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SpaceX

Site Reliability Engineer (Top Secret Clearance)

Hawthorne, CA
Salary
$145,000 - $195,000
Level
Mid

Not stated in the posting: work type, visa.

Open. First seen 19 June 2026.

About the role

SpaceX's standard text

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.

SITE RELIABILITY ENGINEER (TOP SECRET CLEARANCE)

As a member of the Classified IT Systems Engineering team, the Site Reliability Engineer is involved in designing scalable systems capable of supporting a growing volume of data products being generated in mass. We build tools that enable us to work more efficiently, and that help us build software systems that are secure, reliable, and autonomous. Our engineers are responsible for the life cycle of the systems they create, including development, testing, and operational support.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Develop automation to deploy and manage compute resources both on-premises and in the cloud
  • Build, maintain, and scale on-premises hardware systems designed to host GPU-accelerated machine learning workloads
  • Deploy and manage core infrastructure such as databases, monitoring and storage
  • Closely collaborate with software engineers to create highly scalable, operable and maintainable products
  • Engage in and improve the whole lifecycle of services -- from inception and design, through deployment, operation and refinement

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or an engineering discipline; OR 2+ years of professional experience in software, DevOps, or site reliability engineering in lieu of a degree
  • 1+ year of experience with Kubernetes
  • 1+ year of experience with Linux operating systems
  • Experience in Bash, Python, and/or other scripting languages
  • Experience building, maintaining, and scaling on-premises and/or cloud systems
  • Active Top Secret, Top Secret SCI, or DOE Level Q clearance

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

  • Experience hosting and pushing the state of the art in inferential model benchmarks
  • Experience with systems administration, site reliability engineering, or DevOps engineering
  • Experience with Python and Python-based development frameworks
  • Experience with virtualization and hypervisor technologies
  • Experience with automatically managing dozens or hundreds of servers
  • Knowledge of performance bottlenecks and performance improvement techniques
  • Excellent communications skills with the ability to communicate with customers, peers, management etc. in both formal and informal situations
  • Ability to quickly learn new tools and frameworks.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

  • An active clearance may provide the opportunity for you to work on sensitive SpaceX missions; if so, you will be subject to pre-employment drug and random drug and alcohol testing
  • Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

Pay Range:
Level 3: $145,000.00 - $195,000.00

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 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. Employees accrue paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy which satisfies or exceeds the accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the law.

Those with an active clearance will receive a 10% differential, up to an additional $20,000 annually, once officially briefed into a classified program.

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's standard text

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 reach out to EEOCompliance@spacex.com.

What this role asks for

Particular to this role

Bash · Machine Learning

Rare in SpaceX's other 299 open postings.

Standard for DevOps / SRE / cloud roles

Kubernetes · Linux · Python

Common in DevOps / SRE / cloud postings at any company.

82% of this description is written for the role. The rest is SpaceX's standard text, folded away below.

Read against SpaceX's other open postings on this site.

The team: Information Technology - Corporate HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 33 open in Information Technology - Corporate. 9 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in March: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

Linux (24 of 33), Python (19 of 33), Cisco (11 of 33), PowerShell (9 of 33), Ansible (8 of 33), Networking (8 of 33), SQL (7 of 33)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on SpaceX's own job board.

See Site Reliability Engineer salaries in the United States →

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