Site Reliability Engineering Manager

As a Site Reliability Engineering Manager at Zoox, you will lead and mentor the Core Site Reliability Engineering team, establish SLOs, and oversee incident management frameworks. Additionally, you will collaborate with engineering teams to create scalable solutions and improve system reliability, champion infrastructure automation, and ensure a robust observability strategy is in place.

To qualify for the Site Reliability Engineering Manager position at Zoox, candidates should have 5+ years of experience in Site Reliability Engineering, DevOps, or similar roles, along with 3+ years of people management experience. A strong background in distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and experience with modern observability tools is also essential.

At Zoox, we are committed to the professional growth of our Site Reliability Engineering Managers. You'll have the opportunity to mentor and shape the careers of your team members, as well as access resources for technical development. We believe that investing in our team's growth directly contributes to the overall success of our infrastructure and services.

The compensation for a Site Reliability Engineering Manager at Zoox consists of salary, Amazon Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), and Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights. The salary range for this position is between $234,000 and $342,000, with adjustments based on geographical location and experience. A sign-on bonus may also be offered as part of the comprehensive compensation package.

Ideal candidates for the Site Reliability Engineering Manager role at Zoox should have knowledge of Kubernetes, AWS, and infrastructure as code practices. Experience with real-time systems and safety-critical applications is preferred, alongside a proven track record of building and scaling high-performing technical teams.

In answering this question, it's essential to discuss specific metrics you monitor, such as uptime, latency, and SLOs. Highlight your experience with monitoring tools, your approach to incident management, and how you utilize these metrics to improve system reliability and performance.

Here, you should provide a detailed example of a specific project. Discuss the problem you identified, the steps you took to improve performance, the technologies you used, and the measurable results. Show how your actions directly contributed to improved efficiency or reliability.

In your response, discuss your conflict resolution strategies. Highlight your approach to listening to team members, facilitating constructive discussions, and ensuring that team goals are aligned. Stress your commitment to fostering a positive team culture and supporting each member's professional development.

To answer this, share your specific experiences with automation tools and practices, emphasizing how these have improved efficiency and reliability in your past roles. Discuss any frameworks or methodologies you've implemented for automation, and their impact on system performance.

Outline your level of expertise with cloud platforms, specifically AWS. Discuss any significant projects or responsibilities you’ve had that involved deploying or managing cloud resources, focusing on best practices and lessons learned during those experiences.

Success in an SRE role requires excellent communication. Discuss your strategies for maintaining open lines of communication with engineering teams, such as regular sync meetings, collaborative incident reviews, and using shared documentation to keep everyone informed.

Discuss your understanding of observability and its importance in maintaining system reliability. Share the tools and techniques you employ to enhance observability, and how you utilize this data to address performance issues proactively.

In your response, describe the process you followed to define and implement SLOs. Highlight the metrics you selected, the stakeholders you engaged, and how you used these goals to drive accountability and improve service reliability.

This is an opportunity to demonstrate your problem-solving and leadership abilities. Discuss a specific incident, outline the challenges you faced in managing it, and describe how your strategies for incident response and communication helped mitigate the situation successfully.

To answer this question effectively, discuss your views on team culture, encouraging continuous learning, mentorship, and collaboration among team members. Share specific practices you value that foster a high-performing environment, such as regular training sessions and shared goals.