Staff Site Reliability Engineer - IT Disaster Recovery (ITDR) - job 16 of 20

As a Staff Site Reliability Engineer at Visa, your primary role is to advance our IT Disaster Recovery program by establishing new standards for disaster recovery capabilities. You'll collaborate across various teams to define recovery time objectives and create effective recovery solutions while leading rigorous testing and maintaining documentation related to disaster recovery processes.

To excel as a Staff Site Reliability Engineer at Visa, candidates should possess a strong understanding of disaster recovery principles, network configurations, and cloud services. Excellent collaboration, documentation skills, and the ability to lead initiatives are also essential. Knowledge of databases and experience with middleware platforms are critical as well.

Visa ensures the effectiveness of its Disaster Recovery Plan through regular validation and rigorous testing of all recovery processes. The Staff Site Reliability Engineer plays a crucial role in this by leading annual disaster recovery testing activities to guarantee that all systems can be efficiently restored during a disaster event.

The work environment for a Staff Site Reliability Engineer at Visa is hybrid, allowing employees to alternate between remote and office work. It generally requires office presence for 2-3 days a week, fostering collaboration while also offering flexibility based on business needs.

A Staff Site Reliability Engineer plays a vital role in mitigating risks and ensuring business continuity at Visa. By developing effective disaster recovery plans and leading tests, they directly contribute to safeguarding Visa's infrastructure and ensuring that services remain available to 80 million merchants and billions of users worldwide.

When developing a disaster recovery plan, begin by understanding the critical business functions and associated risks. Collaborate with relevant teams to establish RTOs and RPOs, document all processes thoroughly, and ensure regular testing to validate the effectiveness of your plan.

I have led comprehensive disaster recovery testing, which includes preparing the environment, coordinating stakeholders, executing tests, and analyzing results. It's essential to document findings and update recovery procedures appropriately based on test outcomes.

RTO, or Recovery Time Objective, is the maximum acceptable time that a system can be down after a disaster, while RPO, or Recovery Point Objective, defines the maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time. Both metrics are crucial for creating effective disaster recovery strategies.

Effective communication is key to ensuring collaboration across various teams. I promote regular meetings, encourage input from all stakeholders, and ensure that responsibilities are clearly defined. This also includes providing training and resources that foster cooperative efforts.

I utilize a variety of tools including cloud services for backup and replication, as well as monitoring tools that notify us of system health. I also use infrastructure as code (IaC) to automate disaster recovery processes where feasible.

I stay updated on disaster recovery best practices through continuous learning, attending industry conferences, participating in webinars, and subscribing to relevant publications. Networking with other professionals in the field also provides valuable insights into emerging trends and practices.

In a previous role, we faced a severe service outage that affected multiple systems. I led the team in orchestrating a swift response by implementing our disaster recovery protocols, involving cross-functional teams, and communicating effectively at all levels. Post-incident, I ensured we updated our recovery documentation based on lessons learned.

I have extensive experience with cloud-based disaster recovery solutions, enabling rapid backups and recoveries. I am familiar with various cloud service providers and how to leverage their tools to create resilient and cost-effective disaster recovery strategies.

I define KPIs based on critical recovery metrics such as time taken for recovery, data loss, and success rate of testing. These KPIs are tracked and reviewed regularly to ensure our disaster recovery processes meet the established objectives and to identify areas for improvement.

Documentation is crucial in disaster recovery as it outlines procedures, roles, and responsibilities, ensuring everyone knows what to do in the event of a disaster. It serves as a reference guide during stressful situations and is vital for training new team members to maintain readiness.