Job Description
Senior Systems Engineer
The Senior Systems Engineer serves as a technical lead responsible for the architecture, deployment, and optimization of Boingo’s production, Staging, QA, Beta, and Dev systems. This role bridges high-level infrastructure design with hands-on execution, overseeing complex datacenter operations—including racking, stacking, and cabling—while driving the automation of Ubuntu-based virtualized environments. You will act as a primary technical authority, exercising a high degree of personal responsibility for the systems you create to ensure system reliability across global environments.
Key Responsibilities
- Cloud-Native Architecture: Lead the design, installation, and scaling of Kubernetes clusters using Ansible and Terraform to meet the needs of demanding engineering teams.
- Infrastructure Management: Drive the management of all environments (Dev to Production), acting as the primary point of contact for system-wide validation.
- Automation: Drive scripting and self-service solutions to reduce administrative overhead and TOIL. Build highly resilient, high-performance, and robust systems.
- Physical Operations: Direct datacenter physical layer activities (racking/stacking), ensuring hardware is optimized for performance and scalability.
- Agile Orchestration: Lead Sprint planning within the Atlassian suite; partner with Network, Development, and QA teams to design creative solutions and resolve problems proactively.
- Governance & Standards: Define, document, and follow standards for system design and implementation. Use accepted change control methodologies to justify and implement improvements.
- Mentorship & Collaboration: Foster an environment of cross-training, upskilling the team in Kubernetes expertise and mentoring junior engineers.
- System Optimization: Continuously monitor and tune systems using metrics collection to drive maximum efficiency.
- Vendor & Support: Serve as the technical lead for external vendor relations (Ubuntu, Dell, VMware). Participate in on-call rotations to provide expert 24x7 support.
Qualifications
- 5 to 8+ years of progressive systems engineering experience.
- Expert-level proficiency with Ubuntu OS, RHEL 7+, and modern Linux distributions. Must have deep experience with the Linux shell, kernel modules, cgroups, pki, and iptables.
- Kubernetes & Containers: Proven expertise in building, managing, and scaling Kubernetes. Experience with CNI, CRI, and CSI plugins (Portworx, Cilium, Ceph), Service Mesh (Istio), and software-defined storage (Rook-Ceph).
- Automation & IaC: Advanced expertise in Ansible and Terraform to manage the lifecycle of infrastructure. Experience with GitOps workflows, CI/CD (Jenkins), and configuration management (Redfish, cloud-init).
- Virtualization: Advanced expertise in VMware and VME management within automated environments.
- Expertise in Python, Golang, or Bash for building robust IaC tooling and integrating with RESTful API services.
- Core Infrastructure: Mastery of DNS, LDAP, and RADIUS protocols in enterprise environments.
- Monitoring: Mastery of Prometheus, Grafana, or InfluxDB to implement proactive alert workflows and ensure 99.99% uptime.
- Agile & Version Control: Power-user of the Atlassian platform (Jira/Confluence) for Sprint leadership. Expertise in Git-based workflows and Pull Requests.
- Datacenter Leadership: Extensive experience in physical datacenter lifecycle management, including precision racking, stacking, and structured cabling.
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science or STEM discipline
Meet Boingo – named among the Best Places to Work! For 25 years, Boingo has been leading the way, pioneering first after first. No matter what wireless technology comes next, Boingo will be there. Our vast footprint of Wi-Fi and cellular networks reaches more than a billion consumers annually. From airports and stadiums to military bases, Boingo helps folks stay connected to the people and things they love. Our team is creative, collaborative, and on the leading edge of technology. There is no doubt the “secret sauce” to Boingo’s success is our incredible team and culture. We take pride in having fun and building awesome products.
The starting pay range for this position is $99,000 to $123,300 per year. The pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge and experience, among other factors. Boingo also offers an annual bonus plan as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, dental, vision, financial, and other benefits.
We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status.
#LI-Hybrid
