DigitalOcean is seeking a Systems Engineer I, an entry-level hardware technologist, to qualify and deploy firmware packages across our cloud products and components. You will be a key part of ensuring the reliability and performance of our global infrastructure.

What You'll Do

Work with vendors and internal peer teams on qualifying, onboarding, and delivering new firmware to the DigitalOcean ecosystem.
Act as Tier 3 escalation on-call for triage, investigation, and resolution of system firmware issues in our global fleet.
Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation with other members of the team.
Improve existing firmware and hardware configuration automation and validation for hardware platforms and components.
Engage with hardware vendors about new automation features and existing bugs.
Help develop tooling and associated runbooks to address gaps in operational capabilities around hardware and firmware operations.
Coordinate with Ops teams on monitoring thresholds, failure modes, and alerting.
Assist in troubleshooting causes of failures and work to prevent them in the future.
Raise the quality bar in the delivery of our cloud infrastructure by identifying industry best practices and working to adopt them.

What We're Looking For

A technical degree (BS Computer Science/Engineering) or equivalent practical experience.
A strong understanding of x86 server hardware architecture and subsystems.
Demonstrated professional proficiency in configuration management best-practices using Ansible and Chef.
Experience automating server firmware components at large-scale using industry-standard tooling like Redfish and IPMI.
Practical knowledge of PXE boot, UEFI, Linux/OS boot, AMI/OEM BIOS distributions, OpenBMC/AMI/OEM BMC implementations, RAID and other storage resiliency technologies, and the full Network stack.
Adept at Linux (or Unix) operating systems.
Comfortable with version control systems (Git) and proficient in at least one programming language such as Python or Go.
Ability to participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation with other team members.
Excellent communication skills, both within the team and with the broader company.
An insatiable passion for hardware, both new and old.

Nice to Have

Experience with non-x86 hardware.

Technical Stack

Configuration Management: Ansible, Chef
Automation & Interfaces: Redfish, IPMI
Development: Git, Python, Go
Operating Systems: Linux, Unix
Hardware Firmware: PXE boot, UEFI, OpenBMC

Team & Environment

This role reports to the Manager of Infra::Machines::Design.

Benefits & Compensation

Salary range: $83,000 - $104,000 + equity compensation for eligible employees.
Equity compensation, including grants upon hire.
Option to participate in an Employee Stock Purchase Program.
Reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education.
Access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000+ courses.
Employee Assistance Program.
Local Employee Meetups.
Flexible time off policy.

Work Mode

This is a remote position.

DigitalOcean is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.