portal resources jobs companies w wikimedia foundation staff site reliability engineer

Staff Site Reliability Engineer 🔥


Staff Site Reliability Engineer (Network)

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a Site Reliability Engineer to join our team, reporting to the Engineering Manager of the Infrastructure Foundations team. As the Site Reliability Engineer, you will be responsible for ensuring our global top-15 web site, our public facing services, and underlying infrastructure are healthy and developing further in support of Wikimedia’s mission.

We operate AS 14907 [1] out of multiple data centers in the US, Europe, and Asia, with a global backhaul network and an open peering policy. We apply software engineering practices in our operations, and we publish all of our documentation [2], code [3] and configuration [4] as open source.

We are a globally distributed and diverse team of engineers with a drive to explore, experiment and embrace new technologies. If you find what we do interesting, if you are up to the challenge of improving the reliability and delivery of one of the Internet’s top 15 websites, and you enjoy the idea of working in a remote-first role, we may just be the right place for you.

You are responsible for:

  • Design, install and administer the global networking infrastructure, including edge, backbone & core network routing, data center access layer switching and network security
  • Design and implement routing policies, VLAN topologies, and IP addressing plans
  • Investigate and troubleshoot unexpected network and/or systems issues, including routine traffic engineering and DDoS detection, mitigation and prevention
  • Manage and implement peering relationships
  • Maintain and integrate with data in our single source of truth system (Netbox), and code and configuration in our configuration management tools
  • Assist in the design and integration of virtual networks for containers and virtualization
  • Assist in or lead incident response, diagnosis and follow-up on system outages or alerts across Wikimedia’s production infrastructure
  • Mentor peers in your areas of technical and operational strength
  • Share our values [5] and work in accordance with them

Skills and Experience:

  • 5+ years experience in an SRE/Operations/DevOps role as part of a team
  • Hands-on experience configuring routers and switches (we use primarily Juniper gear)
  • Solid understanding of standard switching and routing protocols and technologies (BGP, OSPF/ISIS, VRRP, VXLAN)
  • Experience designing and configuring data center access layer topologies
  • Experience with complex global routing topologies
  • Experience with shell and scripting languages used in an SRE/Operations engineering context (Python, Go, Bash, etc.), and configuration management tools (Puppet, Ansible, etc.)
  • History of automating tasks and processes, identifying process gaps and finding automation opportunities
  • Strong English language skills and ability to work independently, as an effective part of a globally distributed team
  • B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science or equivalent work experience

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

  • Past experience with free/open source software development, or being part of an open source community
  • Past experience with Linux systems engineering and/or software engineering

The Wikimedia Foundation is... 

...the nonprofit organization that hosts and operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge, free of interference. We host the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive. The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that relies on donations. We receive financial support from millions of individuals around the world, with an average donation of about $15. We also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

As an equal opportunity employer, the Wikimedia Foundation values having a diverse workforce and continuously strives to maintain an inclusive and equitable workplace. We encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate against any person based upon their race, traits historically associated with race, religion, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy or related medical conditions, parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, or any other legally protected characteristics.

If you are a qualified applicant requiring assistance or an accommodation to complete any step of the application process due to a disability, you may contact us at recruiting@wikimedia.org or (415) 839-6885.

U.S. Benefits & Perks*

  • Fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and their eligible families (yes, fully paid premiums!)
  • The Wellness Program provides reimbursement for mind, body and soul activities such as fitness memberships, baby sitting, continuing education and much more
  • The 401(k) retirement plan offers matched contributions at 4% of annual salary
  • Flexible and generous time off - vacation, sick and volunteer days, plus 22 paid holidays - including the last week of the year.
  • Family friendly! 100% paid new parent leave for seven weeks plus an additional five weeks for pregnancy, flexible options to phase back in after leave, fully equipped lactation room.
  • For those emergency moments - long and short term disability, life insurance (2x salary) and an employee assistance program
  • Pre-tax savings plans for health care, child care, elder care, public transportation and parking expenses
  • Telecommuting and flexible work schedules available
  • Appropriate fuel for thinking and coding (aka, a pantry full of treats) and monthly massages to help staff relax
  • Paid travel to Wikimedia Foundation events all around the world!
  • Equipment including a laptop, monitor, plus a one-time stipend to cover any additional needs to make sure you have the best work experience
  • Great colleagues - diverse staff and contractors speaking dozens of languages from around the world, fantastic intellectual discourse, mission-driven and intensely passionate people

*Please note that for remote roles located outside of the U.S., we defer to our PEO to ensure alignment with local labor laws.

More information

Wikimedia Foundation [6]
Blog [7]
Wikimedia 2030 [8]
Wikimedia Medium Term Plan [9]
Our Commitment to Equity [10]
This is Wikimedia Foundation [11] 
Facts Matter [12]
Our Projects [13]
Our Tech Stack [14]


  1. https://www.peeringdb.com/asn/14907
  2. https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Network_design
  3. https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/g/operations/software/homer
  4. https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/g/operations/homer/public.git
  5. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Values
  6. https://wikimediafoundation.org/
  7. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/
  8. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017
  9. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019
  10. https://medium.com/freely-sharing-the-sum-of-all-knowledge/we-stand-for-racial-justice-49c31afbabca
  11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQzZI0l3IOw
  12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4ba28-oGs
  13. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects
  14. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_servers#System_architecture

Let us send you new openings similar to Staff Site Reliability Engineer straight to your Inbox. Weekly or Daily. 7-day free trial 💌

The ability to work remotely increases employee happiness by 20 percent.