Director - Site Reliability Engineering - job 13 of 20

As the Director - Site Reliability Engineering at Visa, you'll oversee a team dedicated to enhancing the Visa Cloud Platform through proactive monitoring, automation, and innovative solutions. Your key responsibilities include guiding the instrumentation of monitoring systems, ensuring target SLAs are met, and partnering with Operations & Infrastructure to support ongoing platform maintenance. Additionally, you will manage team workloads and ensure that the team can support the engineering community effectively.

To excel as the Director - Site Reliability Engineering at Visa, applicants should possess a strong background in IT, particularly in site reliability engineering or related fields. A proven track record of managing teams, familiarity with cloud platforms (IaaS/PaaS), and experience in automation are essential. Strong analytical skills to address complex technical challenges while collaborating effectively with internal stakeholders are also key. A commitment to continuous improvement and innovation is vital.

The Director - Site Reliability Engineering position at Visa requires flexibility as the SRE team operates on a 24/7/365 schedule. Expect to participate in shift work and on-call support, which may include weekends. This hybrid position will also specify in-office days, allowing for a balance between remote work and collaboration in the office.

Visa is committed to the growth of its team members, including the Director - Site Reliability Engineering. In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to liaise with peers and understand upcoming projects, which allows for both personal and professional development. Additionally, Visa promotes a culture of learning and innovation, so you can expect resources and support for continuous improvement.

As the Director - Site Reliability Engineering at Visa, you'll leverage advanced technologies and frameworks associated with cloud services, namely IaaS, PaaS, and container services. Tools for automation and monitoring, alongside techniques for ensuring security and scalability, will be integral to your role. Your familiarity with the latest tools will be key to supporting the engineering teams effectively.

When answering this question, focus on specific projects where you implemented SRE principles. Highlight your involvement in proactive monitoring, automation, and incident response strategies. Sharing quantifiable achievements will demonstrate your impact.

This is an opportunity to showcase your leadership style. Discuss how you assess team workloads, set priorities based on project timelines, and ensure coverage across shifts. Mention the importance of communication and alignment with company goals.

Talk about your approach to incident management, including preparation, detection, response, and post-incident reviews. Explain how you implement lessons learned from incidents to improve systems and processes continuously.

Discuss your conflict resolution strategies. Emphasize the importance of open communication, understanding different perspectives, and seeking collaborative compromise. Real scenarios can help illustrate your points effectively.

Focus on your familiarity with cloud infrastructure, platforms, and services you’ve managed. Mention specific projects involving IaaS/PaaS or containerization and how you leveraged cloud technologies to improve efficiency.

Highlight best practices you follow for maintaining platform security, such as automated security checks, compliance with standards, and regular security audits. Discuss the importance of a security-first culture in engineering.

Describe important Service Level Indicators (SLIs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) you monitor. Discuss how you translate these metrics into actionable insights for continuous improvement of the platform.

Share strategies for encouraging innovation, such as hackathons, continuous learning opportunities, and an open-door policy for ideas. Highlight how you celebrate successes and encourage calculated risk-taking.

Discuss specific tools you’ve used for automation, such as CI/CD pipelines, configuration management, and monitoring tools. Emphasize how these tools have helped improve efficiency and reduce manual overhead.

Select a challenging project that showcases your problem-solving skills and technical knowledge. Detail the project’s obstacles, your role, the strategies you employed, and the successful outcomes achieved.