General Dynamics

Senior Software / Site Reliability Lead Engineer

General Dynamics$142K — $158K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field with 8 years of experience; or Master's degree plus 6 years of experience.
  • Familiarity with production SRE or DevOps practices, specifically regarding system reliability for user-facing applications.
  • Experience with monitoring and observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, and ELK.
  • Strong scripting and automation skills in Python, Bash, or similar.
  • Hands-on experience with containerized environments like Docker and Kubernetes.
  • Proficiency in defining and managing SLOs and incident response protocols.
  • U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain a Department of Defense Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

  • Set and maintain cross-pod reliability standards for AI services.
  • Define service level objectives and manage error budgets for production services.
  • Implement and maintain a comprehensive observability stack for AI applications.
  • Design alerting systems that accurately signal real issues without false alarms.
  • Oversee incident response and lead reviews for reliability improvements after incidents occur.
  • Establish and enforce production readiness criteria for AI services, determining readiness to ship.
  • Automate repetitive operational tasks to reduce manual toil.

Benefits

  • 100% remote work available.
  • 9/80 work schedule, allowing for every other Friday off.
  • No requirement for prior defense industry experience.
Full Job Description
Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, or related Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics field, plus a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience; or Master's degree, plus 6 years relevant experience.CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS: Ability to obtain a Department of Defense Secret security clearance is required at time of hire. Applicants selected will be subject to a U.S. Government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. Due to the nature of work performed within our facilities, U.S. citizenship is required.

Responsibilities for this Position What You Will Own
  • Cross-pod reliability standards. Set the reliability bar and ensure it is met consistently across applications. Collaborate with Functional SREs to connect technical reliability metrics to business-side outcomes. You own the engineering signal; together you tell the full reliability story.
  • SLOs and reliability metrics. Own definitions of service level objectives for every AI service that goes to production. Establish error budgets and use them to drive engineering decisions — not just measure uptime.
  • Monitoring and observability. Implement and maintain the full observability stack — logging, metrics, tracing, and dashboards. You will know when something is degrading before users do.
  • Design and manage alerting infrastructure that tells you what's wrong, not just that something is wrong. Alerts you build catch real problems; they don't cry wolf.
  • Incident response. Own on-call procedures, escalation paths, and incident management end-to-end. Lead post-incident reviews and maintain the reliability improvement backlog. When something breaks, you coordinate the response and ensure it doesn't break the same way again.
  • Production Readiness. Define and enforce the criteria that determine whether an AI service is ready for production. You are the gate between "it works in dev" and "it's ready to ship."
  • Toil elimination. Identify and automate repetitive operational tasks. If a human is doing something a script could do, you fix that.
What You Won't Own
  • Infrastructure provisioning — IT provides the infrastructure; you define what's needed and validate it works
  • Business process decisions or backlog prioritization
  • Business-side reliability metrics - you partner with the Functional SRE on those, but they own that domain
What Makes This Role Different
  • AI services have failure modes that traditional applications don't — model drift, token budget exhaustion, prompt injection, upstream data quality degradation. You will build monitoring for problems that most SRE teams have never encountered.
  • You are applying SRE principles from scratch. There is no existing SRE practice to inherit — you will define it for the platform.
  • Your production readiness criteria directly determine whether AI services go live. You have real authority to say "not ready."
  • You operate across projects simultaneously — embedded deeply enough to understand large-scale systems, while maintaining consistent standards across all projects.
  • Your software engineering background means you can engage directly with development teams at the design level — catching reliability problems before they become operational ones.
Required Qualifications
  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, plus 8 years of experience; or Master’s degree plus 6 years of experience
  • Production SRE or DevOps experience — you have owned the reliability of systems that real users depended on, not just built CI/CD pipelines
  • Hands-on experience with monitoring and observability tools — Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, ELK, CloudWatch, or similar. You have built dashboards and alerts that caught real problems.
  • Strong scripting and automation skills — Python, Bash, infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar)
  • Experience with containerized environments — Docker, Kubernetes, container orchestration at scale
  • Experience defining and managing SLOs, error budgets, and incident response procedures in production
  • U.S. citizenship required. Department of Defense Secret security clearance is required at time of hire.
Preferred Qualifications
  • Production SRE or DevOps experience — you have owned the reliability of systems that real users depended on, not just built CI/CD pipelines
  • Software engineering fundamentals — you can read, write, and meaningfully review production-quality code. You understand how architectural and design decisions made early translate into operational problems later.
  • Software design experience — you have participated in or led design reviews, defined service interfaces or APIs, and pushed back on design decisions using reliability and operability as criteria
  • Hands-on experience with monitoring and observability tools — Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, ELK, CloudWatch, or similar. You have built dashboards and alerts that have caught real problems.
  • Strong scripting and automation skills — Python, Bash, infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar)
  • Experience with containerized environments — Docker, Kubernetes, container orchestration at scale
  • Experience defining and managing SLOs, error budgets, and incident response procedures in production
What Sets You Apart
  • You build things that work. Your default response to a problem is code, not a document.
  • You have shipped AI systems that real users depended on in production.
  • You are comfortable working without detailed specs — you can take a problem statement and figure out the right approach.
  • You care about reliability as much as capability — you monitor what you deploy.
  • You move fast without being reckless. You know when to iterate and when to get it right the first time.
Details
  • Remote — 100% telework
  • 9/80 schedule
  • Defense industry experience is not required
Salary NoteThis estimate represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors (geographic location, etc.). Actual pay may vary. This job posting will remain open until the position is filled. Combined Salary RangeUSD $142,696.00 - USD $158,303.00 /Yr.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics is involved in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat vehicles and systems, armaments, and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and mission-critical information systems and technologies. General Dynamics has four main business segments. Aerospace designs, develops, manufacturers and services a comprehensive offering of advanced business-jet aircraft. Combat Systems specializes in producing, supporting and sustaining land and expeditionary combat systems for the U.S. military and its allies. Marine Systems designs, builds and supports submarines and a variety of surface ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers. The Information Systems and Technology group offers a breadth and depth of technology and service capabilities that support a wide range of government and commercial needs, including systems integration expertise; hardware and software products; and engineering, management and support services.

