DigitalOcean is seeking an entry-level Systems Engineer I to join our team. You will be responsible for qualifying and deploying firmware packages across DigitalOcean products and components, acting as a Tier 3 escalation point for firmware issues, and participating in an on-call rotation to enhance our automation and operational capabilities.

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 the DigitalOcean fleet.
Participate in 24/7 on-call rotation with other members of the team.
Improve existing firmware and hardware configuration automation and validation, for both hardware platforms and components.
Engage with hardware vendors about new automation features and existing bugs.
Help with development of 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

Technical Degree (BS Computer Science/Engineering) or equivalent practical experience.
Strong understanding of x86 server hardware architecture and subsystems.
Demonstrated professional proficiency in configuration management best-practices (we use Ansible and Chef).
Experience automating server firmware components at large-scale using industry-standard tooling (Redfish, IPMI, etc) including a deep understanding of benchmarking, automating test frameworks, and process automation in general.
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- from NIC firmware to TCP/IP.
Adept at Linux (or Unix) operating systems.
Comfortable with version control systems (we use Git) and proficient in at least one programming language (such as Python or Go).
Ability to participate in 24/7 on-call rotation with other members of the team.
Excellent communication skills, both within the team and with the broader company.
Have an insatiable passion for hardware, both new and old.

Nice to Have

Ideally, you’ve worked with non-x86 hardware too!

Technical Stack

Ansible, Chef
Redfish, IPMI
Git
Python, Go
Linux, Unix
PXE boot, UEFI, OpenBMC

Team & Environment

Reporting to the Manager of Infra::Machines::Design.

Benefits & Compensation

Salary: $83,000 - $104,000 + equity.
Equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire.
Option to participate in our 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 role operates under a global work mode.

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.