Sr Site Reliability Engineer - Federal

To excel as a Sr Site Reliability Engineer at Zscaler, candidates should have over 5 years of experience in Site Reliability Engineering, with a strong foundation in operations or engineering. Proficiency in AWS GovCloud, Linux administration, and container orchestration tools like Kubernetes is essential. Additionally, familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices, such as Ansible and Terraform, will be crucial for daily tasks. Experience in FedRAMP compliance and maintaining large-scale distributed systems will also greatly benefit candidates.

The work environment for a Sr Site Reliability Engineer at Zscaler is dynamic, fast-paced, and collaborative. Team members work closely with cloud architects, security experts, and fellow engineers to create innovative solutions for cloud security. Zscaler fosters an inclusive culture, where diverse ideas and perspectives are welcome, ensuring that every team member can contribute to the company's success and mission.

In the Sr Site Reliability Engineer role at Zscaler, you will perform operational duties for FedRAMP cloud products, which include managing deployments, providing on-call support, and handling incident management. You will also be responsible for enhancing monitoring systems, driving automation efforts, and creating documentation to prevent incident recurrence. Your work will play a pivotal role in promoting DevOps best practices within the team.

As a Sr Site Reliability Engineer at Zscaler, there are numerous pathways for career growth, including opportunities to advance into management roles like Site Reliability Engineering Manager or specialized positions focusing on cloud architecture or security. Zscaler's commitment to employee development means you’ll have access to various training programs and resources to continually enhance your skills and advance in your career.

Zscaler is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, recognizing that diverse teams drive innovation and productivity. The company fosters an environment where all employees feel valued and supported, encouraging team members from diverse backgrounds to contribute their unique perspectives. This commitment is reflected in policies that promote equal opportunities and in the inclusive culture that Zscaler strives to maintain.

Zscaler offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the diverse needs of its employees and their families. This includes various health plan options, generous time-off policies for vacation and sick leave, parental leave, retirement options, and education reimbursement. Zscaler also provides in-office perks and initiatives that promote employee wellness and satisfaction.

Zscaler ensures that its cloud products comply with FedRAMP requirements by implementing continuous monitoring for vulnerability management, including regular scanning, patching, and reporting. As a Sr Site Reliability Engineer, you will play a vital role in maintaining these compliance standards and ensuring that our customers can trust Zscaler's commitment to providing secure cloud services.

When answering this question, focus on specific projects or tasks you've undertaken with AWS GovCloud. Discuss your role in managing, deploying, and maintaining services in AWS, and highlight any challenges you faced and how you overcame them. Be sure to mention any tools, automation, or IaC strategies you utilized to enhance operational efficiency.

In response to this question, describe your incident management process, including how you identify incidents, prioritize them, and work toward resolution. Provide examples from your experience where you successfully handled complex incidents and detail how you communicated with both technical and non-technical stakeholders during those situations.

Discuss how automation has been integral to your work as a Site Reliability Engineer. Provide examples of processes you have automated using scripting or IaC tools and outline the benefits of those automations, such as improved reliability, reduced errors, and time savings for the team.

When responding, highlight any hands-on experience you have with Kubernetes or similar platforms. Discuss projects where you've implemented container management practices, including deployment, scaling, and monitoring, and how these practices relate to maintaining system reliability.

Provide a specific example of a challenging situation that required in-depth troubleshooting skills. Explain the problem, the steps you took to diagnose the issue, and how you gathered and analyzed data. Focus on the outcome and what you learned from the experience.

Discuss your approach to maintaining security protocols, specifically FedRAMP guidelines in the context of cloud environments. Detail your experience in implementing security measures, continuous monitoring practices, and how you stay updated with evolving compliance standards to protect sensitive data.

When answering this question, make sure to mention any programming languages you are skilled in, particularly Python or Bash. Discuss specific tasks you've automated with scripts, how these scripts enhance operational workflow, and provide examples of their impact on efficiency.

Explain your task prioritization strategy, referring to methods such as using the Eisenhower Matrix or Kanban board approach. Provide examples of how you've effectively managed multiple responsibilities without compromising the quality of the work.

Talk about your familiarity with DevOps methodologies, including CI/CD practices, collaboration between development and operations teams, and how you integrate these practices into your daily work as a Site Reliability Engineer. Highlight specific tools you use and their benefits in enhancing the reliability of applications.

Share specific instances where you were able to implement improvements that positively impacted system reliability. Whether through configuration changes, better monitoring setups, or team processes, detail the situation, your contributions, and the outcomes.