Senior Staff Engineer

Los Angeles, CA, United States

Distinguished Engineer – Network and Server Hardware SRE

Position Summary

GEICO is seeking an experienced Engineer with a passion for building high-performance, low maintenance, zero-downtime platforms, and applications. You will help drive our insurance business transformation as we transition from a traditional IT model to a tech organization with engineering excellence as its mission, while co-creating the culture of psychological safety and continuous improvement.

Position Description

Our Distinguished Engineer I works with our Manager, Principal and Sr. Engineers to innovate and build new systems, improve, and enhance existing systems and identify new opportunities to apply your knowledge to solve critical problems. You will lead the strategy and execution of a technical roadmap that will increase the velocity of delivering products and unlock new engineering capabilities. The ideal candidate has a deep understanding of technology, risk management, site reliability engineering principles and strategic planning to design and implement resilient systems that safeguard our business from potential threats.

Position Responsibilities

As a Distinguished Engineer, you will:

Develop and drive the overall reliability strategy for the Network and DC-Ops SRE organization, aligning it with the organization's business goals and objectives

Provide thought leadership in datacenter reliability for networks and servers, staying ahead of industry trends and emerging technologies

Conduct comprehensive risk assessments to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities

Design and implement robust strategies to ensure maintainability and observability of our hardware and operating system assets

Lead the design and architecture of resilient and scalable systems, considering both on-premises and cloud-based solutions

Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate GEICO best practices into the development and deployment processes

Develop and maintain comprehensive incident response plans to address various disaster scenarios on our networking and datacenters.

Conduct regular simulations and drills to ensure the readiness of the organization in the event

of a disaster

Hands-on software engineering and SDLC best practices (Technical Review Documents, Architecture, Software Development, Software Reviews, Testing, Production Readiness Reviews, among others)

Evaluate, select, and implement cutting-edge technologies and tools to enhance our datacenter capabilities including but not limited to processes, compliance, and visibility

Stay current with industry best practices and emerging technologies to continuously improve our network and datacenter capabilities

Work closely with executive leadership, IT teams, and other stakeholders to communicate the importance of networks and datacenters and foster a culture of resilience

Act as a trusted advisor, providing guidance on network, hardware and datacenter best practices to technical and non-technical stakeholders

Be a role model and mentor, helping to coach and strengthen the technical expertise and know-how of our engineering and product community

Influence and educate executives

Analyze cost and forecast, incorporating them into business plans

Determine and support resource requirements, evaluate operational processes, measure outcomes to ensure desired results, and demonstrate adaptability and sponsoring continuous learning

Qualifications

Fluency and specialization in software development and best practices using programming languages such as Golang and Python

Understanding of datacenter and LAN/WAN network designs with a focus on underlay networks and physical infrastructure.

Understanding of operating systems and how they interface with hardware

Understanding of datacenter facilities, lifecycle and urbanization

Understanding of SQL and NoSQL databases, including stateful services management and storage

Understanding of networking, caches, key/value stores, load balancing, global load balancing, queues, DNS and CDN

Primary Focus on managing infrastructure through code.

Deep knowledge of SRE practices, methodologies, and principles, along with a solid understanding of on prem and public cloud-based network, compute, and storage technologies

In-depth knowledge of hybrid cloud architecture, IaaS and PaaS technologies, container orchestration platforms (e.g., Kubernetes), cloud efficiency and observability etc.

Strong background in incident management

Ability to create incident response playbooks, runbooks, incident triaging strategies, and post-incident analysis to drive continuous improvement in system reliability and availability

Experience with open-source management and monitoring tools

Experience with infrastructure automation, tooling, and configuration management frameworks (e.g., Puppet, Chef, Ansible, Pulumi, Terraform, etc.)

Familiarity with cloud security best practices and compliance standards

Excellent leadership skills with a passion for mentoring and fostering professional growth

Detail-oriented and a drive for operational excellence

Visionary thinker with the ability to anticipate future challenges and opportunities

Excellent communication skills

Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities

Proven track record of successfully leading and building software in large and complex organizations

Experience

10+ years of professional experience in infrastructure software engineering

8+ years of experience with architecture and design

6+ years of experience in open-source frameworks

4+ years of experience with AWS, GCP, Azure, or another cloud service

Education

Master’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, or equivalent education or work experience

Annual Salary

$100,000.00 - $300,500.00 The above annual salary range is a general guideline. Multiple factors are taken into consideration to arrive at the final hourly rate/ annual salary to be offered to the selected candidate. Factors include, but are not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the role, the selected candidate’s work experience, education and training, the work location as well as market and business considerations.

At this time, GEICO will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.

Benefits:

As an Associate, you’ll enjoy our Total Rewards Program* to help secure your financial future and preserve your health and well-being, including:

Premier Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance with no waiting period**

Paid Vacation, Sick and Parental Leave

401(k) Plan

Tuition Reimbursement

Paid Training and Licensures

*Benefits may be different by location. Benefit eligibility requirements vary and may include length of service.

**Coverage begins on the date of hire. Must enroll in New Hire Benefits within 30 days of the date of hire for coverage to take effect.

The equal employment opportunity policy of the GEICO Companies provides for a fair and equal employment opportunity for all associates and job applicants regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, disability or genetic information, in compliance with applicable federal, state and local law. GEICO hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled.

GEICO reasonably accommodates qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to receive equal employment opportunity and/or perform the essential functions of the job, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship to the Company. This applies to all applicants and associates. GEICO also provides a work environment in which each associate is able to be productive and work to the best of their ability. We do not condone or tolerate an atmosphere of intimidation or harassment. We expect and require the cooperation of all associates in maintaining an atmosphere free from discrimination and harassment with mutual respect by and for all associates and applicants.

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