Software Engineering SMTS - job 4 of 5

As a Software Engineering SMTS at Salesforce, you will play a vital role in the development and implementation of the next generation Ingress Gateway control plane and data plane. Your primary responsibilities will include driving the design and evolution of our service mesh platform, enhancing the capabilities of our software stack, and ensuring high availability and reliability of services. You will collaborate with a dynamic team to create sophisticated load balancing and gateway services that handle customer traffic efficiently, all while embracing a culture of continuous improvement and open-source contributions.

To be considered for the Software Engineering SMTS role at Salesforce, you will need at least 6 years of development experience in a Linux/UNIX data center environment. Proficiency in programming languages such as Golang, Java, or C++ is essential, along with experience operating large-scale cluster management systems like Kubernetes. Familiarity with Agile methodologies, cloud technologies like AWS and Google Cloud, and network technologies such as TCP/IP and HTTP proxies are also important. It's a role tailored for individuals who are ready to take ownership of their projects in a collaborative atmosphere.

At Salesforce, we are committed to empowering our employees to grow and thrive in their careers. As a Software Engineering SMTS, you will have access to continuous learning opportunities, mentorship programs, and the chance to pioneer innovative projects that can significantly impact our suite of services. We encourage participation in community-driven open-source contributions, enhancing both your skillset and professional visibility. Our inclusive work culture enables you to explore multiple pathways for career advancement while working on meaningful projects that drive real change.

The work environment at Salesforce for a Software Engineering SMTS is collaborative, innovative, and fast-paced. You will be working in cross-functional teams, where communication and teamwork are highly valued. We prioritize a culture of openness and inclusivity, ensuring that everyone's voice is heard. As a member of our engineering team, you'll experience the excitement of tackling complex challenges together, celebrate successes, and learn from one another as you contribute to pioneering services that redefine customer-business relationships.

For the Software Engineering SMTS role at Salesforce, the base salary range for California-based positions is between $172,000 to $276,100, depending on various factors such as location, experience, and skill level. In addition to a competitive salary, Salesforce offers an enticing range of benefits, including equity options, health and wellness programs, and professional development resources. We are devoted to fostering an environment where every employee feels valued and rewarded for their contributions.

When answering, detail specific projects where you've designed or operated distributed systems. Highlight your role in ensuring reliability and scalability, focusing on the technologies used, such as Kubernetes or cloud services. Discuss any challenges faced and how you overcame them, emphasizing your problem-solving skills relevant to the role.

It's important to mention the strategies you've applied for effective load balancing, such as round-robin, least connections, or IP hash methods. Reference any specific tools or frameworks you've worked with, especially relevant to service mesh technologies that Salesforce employs. Show your understanding of how these techniques contribute to application performance and reliability.

Discuss your approach to balancing immediate feature needs with the necessity of addressing technical debt. Describe any methodologies you've used, like Agile or Scrum, and how you ensure that technical debt doesn’t compromise the integrity and quality of the code. Share examples where you've had to make tough decisions and the outcomes of those decisions.

Share your familiarity with Agile frameworks, such as Scrum or Kanban, and the specific roles you've played within Agile teams. Discuss how Agile principles have influenced your development processes, fostering collaboration, delivering value continuously, and iterating based on feedback. Highlight concrete instances of Agile practices enhancing team productivity and product quality.

When discussing this, outline your approach to secure coding, including adherence to coding standards, conducting code reviews, and using automated security tools. Highlight your familiarity with common security vulnerabilities, such as those identified in the OWASP Top Ten, and any specific experiences where you’ve proactively mitigated such risks. Showing a security-first mentality is crucial in this role.

Explain your emphasis on using telemetry and metrics to inform decisions about system performance and operational health. Discuss specific tools or metrics you've employed to monitor and troubleshoot distributed systems, and how data-driven insights have led to improvements in system reliability or performance.

Use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method to frame your response. Discuss a particular challenge you encountered in a distributed systems project, the actions you took to resolve the issue, and the impact of your solution on the project or the organization. This will showcase your analytical and problem-solving skills.

Share the strategies and best practices you implement to design self-healing services, such as health-checks, automated recovery processes, and redundancy measures. Discuss your philosophy towards fault-tolerance and high availability, along with specific examples of how you've achieved reliability in previous roles.

Discuss your proficiency in these languages by mentioning projects or applications you've built and the role these languages played in their development. Highlight specific tasks, functions, or performance benefits achieved through your expertise, demonstrating your suitability for the Software Engineering SMTS position at Salesforce.

Convey your enthusiasm for innovation and technology, particularly in the context of microservices and service mesh architecture. Discuss how you view the importance of such systems in modern application development, as well as your eagerness to contribute to and learn from a cutting-edge team.