClickUp, candidates should have 4-6+ years of experience within the AWS ecosystem and familiarity with infrastructure best practices. Proficiency in Kubernetes, infrastructure as code (IaC), and experience with data monitoring tools such as DataDog are also critical. Strong problem-solving skills and effective communication are key attributes we look for.

Success for the Staff Site Reliability Engineer at ClickUp is defined by the ability to enhance system stability, respond swiftly to incidents, and contribute to the overall architecture that supports thousands of users. It’s about elevating user experience through a dependable infrastructure while actively innovating and implementing best practices in monitoring and reliability.

At ClickUp, the culture is vibrant and geared towards innovation and ambition. As a Staff Site Reliability Engineer, you’ll be part of a hard-working and values-driven team that embraces diversity and encourages self-starters. The environment supports continuous learning and helps you expand your skills while contributing to exciting projects that matter.

There are significant career growth opportunities for the Staff Site Reliability Engineer at ClickUp. The role offers a chance to take ownership of critical systems while exposing you to a variety of advanced technologies. We encourage professional development through mentorship, participation in brainstorming sessions, and collaborative projects, paving the way for upward mobility within the company.

When discussing your experience with AWS in the interview, be specific about the services you've used, such as EC2, ECS, or RDS. Explain how you have deployed applications, managed resources, or addressed performance issues, showcasing your problem-solving capabilities to align with the needs of ClickUp.

Share examples of monitoring tools you’ve used, like DataDog or CloudWatch. Discuss what metrics you monitored, how the insights improved system performance, and any incidents you’ve handled thanks to proactive monitoring to exhibit your hands-on experience in ensuring reliability.

When answering this question, focus on a specific incident, detailing the steps taken to identify the problem, analyze root causes, and implement a solution. Highlight any preventative measures you established afterward to demonstrate your foresight in mitigating future risks.

Explain your approach to prioritization based on severity and impact. Illustrate with an example of a time when you managed multiple priorities, outlining your decision-making process and how you communicated with your team and stakeholders.

Discuss how you foster an open environment for collaboration, perhaps by organizing regular brainstorming sessions or meetings. Highlight any tools or methodologies that have worked for you to encourage teamwork and ensure everyone stays aligned with project goals at ClickUp.

Describe your methodology for handling incidents, from detection to resolution. Discuss how you utilize post-mortem reviews to learn from each incident and refine your response strategy. Emphasizing a culture of continual improvement will resonate well with ClickUp values.

Demonstrate familiarity with key SRE principles, such as error budgets and service level objectives (SLOs). Talk about how you have implemented these practices in your past roles and the impact they had on the organization’s reliability posture.

Be sure to mention specific tools you've worked with, such as Terraform or AWS CDK. Discuss projects where you implemented IaC to improve efficiency, track changes, or manage infrastructure more effectively and what challenges you overcame in doing so.

Talk about your experience in implementing self-healing solutions, including any specific tools or frameworks you've utilized. Highlight how these solutions have reduced downtime and improved system resilience, showcasing your innovative side.

If you have experience in this area, discuss the tools and methodologies you've used for application security testing. Even if you are less familiar, express a willingness to learn, and tie back to how security integrates with reliability at ClickUp.