Staff Site Reliability Engineer

TypeRemote

Sub

Software Engineer

Our mission is to make higher education accessible and affordable for everyone.

We empower students with financial support and supercharge their ability to pay down their debt, so they can get on the right financial track, fast.

We build tools that help people feel in control of their financial future, including:

Private student loans - low rates, people-first service, and flexible payments.
Student loan refinancing - break free from high-interest rates or monthly payments.
Scholarships - access to thousands of scholarships to help students pay less.

Earnies are committed to helping students live their best lives, free from the stress of student debt. If you’re as passionate as we are about our mission, read more below, and let’s build something great together!

The Staff Site Reliability Engineer position will report to the Lead Cloud Engineer.

As a Staff Site Reliability Engineer, you will:

Ensure the reliability, scalability, performance, and security of systems while managing and optimizing infrastructure for efficiency and minimal downtime.
Develop, maintain, and enhance observability and CI/CD tools (Splunk, New Relic, GitHub Actions, Terraform, etc.), streamline deployments, update documentation, and improve internal tools for efficiency and scalability.
Lead product initiatives, conduct resiliency reviews, coordinate cross-team efforts, and manage goals, risks, and resources for successful delivery.
Advise on reliability, mentor engineers on best practices, facilitate cross-team communication, and translate stakeholder needs into technical solutions..
Lead key projects, stay current with industry trends, formalize best practices, and mentor engineers in building and troubleshooting reliable distributed systems.

About You:

8+ years of experience in reliability, scalability, performance, security, and enterprise system architecture, with a focus on toil reduction and best practices implementation.
Strong coding skills in at least one language (Go, Python, Java Spring Boot, .NET, etc.) and deep knowledge of software applications, technical processes, and emerging disciplines.
Hands-on experience with monitoring and telemetry tools (Grafana, Prometheus, Datadog, Splunk, etc.), SLO alerting, and CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Terraform).
Expertise in containerization and orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker, ECS) and troubleshooting networking and distributed system issues.
Experience creating infrastructure resources using Terraform or OpenTofu, with formal training or certification in software engineering and 5+ years of applied experience.
Willingness to travel to the Oakland office monthly to collaborate with other Earnies.

Where:

This role will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
While you’ll enjoy the flexibility of remote work, we also love to see our Earnies face-to-face! We ask you to join us at our Oakland office for 3 consecutive days a month for team collaboration and some fun. It's a chance to connect, share ideas, and maybe even grab some coffee together!

#LI-NS1A little about our pay philosophy: We take pride in compensating our employees fairly and equitably. We are showcasing a range of your potential base salary. The successful candidate’s starting pay will also be determined based on job-related qualifications, internal compensation, and budget. This range may be modified in the future.Pay Range $194,000 - $220,000USD

Earnest believes in enabling our employees to live their best lives. We offer a variety of perks and competitive benefits, including:

Health, Dental, & Vision benefits plus savings plans
Mac computers + work-from-home stipend to set up your home office
Monthly internet and phone reimbursement
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
401(k) plan to help you save for retirement plus a company match
Robust tuition reimbursement program
$1,000 travel perk on each Earnie-versary to anywhere in the world
Competitive days of annual PTO
Competitive parental leave

What makes an “Earnie” culture:

Drivers – Drivers are satisfied by making things happen, not coming along for the ride. They feel a strong sense of ownership for their projects and teams and demand high standards from themselves and others.
Humility – Humble team players check their egos and consider the team’s needs above their own. They are self-aware of their strengths and opportunities for improvement.
Growth Mindset – People with a growth mindset approach challenges and failures as learning opportunities. They seek feedback to improve, give feedback to others, and genuinely want to perform well.

At Earnest, we are committed to building an environment where our employees feel included, valued, and heard. Our belief is that a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging enables us to move forward with our mission. We are dedicated to adding new perspectives to the team and encourage anyone to apply if your experience is close to what we are looking for.

Earnest provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability or genetics. Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for the position in a manner consistent with the Fair Chance Ordinance.

Life at Earnest

Earnest was founded in 2013 on the belief that getting a loan shouldn’t be so difficult for financially responsible people. We are bringing back the trust that was previously lost in financial systems. We look beyond a credit score, instead of analyzing a person's full education, employment, and financial profile to reward financially responsible people with better rates than traditional lenders. For recent college graduates, repaying student loans can be a stressful financial burden as you embark on your career. This is why Earnest offers student loan refinancing with low-interest rates and zero fees. Refinancing your student loans with Earnest gives you the option to choose a repayment plan that fits your budget and the option to choose between a variable or fixed interest rates. We also offer extras like the ability to skip a payment, change your payment amount and date, and the ability to repay your loan faster without penalties. Navigating loans to pay for school can be a long and confusing process. This outdated process inspired us to create a new private student loan product, with new tools to simplify every step of the application and approval process. Led with technology, data, and design to engineer a more human application experience, Earnest’s private student loans incorporate an innovative eligibility check, cosigner invite, ability to customize your loan, and a 9-month grace period. We have no fees and offer flexible repayment options and extras like skip a payment. Learn more about Earnest’s products at www.earnest.com. For employees, Earnest’s culture is as dynamic as the products we are building and defining every day. Earnest offers great perks including a generous paid time off policy, catered meals, annual flight to anywhere in the world with a buddy (up to $1,000), and more.

Thrive Here & What We Value

Drivers

Humility

Growth Mindset

Belief in enabling employees to live their best lives

Strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging

Earnest's variety of perks and competitive benefits

Job FunctionsEnsure reliability, scalability, performance, and security of systemsManage and optimize infrastructure for efficiency and minimal downtimeDevelop, maintain, and enhance observability and CI/CD toolsLead product initiatives, conduct resiliency reviews, coordinate cross-team efforts, and manage goals, risks, and resources for successful deliveryAdvise on reliability, mentor engineers on best practices, facilitate cross-team communication, and translate stakeholder needs into technical solutions

Job Requirements8+ years of experience in reliability, scalability, performance, security, and enterprise system architectureStrong coding skills in at least one language (Go, Python, Java Spring Boot, .NET, etc.)Deep knowledge of software applications, technical processes, and emerging disciplinesHands-on experience with monitoring and telemetry tools (Grafana, Prometheus, Datadog, Splunk, etc.), SLO alerting, and CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Terraform)Expertise in containerization and orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker, ECS) and troubleshooting networking and distributed system issuesExperience creating infrastructure resources using Terraform or OpenTofu, with formal training or certification in software engineering and 5+ years of applied experience

SkillsStrong coding skills in at least one language (Go, Python, Java Spring Boot, .NET, etc.)Deep knowledge of software applications, technical processes, and emerging disciplinesHands-on experience with monitoring and telemetry tools (Grafana, Prometheus, Datadog, Splunk, etc.), SLO alerting, and CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Terraform)Expertise in containerization and orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker, ECS) and troubleshooting networking and distributed system issuesExperience creating infrastructure resources using Terraform or OpenTofu, with formal training or certification in software engineering and 5+ years of applied experienceDrivers – satisfied by making things happen, not coming along for the rideHumility – humble team players check their egos and consider the team’s needs above their ownGrowth Mindset – approach challenges and failures as learning opportunities