When scaling your team, finding the right DevOps engineer can be a challenge. A poor hiring decision can lead to setbacks, low-quality code, and wasted time. To ensure the right developers are applying for your role, we unpack what you need to include in a DevOps engineer job description and the most important DevOps job requirements.
DevOps engineer job description
A well-crafted DevOps job description is a key first step to ensure that the right people are applying for the role. Your job description should include the following information:
- The position name
- Your company’s name
- The roles’ key responsibilities
- Minimum experience and qualifications for the position, and
- Key benefits you’re offering as part of your compensation package
When creating a job description, setting up a role scorecard can help you identify the essential skills and responsibilities for the position.
DevOps engineer roles and responsibilities
Before deciding on the specific responsibilities for a DevOps engineer, it is important to understand the core skills to look out for when looking for top DevOps engineers:
- Deploying applications and services using containerisation and orchestration technologies, such as Docker and Kubernetes.
- Creating continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines with tools such as Gitlab and Github Actions.
- Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform, Ansible or Chef, or directly with the cloud providers such as AWS CDK, Azure Resource Manager, and Google Deployment Manager.
- Cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Service, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.
- YAML
- Sysadmin fundamentals.
- Mastery of *nix (Linux, macOS, FreeBSD) and/or Windows shells.
- Version control systems, such as Git.
- Networking and security principles.
- Agile methodologies
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the most common DevOps engineer roles and responsibilities:
- Develop, maintain, and enhance CI/CD pipelines to automate the build, test, and deployment processes.
- Implement and improve deployment strategies to enable faster and more reliable software releases.
- Use IaC tools like Terraform, Ansible, or Puppet to automate infrastructure provisioning, configuration, and management.
- Identify repetitive manual tasks and automate them to improve efficiency and reduce human error.
- Write scripts and code to automate infrastructure and application-related processes.
- Implement and manage version control systems like Git, including branching and merging strategies.
- Work with containerization technologies like Docker and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes to manage and scale containerized applications.
- Set up and configure monitoring tools to track the health and performance of systems and applications.
- Define alerting thresholds and response procedures for incidents.
- Implement log collection, aggregation, and analysis solutions to troubleshoot issues and monitor system activity.
- Implement security best practices in all aspects of DevOps, including access control, vulnerability scanning, and compliance checks.
- Collaborate with security teams to ensure secure code and infrastructure.
- Foster communication and collaboration between development and operations teams to ensure a shared understanding and common goals.
- Promote a culture of cross-functional teamwork.
- Identify performance bottlenecks and optimize systems for better resource utilization and user experience.
- Plan and implement disaster recovery strategies to ensure data and application availability in case of failures.
- Monitor resource utilization and plan for capacity upgrades or scaling to accommodate increased demand.
- Maintain clear and up-to-date documentation for processes, configurations, and best practices.
- Keep the team informed about new technologies and best practices and provide training when necessary.
- Respond to and resolve incidents in a timely manner, utilizing monitoring and logging tools for diagnostics.
- Analyze system performance and costs to make recommendations for improvements and cost savings.
- Stay up-to-date with industry trends, new technologies, and emerging tools relevant to DevOps practices.
