Senior Systems Developer (SRE|SysAdmin)

The Calyx Institute is seeking applications for Senior Systems Developer positions. A contributor to the Calyx engineering team, Senior Systems Developers will be primarily responsible for building and organizing components of our infrastructure.

Ideal candidates should have experience with the architecture of systems used to support the development of complex software products. They should be energetic, unflappable, flexible, and thrive in a highly-technical collaborative environment. The Calyx Institute works collaboratively on projects with a diverse, global community. We work hard to choose communications tools that encourage participation, where every contributor is heard and respected. Senior Systems Developers must be team players with excellent verbal and written communication skills.

The focus of the Senior Systems Developer role will range from the maintenance and automation of CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Ansible), to helping bootstrap the CalyxVPN project, and CalyxCloud (kubernetes, S3 object storage). Work on these projects will include developing roadmaps and milestones in cooperation with project managers responsible for these products, identifying team staffing needs, and helping to ensure timely completion of project deliverables. Some of these projects will require coordination with outside/upstream groups and flexibility with what may initially be “moving target deliverables.” More software projects will be brought into the pipeline over time, in coordination with team leads and project managers.

Calyx teams are distributed globally across multiple time zones, so the ability to organize and communicate asynchronously via chat platforms, email, Gitlab tickets, etc. is crucial.

Candidates must have strong organizational skills and the ability to communicate in writing to diverse audiences. They will be expected to identify areas for project expansion or alignment, support team leads on the execution of projects, and help to write reports on the technical status of projects. Senior Systems Developers are expected to be technical experts within their rating, and capable of training/developing skills in their subordinates. This position reports to the Engineering Director (but reporting may be delegated to a Project Manager).

This role is an opportunity to both apply your existing skills and gain new ones. The following lists indicate what we think are necessary to execute various Calyx projects, but you do not need to be an expert in all of them to apply.

Required Skills

• Git: functional knowledge of forking, branching, merging, reviewing, and rebasing
• Ansible: understanding and experience with the concept of infrastructure as code, building/deploying containers and services using ansible
• SSH, BASH, LINUX/UNIX, L2-L4 Networking, FOSS tools/solutions, CLI expertise
• Containers (Podman|RKE2): experience/interest in CNCF projects
• RAS-based (reliability, availability and serviceability) approach to design, deployment, and maintenance of infrastructure
• Comfortable with stand-up review of written code and justification/critique of methods
• Participate/engage in continuous refactoring and addressing technical debt
• Experience in/with leadership roles

Preferred Skills & Qualifications 

• Designing and building applications for container-native deployment strategies
• CI/CD: Design and maintenance of a CI/CD pipeline (using Jenkins, Zuul, etc.)
• Experience with deployments on tier-1 public clouds (i.e. AWS, Azure, etc.), demonstrating a "best practices" approach
• Experience building and deploying container registries
• Hands-on experience with enterprise hardware (metal servers, racking, switches, etc.)
• Container orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes, Podman, metal LB, traefik, etc.
• Debian: experience with Debian or another apt-based Linux distribution
• RedHat: experience with RHEL or another rpm-based Linux distribution
• Networking: configuring switches (Juniper|Cummulus), network optimization, segmentation, BGP routing, DDoS mitigation, and associated IaaS tools, etc.
• Logging: matomo, ELK, Prometheus, etc.
• Applications: Nextcloud, Zammad, Tor, NGINX, mailservers, gitea|gitlab, SnipeIT
• Communications: Signal, Zulip, XMPP
• Four-year degree (or equivalent) in an operations or technical field (operations management, engineering, maths, sciences, etc.)
• Graduate degrees and professional certifications are a plus
• 4+ years professional experience in similar roles (show us a portfolio!)

Details & To Apply

Compensation for the Senior Systems Developer position ranges from $120,000 - $140,000. This position is full-time, hybrid-remote in the greater Seattle, WA area. Rare short-notice travel to data centers in Western Washington state is required. Calyx offers health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible paid time off, and 401k plan with generous employer contribution. 

To apply, submit your required application materials via the link to Greenhouse below. Applications without a cover letter or submitted via email will not be reviewed. 

Required materials:

• 1-page cover letter in PDF format
• 1-2 page resumé in PDF format
• *3 professional references with contact information

*We will not contact references without informing you first

Optional materials:

• Portfolio of past experience in similar roles

Application Deadline: May 1, 2024

Start Date: June 1, 2024