Principal Engineer, Core Infrastructure

Klaviyo•Boston, MA

About The Position

At Klaviyo, we value the unique backgrounds, experiences and perspectives each Klaviyo (we call ourselves Klaviyos) brings to our workplace each and every day. We believe everyone deserves a fair shot at success and appreciate the experiences each person brings beyond the traditional job requirements. If you’re a close but not exact match with the description, we hope you’ll still consider applying. Want to learn more about life at Klaviyo? Visit careers.klaviyo.com to see how we empower creators to own their own destiny. As a hands‑on principal for compute, networking, storage, runtimes (e.g., Kubernetes), CI/CD, and observability, you’ll architect the service platform that lets teams ship fast and safely. IC role—no direct reports—you lead via design, code, and incident excellence, setting technical standards and SLOs for platform services.

Requirements

Experience: 10+ years building and operating cloud platforms (compute, networking, storage, runtimes like Kubernetes), with a track record of multi‑region HA and SLO rigor.
Technical expertise: Deep in Kubernetes, service mesh, Terraform/IaC, CI/CD, and production observability; you ship golden paths and guardrails that lift the whole org.
Experience with databases and storage systems, including SQL and NoSQL databases, and object, block, or file storage platforms.
AI tools & automation: You’ve brought AI into platform engineering—from copilot‑assisted workflows and intelligent test generation to AIOps for incident triage, anomaly detection, and runbook automation—with clear security and cost boundaries.
Ops leadership: You lead via design reviews, incident excellence, and SLO/error‑budget tradeoffs communicated in business terms.
AI fluency: You’re hands‑on with AI tools and help teams adopt them responsibly.

Nice To Haves

Core SLOs & velocity: ≥99.95% SLOs for core services; 25–50% faster build/deploy times; developer‑reported friction trending down.
AI‑enabled platform: Approved AI tooling is integrated into IDE/CI/CD with repo policies and auditability; ≥70% MAU among eligible engineers; MTTR down 20–30% via AI‑assisted triage; flaky‑test rate decreases through targeted, AI‑suggested fixes.
Guardrails in place: Cost, security, and compliance controls are codified as IaC modules and enforced in paved roads.
Experience with enterprise governance, including compliance and audit requirements.
Familiarity with GDPR and data privacy considerations in large-scale, production environments.
Success in 6–12 Months
≥99.95% SLOs for core services; 25–50% faster build/deploy times; reduced developer‑reported friction; incident recurrence trending down.

Responsibilities

Architect and evolve the Kubernetes platform, service mesh, networking, storage, and CI/CD pipelines; ship golden paths and IaC modules.
Define platform SLOs; use error budgets to guide reliability vs. velocity trade‑offs; drive incident learning and readiness reviews.
Improve developer velocity (build/deploy times, flaky tests, local dev ergonomics) with measurable results.
Lead capacity planning and commitments; build guardrails for cost, security, and compliance with Security/FinOps partners.
Write high‑impact code, automation, and tooling; mentor across teams and raise the bar on operational excellence
Embed AI in the developer experience—from code generation to observability and incident response—so teams ship faster and safer by default.

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