Senior+ Platform Engineer

As a Senior Platform Engineer at Swarmia, your primary responsibilities include designing and implementing infrastructure changes, assisting product teams with Kubernetes management, optimizing application performance, configuring secure VPCs, writing documentation, and tuning PostgreSQL performance. In this role, you'll play a vital part in maintaining our production systems and ensuring our customers experience seamless service.

Swarmia requires candidates for the Senior Platform Engineer position to have deep infrastructure expertise, especially in Google Cloud and Terraform. Familiarity with Kubernetes, experience with monitoring and observability tools like Prometheus and Grafana, and a strong understanding of PostgreSQL are also key. Additionally, proficiency in automation and a collaborative mindset will help you thrive within our team.

At Swarmia, we believe in the value of continuous improvement not just for our teams but for our employees. As a Senior Platform Engineer, you will engage in training sessions and collaborative problem-solving workshops. We encourage knowledge sharing, allowing you to learn new technologies and refine your skills while contributing to significant projects.

In your role at Swarmia, you'll engage with a diverse tech stack that includes Google Cloud Platform, Google Kubernetes Engine for hosting, Terraform for infrastructure as code, and Observability tools like Prometheus and Grafana. Your daily tasks will also involve working with TypeScript/NodeJS backends, PostgreSQL databases, and CI/CD tools like GitHub Actions, ensuring you stay at the forefront of technology.

Swarmia promotes a strong work-life balance, ensuring our employees do not experience burnout despite the fast-paced startup environment. As a Senior Platform Engineer, you'll enjoy a flexible remote/office work model while being part of a supportive team culture that respects personal responsibilities and priorities outside of work.

To answer this question effectively, share specific projects where you've used Terraform to manage cloud resources. Highlight your ability to create modular and reusable Terraform configurations, explain how you've implemented changes through infrastructure as code, and discuss how this improved deployment consistency and efficiency in your previous roles.

When discussing Kubernetes optimization, emphasize your experience in monitoring cluster performance, analyzing resource usage metrics, and identifying bottlenecks. Provide examples of strategies you’ve implemented, such as adjusting resource requests/limits, using HPA (Horizontal Pod Autoscaler), or optimizing pod placement to maintain high availability and efficiency.

In your response, outline your systematic approach to database performance tuning. Discuss specific techniques you've used, such as analyzing query performance with EXPLAIN, identifying and addressing table bloat, adjusting index usage, or implementing pg_repack runs to optimize performance continuously.

When answering this question, use the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result. Describe the context of the issue, your specific role in resolving it, the steps you took for troubleshooting (e.g., examining logs, increasing monitoring), and highlight the positive outcome for the team and end-users.

Discuss your experience with implementing security best practices, such as configuring IAM policies, utilizing security groups to restrict access, and regularly performing security audits. Highlight any tools you've used to enhance security posture and how you've collaborated with teams to maintain compliance with industry standards.

You could explain how you utilize monitoring tools such as Prometheus and Grafana to track system performance and alert the team to potential issues. Mention the importance of setting up relevant metrics, SLOs, and alerts to catch problems before impacting customers, ensuring a proactive operational environment.

Talk about your communication strategy when working with multiple stakeholders, including setting clear expectations, regular updates, and fostering a collaborative environment. Explain your approach to balancing differing priorities and ensuring all team members stay aligned toward common goals.

Discuss a specific automated task you have implemented, whether it's for deployment, backups, or continuous integration. Explain the impact it had on the operational team's efficiency and how you documented the process for team knowledge sharing.

Provide a list of critical metrics that are pivotal for assessing performance, like uptime percentage, response time, resource utilization, and error rates. Highlight how you track these metrics for optimization and ensure they align with business service level objectives.

Use this question to convey your enthusiasm for Swarmia's mission, the impact of its product, and your alignment with its values. Mention specific aspects of the role that excite you, such as working on a diverse tech stack, the commitment to a great work-life balance, or the opportunity to make tangible contributions to the platform.