SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

SR. IT LINUX SYSTEMS ENGINEER

SpaceX is looking for an experienced engineer with deep knowledge and broad experience across Linux-based technologies. This employee will be a member of the Information Technology Linux Infrastructure team and will support various software, avionics and automation teams, amongst other business users. The ideal candidate will be flexible and flourish in a fast paced and challenging environment.  He or she should be a self-starter, self-motivator and possess ingenuity to excel at this position.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Work closely with other SpaceX engineers to gather requirements, research, evaluate, design, plan, deploy, and support Linux-based/open source software platforms and related technologies in a world-class environment that meets the needs of the demanding SpaceX engineering teams. Build highly-resilient, high-performance, scalable, and flexible systems.
  • Exercise a high degree of responsibility for the processes, systems, and tools you create and manage; all supporting the goal of making humanity an interplanetary species.
  • Make recommendations, justify, and implement improvements using an accepted change control methodology.
  • Work within a diverse group to design and deliver creative solutions and resolve problems in a timely and proactive manner by interacting with internal business units.
  • Define, document and follow standards and best practices for systems design, testing, and implementation.
  • Drive scripting and automation to develop solutions to common problems.
  • Install, run, and monitor Kubernetes in production environments.
  • Participate in on-call rotation to handle urgent after-hours work when necessary.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, math, physics, information systems, or similar technical discipline and 5+ years of systems engineering experience; OR 8+ years of systems engineering experience in lieu of a degree.
  • Experience with Linux servers in physical and virtualized environments.
  • Experience with Linux shell (i.e. bash scripting, output parsing).
  • Experience with Python or other scripting and automation languages.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Experience with object-based storage (i.e. Scality, Ceph, Swift)
  • Expertise in creating repeatable, reliable, scalable systems architectures, with high availability, fault tolerance, performance tuning, monitoring, and statistics/metrics collection.
  • Expert working knowledge (including the ability to setup, configure, upgrade, manage, and troubleshoot) Linux-based and open-source systems and technologies such as Apache, BIND, HAProxy, NGINX, sendmail/postfix, iptables, etc.
  • Experience with ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana) or other centralized logging solutions.
  • Expertise in source code and version control tools such as Git and Subversion.
  • Experience with configuration management (Puppet, Chef, Ansible), provisioning, infrastructure as code, and other DevOps concepts and tools (i.e. Vagrant, Docker, Kubernetes).
  • Understanding of developing web and C/C++ applications and build processes.
  • Networking experience in IPv4, switching, routing, firewalls and HA architecture.
  • Must be comfortable working with mission critical and sensitive systems, with a sense of urgency appropriate to the responsibilities.
  • Excellent communications skills with the ability to communicate with internal/external customers, vendors, management etc. in both formal and informal situations. 
  • Experience with hardware (i.e. racking, troubleshooting, swapping components).

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

  • Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:    
    
Pay Range:    
Sr. IT Linux Systems Engineer: $135,000.00-$180,000.00/per year
    
Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock, stock options, or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Exempt employees are eligible for 5 days of sick leave per year.

ITAR REQUIREMENTS:

  • To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should notify the Human Resources Department at (310) 363-6000.

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