Systems Engineer I

DigitalOcean•Seattle, WA

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

DigitalOcean is seeking a Systems Engineer I to join their Sustaining Engineering team within the Infra::Machines::Design Organization. This role involves supporting the hardware infrastructure of the DigitalOcean server fleet, including server hardware, cabling, and networking hardware throughout its operational lifecycle. The position requires monitoring issues, participating in a 24/7 on-call rotation, and acting as a Tier 2 escalation point for Datacenter Operations and Cloud Operations. The Systems Engineer will also be responsible for developing and maintaining standards and practices for hardware operations, collaborating with various teams to resolve issues, and assisting in the development of tooling and runbooks. A key aspect of the role is to improve the quality of cloud infrastructure by identifying and adopting industry best practices.

Requirements

Technical Degree (BS Computer Science/Engineering) or equivalent practical experience
Hands-on experience operating a cloud infrastructure at mid-tier scale or better
An in-depth understanding of server hardware, firmware, and infrastructure
Strong knowledge in troubleshooting techniques, Python and BASH
Clear communication and collaboration across key stakeholders
An insatiable passion for constant improvement

Nice To Haves

JTAG debugging / Firmware troubleshooting / Wire sniffing experience

Responsibilities

Act as a member of the Sustaining Engineering team in the Infra::Machines::Design Organization
Support server hardware, cabling, and networking hardware throughout its operational lifecycle
Monitor the #machines channel and MACHINES JIRA project for issues and drive them to resolution
Participate in 24/7 on-call rotation with other members of the team
Act as Tier 2 escalation for Datacenter Operations (DCOPS) and Cloud Operations (CloudOps) regarding hardware and firmware components
Develop and maintain standards and practices for DigitalOcean hardware operations
Work closely with the Qualification team, Firmware team, Fleet Lifecycle Engineering team (FLE), Foresight team, and Infrastructure Services team to resolve issues in tooling, firmware packages, hardware components, and other operational concerns
Help with development of tooling and associated runbooks to address gaps in operational capabilities around hardware and firmware operations
Coordinate with Ops teams on monitoring thresholds, failure modes and alerting
Assist in troubleshooting cause of failures and work to prevent them in the future
Raise the quality bar in the delivery of our cloud infrastructure by identifying industry best practices and working to adopt them