Principal Site Reliability Engineer

Job Description

Remote: Reporting where work can/needs to be performed / collaboration should happen. If the person lives w/n 50 miles of such a location, they are expected to come in three times a week. If they do not live withing 50 miles of any of those locations, they don’t need to report in. 

The rapid adoption of advanced software in vehicles marks a new era for automakers and consumers, bringing both advantages and challenges.

As part of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) at General motors, you'll join a dedicated team focused on enhancing the reliability, efficiency, and scalability of our distributed systems. We leverage engineering principles to manage operations effectively and build solutions that enable us to grow without sacrificing performance or quality. Our SREs work closely with software development teams, acting as specialists in reliability and production engineering, with a focus on automation, observability, and shared responsibility.

We are looking for individuals who are passionate about maintaining the health of our infrastructure while optimising for reliability and cost-efficiency. This role involves a blend of software engineering and systems engineering skills to keep our services resilient, robust, and scalable.

This role is for a hands-on position as an Individual Contributor (IC). As an SRE IC, you will focus on enhancing the reliability, efficiency, and performance of our services. You'll work closely with other engineers to develop automated solutions, respond to incidents, and drive improvements across our infrastructure. The expectation for this role is that you will maintain a hands-on approach, whether it's through scripting, troubleshooting incidents, or improving observability. As an IC, you will be at the forefront of solving technical challenges and making impactful improvements that directly enhance the quality of service for our users. The role requires a blend of software engineering and systems engineering skills to address complex production challenges effectively.

Key Responsibilities

• Automation and Reliability Improvements: Develop tools and software to automate operational processes, improve system reliability, and reduce manual intervention.

• Observability and Monitoring: Lead, Implement and improve monitoring and observability frameworks, enabling proactive detection and resolution of incidents.

• Incident Response: Participate in an on-call rotation to diagnose, troubleshoot, and mitigate production incidents, ensuring minimal downtime and swift resolution.

• Collaboration with Development Teams: Work alongside developers to ensure the quality, scalability, and reliability of our services. Practice shared ownership of services in production, fostering a "You build it, you run it" culture.

• Service Level Management: Manage Service Level Indicators (SLIs), Service Level Objectives (SLOs), and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to manage reliability expectations effectively.

• Engineering for Reliability: Strong understanding of common application reliability patterns, with hands-on experience implementing them.

• Failure Analysis and Post-Incident Reviews: Conduct deep-dive analyses of incidents and collaborate on post-incident reviews to derive learnings and prevent recurrence. Champion a culture of continuous improvement.

• Cost Efficiency: Evaluate system performance and advocate for optimisations that reduce infrastructure costs while maintaining service reliability.

Additional Job Description

Required Qualifications-

• Programming Skills: Proficiency in at least one programming language (e.g., Python, Go, Java) and familiarity with multiple language ecosystems.

• Systems Knowledge: Solid understanding of operating systems, networking, distributed systems, databases, and storage architectures.

• *Strong Understanding of System Fundamentals: Deep understanding of how code runs on underlying hardware, including operating systems, algorithms, and data structures. Ability to optimize or troubleshoot code by understanding its execution and the impact on system resources.

• Incident Management: Experience handling production incidents, including root cause analysis, mitigation, and working through complex system failures.

• Communication and Collaboration: Strong communication skills, with an ability to explain technical concepts to both engineering and business stakeholders. Commitment to collaborative problem-solving and shared ownership of services.

• Automation Focus: Proven experience in automating manual processes, building deployment pipelines, or managing configuration systems.

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field, or equivalent work experience.

Preferred Experience -

- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure).

- Familiarity with container orchestration systems like Kubernetes.

- A track record of managing or developing distributed systems.

- Prior experience with Java in production.

- 8+ years of experience

- Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field, or equivalent work experience.

This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.

• Compensation: 

  • The expected base compensation for this role is: $225,000- $344,800. Actual base compensation within the identified range will vary based on factors relevant to the position. 

  • You also need to include general information about potential commissions, if applicable. 

  • Bonus Potential: An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance. 

• Benefits: 

  • Benefits: GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs. Benefit options include medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, employee assistance program, GM vehicle discounts and more. 

About GM

Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us 

We aspire to be the most inclusive company in the world. We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Our Work Appropriately philosophy supports our foundation of inclusion and provides employees the flexibility to work where they can have the greatest impact on achieving our goals, dependent on role needs. Every day, we want every employee, no matter their background, ethnicity, preferences, or location, to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

Benefits Overview

The goal of the General Motors total rewards program is to support the health and well-being of you and your family. Our comprehensive compensation plan incudes, the following benefits, in addition to many others:
• Paid time off including vacation days, holidays, and parental leave for mothers, fathers and adoptive parents;
• Healthcare (including a triple tax advantaged health savings account and wellness incentive), dental, vision and life insurance plans to cover you and your family;
• Company and matching contributions to 401K savings plan to help you save for retirement;
• Global recognition program for peers and leaders to recognize and be recognized for results and behaviors that reflect our company values; 
• Tuition assistance and student loan refinancing;
• Discount on GM vehicles for you, your family and friends.

Diversity Information

General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that workforce diversity creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers.   We understand and embrace the variety through which people gain experiences whether through professional, personal, educational, or volunteer opportunities. GM is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications and apply for any positions that match your skills and capabilities.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statements

GM is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. GM is committed to providing a work environment free from unlawful discrimination and advancing equal employment opportunities for all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, all practices and decisions relating to terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, discipline, compensation, benefits, and termination of employment are made without regard to an individual's protected characteristics. For purposes of this policy, “protected characteristics" include an individual's actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), gender identity or gender expression, sexual orientation, weight, height, marital status, military service and veteran status, physical or mental disability, protected medical condition as defined by applicable state or local law, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws and ordinances.  If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, email us at Careers.Accommodations@GM.com or call us at 800-865-7580. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.​