Site Reliability Engineer - Cassandra - job 2 of 2

As a Site Reliability Engineer at Visa's Tink, your primary responsibilities will include maintaining, expanding, and evolving our Cassandra databases to ensure scalability and reliability. You will collaborate with various stakeholders to align database services with their specific needs, and contribute to building the infrastructure that supports secure data collection and analysis. Your role will also involve implementing best practices in infrastructure management and utilizing tools like Terraform or Ansible.

To qualify as a Site Reliability Engineer at Visa in Stockholm, candidates typically require 5+ years of relevant work experience alongside a Bachelor’s Degree, or have 2 years in an advanced degree program. Proven experience managing Cassandra databases at scale is essential, along with a solid understanding of IaC environments. Familiarity with monitoring tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and Datadog is preferable, as is experience with cloud services like AWS.

The Site Reliability Engineer role at Visa offers a hybrid work model, allowing employees the flexibility to work remotely while also requiring some in-office days in Stockholm. The specific expectation for in-office attendance will be confirmed by your hiring manager, providing a great balance between collaboration and independent work.

At Visa, the work culture is inclusive and collaborative, particularly for Site Reliability Engineers. You will be part of an international team that values teamwork and innovative thinking. Engineers are encouraged to share their expertise and mentor junior colleagues, contributing to a supportive environment where everyone can elevate their skills and grow together.

Site Reliability Engineers at Visa utilize a range of tools and technologies. Key tools include Cassandra for database management, as well as Infrastructure as Code tools like Terraform and Ansible. For monitoring and visualization, engineers commonly use Prometheus, Grafana, and Datadog to ensure that systems are running smoothly and efficiently.

In answering this question, you should discuss the scale of the Cassandra databases you've managed, the specific challenges you faced, and the strategies you implemented to ensure their performance and reliability. Highlight any scalability projects you took part in and the tools you utilized during the process.

To ensure reliability in a distributed database like Cassandra, it's crucial to implement monitoring strategies, robust backup procedures, and failover plans. Discuss your approach to incident response and the tools you've used to track database health, as well as any metrics that you consider critical for assessing reliability.

Emphasize the importance of communication and regular meetings with stakeholders to understand their needs. Discuss how you gather feedback, prioritize database features, and integrate those requirements into your work, ensuring that the database services you deliver are aligned with business goals.

Be specific about your experience using Infrastructure as Code tools like Terraform or Ansible. Explain a project where you implemented IaC to automate deployment and management of resources, detailing how this improved efficiency and reduced errors in your work.

When answering this question, share a specific scenario that highlights your troubleshooting skills. Walk the interviewer through the steps you took to identify the issue, the solutions you implemented, and how you communicated with your team and other stakeholders during the process.

Discuss your commitment to continuous learning, including online courses, attending conferences, or participating in community groups focused on database technologies. Highlight any pertinent certifications that you've earned or relevant resources you follow to stay informed about advancements in the industry.

Explain how automation is key to ensuring efficiency and reliability in operations. Discuss specific tasks you have automated and the tools you've used, highlighting how these efforts have improved the overall performance and reliability of the database environment.

Share a relevant experience where you have offered guidance or training to junior engineers. Describe the focus of your mentorship, the methods you used, and the outcomes achieved, emphasizing how you helped them develop their skills and understanding of Site Reliability Engineering.

Discuss the importance of clear and comprehensive documentation in your work. Describe your process for maintaining up-to-date documentation, including any tools you use and why you believe this is crucial for team collaboration and future project success.

Reflect on current trends impacting Site Reliability Engineering, such as scaling challenges due to increased user demands, ensuring security in cloud environments, or the complexity of managing multi-cloud architectures. Share your thoughts on how to tackle these challenges and the strategies you've implemented in your own work.