General Dynamics Careers

Join the dynamic team at General Dynamics, a leader in global defense, aerospace, and technology services. As a pivotal player in innovation and security, General Dynamics offers unparalleled job opportunities for professionals eager to advance their careers in a cutting-edge environment.

Work You’ll Do

At General Dynamics, we empower our employees to drive innovation and lead with integrity and excellence. With a commitment to professional growth and diversity, our team is at the forefront of developing solutions that make a difference in the world. Whether in engineering, cybersecurity, or project management, your work at General Dynamics will contribute to missions that matter.

Explore Career Paths

General Dynamics is not just a company; it's a community where you can build a career that aligns with your passion and skills. From internships to leadership positions, the breadth of opportunities supports your professional journey at every stage.

Innovate and Lead

Join a team where innovation is the status quo. At General Dynamics, you’ll work alongside industry experts to solve complex challenges with cutting-edge technology. Our leadership is committed to fostering a culture of growth and learning, where you can lead projects that explore new frontiers.

Professional Development

Invest in your future with General Dynamics’ robust professional development programs. Enhance your skills through targeted training, workshops, and seminars that propel your expertise and leadership capabilities forward.

Diversity and Inclusion

At General Dynamics, we believe diversity drives innovation. Our inclusive culture welcomes diverse perspectives and ideas, fostering an environment where all employees can thrive. Through diversity training and networking opportunities, we ensure every team member can contribute uniquely and significantly.

Benefits and Culture

Experience a culture that prioritizes the well-being and satisfaction of its employees. General Dynamics offers competitive benefits, including health care, retirement plans, and flexible working arrangements, to ensure a healthy work-life balance. Our team-oriented culture encourages collaboration and mutual respect, making General Dynamics a great place to work.

Join Our Team

Ready to advance your career at General Dynamics? Explore our current job opportunities and find a position that matches your skills and ambitions. We are continuously hiring talented individuals who are passionate about making a difference.

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Join General Dynamics today and be part of a team that values leadership, innovation, and diversity. See what exciting and rewarding opportunities await you in a career at General Dynamics.
Learn more about General Dynamics
Size
103,100 employees
Market Cap
$67.9 billion
Industry
Net Income
$3.1 billion
Founded
1952
5 Year Trend
+4.7%
Revenue
$37.9 billion
NASDAQ

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