Titlesby GlyphSite Reliability Engineer job title trend since Apr 2011
Engineering · Fading · in 2.5% of HN hiring posts · 157 open roles at 59 companies · median $213k
Keeps production up with software: on-call, SLOs and automation; Google's term.
first seen before 2011, Hacker Newstook off Jul 2016
Why it exists
Written from the sources below
Google gave operations to software engineers in 2003 under Ben Treynor, who describes SRE as 'what happens when you ask a software engineer to design an operations team'. The 2016 SRE book took the title to the rest of the industry.
- BookSite Reliability Engineering: IntroductionGoogle, 2016 · backs: SRE began at Google in 2003; the definition
- DefinedSite reliability engineeringWikipedia, 2026 · backs: history of the title
Where it is posted
Sectors
- Data platform26
- Security24
- AI infrastructure18
- Developer tools11
- AI lab5
- Consumer5
- AI application5
- Robotics and autonomy4
Cities
- San Francisco27
- Bengaluru, India19
- Washington17
- New York12
- Palo Alto10
- Seattle8
- Amsterdam, Netherlands7
- Dublin, Ireland6
- Paris, France5
- London, United Kingdom5
Countries and remote
- United States86
- India20
- United Kingdom7
- Ireland7
- Netherlands7
- Australia5
- France5
- Canada5
- Germany5
- Israel4
Remote option29%
Posted pay
Middle half $187k to $233k, median $213k from 78 postings that state a base range (USD a year).
Pay by level and city on SalariesWho is hiring for it
Open postings on their own job boards, read 12h ago| # | Company | Open roles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 | ||
| 2 | Anduril IndustriesA company hiring most for Systems Engineer and Test Engineer. | 14 | |
| 3 | 14 | ||
| 4 | 12 | ||
| 5 | BackblazeA company hiring most for Site Reliability Engineer and Product Manager. | 5 | |
| 6 | 5 | ||
| 7 | AlgoliaA company hiring most for Site Reliability Engineer and Solutions Engineer. | 4 | |
| 8 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 4 | ||
| 10 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 3 | ||
| 12 | 3 |
Open roles
8 of 157; company pages list the restSite Reliability Engineer, Strategic Defense
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Senior Site Reliability Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Austin; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; New York City; San Francisco; Seattle; United States; Washington DC
| Role | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Site Reliability Engineer, Strategic DefenseAnduril IndustriesWashington, District of Columbia, United States$147k to $196k | Anduril Industries | Washington, District of Columbia, United States | $147k to $196k |
| Principal SRE Senior Manager | Washington, DC | $139k to $283k | |
| Member of Technical Staff (Site Reliability Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure) | San Francisco | $220k to $405k | |
| Director, Site Reliability Engineering | Bellevue, Washington; San Francisco, California | $275k to $378k | |
| Site Reliability Engineer - AI PlatformVerisignReston,Virginia,United States$90k to $122k | Verisign | Reston,Virginia,United States | $90k to $122k |
| Sr. Manager - SREBackblazeRemote - US$178k to $210k | Backblaze | Remote - US | $178k to $210k |
| Senior Site Reliability Engineer, Infrastructure Security | Austin; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; New York City; San Francisco; Seattle; United States; Washington DC | $126k to $248k | |
| Site Reliability Engineer 2KongWashington, United States$123k to $150k | Kong | Washington, United States | $123k to $150k |
Lineage
operations done with software engineering · from how the titles are used
Share of Hacker News hiring posts
3,656 posts since Apr 2011 · -24% in 6 monthsNovember 2026 7 of 207 postings, 3.4%
Related titles
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About this title
Keeps production up with software: on-call, SLOs and automation; Google's term.
Also counted: SRE, site reliability
First sighting
Columbia, MD - OmniTI Site Reliability Engineer (Systems Administrator), Database Administrator, Web Engineer...
Median posted salary $213k from 78 postings that state a base pay range (the median of their midpoints, USD a year). Not a survey of what people earn.