Site Reliability Engineer

The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) is hiring a Site Reliability Engineer to help ensure its HPC and data systems remain reliable, secure, and accessible for 11,000 scientific users. As part of a 24x7 operations team, you will use advanced monitoring and data systems to proactively maintain the health of NERSC’s computing environment and support critical DOE scientific research.

We’re here for the same mission, to bring science solutions to the world. Join our team and YOU will play a supporting role in our goal to address global challenges! Have a high level of impact and work for an organization associated with 17 Nobel Prizes!

Why join Berkeley Lab?

We invest in our employees by offering a total rewards package you can count on:

• Exceptional health and retirement benefits, including pension or 401K-style plans

• Opportunities to grow in your career - check out our Tuition Assistance Program 

• A culture where you’ll belong - we are invested in our teams! 

• In addition to accruing vacation and sick time, we also have a Winter Holiday Shutdown every year.

• Parental bonding leave (for both mothers and fathers)

• Pet insurance 

You will:

• Work a 5-day schedule with 2–3 onsite operations shifts and 2–3 project days, rotating across day, swing, and overnight shifts as needed to monitor the NERSC HPC facility.

• Monitor and respond to system, storage, network, and facility alerts, escalating issues when necessary.

• Improve reliability through automation, process optimization, monitoring enhancements, and root-cause prevention.

• Develop and maintain monitoring, alerting, and diagnostic tools, including integrations with HPC system APIs and ServiceNow.

• Support 24/7 data collection and real-time diagnostics across critical infrastructure.

• Contribute to Agentic AI solutions that automate workflows and improve operational efficiency.

• Coordinate with NERSC teams on maintenance, workflows, and incident management.

• Perform physical and logical data center inspections to ensure environmental and infrastructure health.

• Maintain accurate incident and maintenance records in the ticketing system.

• Analyze and resolve complex operational issues using sound technical judgment and collaboration with internal and external experts.

We are looking for:

• Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 3 years and a Master’s degree; or equivalent work experience.

• Experience in or willingness to work within a 24/7 onsite team environment to support large-scale data centers or critical installations.

• Experience on Linux shell and working in a command-line (e.g. SSH) environment.

• Experience with developing tools using various programming languages such as C, C++, Perl, Java, or Python or a scripting language with knowledge of standard software development practices.

• Motivated, self-starter who can learn technologies that improve data center management in areas like Kubernetes, Prometheus/VictoriaMetrics, Alertmanager, building management software, evaporative cooling, and power utilization.

• Experience with network security: configuring/maintaining ACLs, knowledge of firewalls

• Experience collaborating across technical teams to resolve operational bottlenecks and ensure system reliability and alignment with service-level objectives.

• Knowledge of and ability to work on large data communications networks/ Network Protocols and IT infrastructure supporting highly available systems and applications.

Desired skills/knowledge:

• Experience with ServiceNow implementation is a plus, particularly in architecting or deploying solutions for Incident Management, Change Management, or CMDB to improve IT workflows.

• Practical experience in developing and deploying Agentic AI or autonomous automation tools to streamline technical tasks.

• Familiarity with ITSM best practices and an understanding of how to align service lifecycles with business goals is preferred.

• A certification in a system administration area in platforms, software, or any other advanced education in the Computing Science area.

• ServiceNow certifications.

• ITIL certifications.

Additional information:

• Applications will be accepted until the job posting is removed.

• Appointment type: This is a full-time, career appointment, exempt (monthly paid) from overtime pay.

• Salary range: The expected salary for this position is $131,760 - $161,064, which fits into the full salary of $117,132 - $197,676 depending upon the candidate’s skills, knowledge, and abilities. This includes education, certifications, and years of experience.

• Background check: This position is subject to a background check. Any convictions will be evaluated to determine if they directly relate to the responsibilities and requirements of the position. Having a conviction history will not automatically disqualify an applicant from being considered for employment.

• Work modality: This position requires substantial on-site presence, but is eligible for a flexible work mode, and hybrid schedules may be considered. Hybrid work is a combination of performing work on-site at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA and some telework. Individuals working a hybrid schedule must reside within 150 miles of Berkeley Lab. Work schedules are dependent on business needs. In rare cases, full-time telework or remote work modes may be considered.

Want to learn more about working at Berkeley Lab? Please visit: careers.lbl.gov

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer: The foundation of Berkeley Lab is our Stewardship Values: Team Science, Service, Trust, Innovation, and Respect; and we strive to build community with these shared values and commitments. Berkeley Lab is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We heartily welcome applications from all who could contribute to the Lab's mission of leading scientific discovery, excellence, and professionalism. In support of our rich global community, all qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories under State and Federal law.

Misconduct Disclosure Requirement: As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.