Software Engineer L5

At Netflix, our mission is to entertain the world. Together, we are writing the next episode - pushing the boundaries of storytelling, global fandom and making the unimaginable a reality. We are a dream team obsessed with the uncomfortable excitement of discovering what happens when you merge creativity, intuition and cutting-edge technology. Come be a part of what’s next.

Open Connect (OC) is a critical group within Netflix that builds and manages a content delivery network (CDN) that delivers all of Netflix’s streaming video. In addition to streaming video, we work on projects within Netflix that leverage physical infrastructure, such as our Cloud Games and Netflix Live and Ads initiatives. According to a 2023 Sandvine report, data delivered by Open Connect accounts for approximately 15% of all downstream traffic volume across the entire internet. All of this traffic is delivered by our edge cache servers.

A small team of talented software engineers develop and maintain the operating system that runs the content caches which deliver Netflix Live, Video-On-Demand , Ads and provide the foundation of the cloud gaming platform. Because of the important role of these servers, it is critical that they be efficient, reliable and secure.

We are looking for a software technical lead to own and evolve the automated CI/CD and validation infrastructure used to qualify OC edge appliances across the OS, firmware of hardware components, BMC, BIOS, and platform software stack. This person will help ensure the fleet remains secure, reliable, performant, and operationally scalable through strong automation, high-signal testing, and excellent engineering rigor. 

This role offers a chance to make a significant impact on a critical area of business. We provide the freedom to execute, learn and pivot, and the responsibility to be self directed, collaborative and insightful. You can read more about Netflix culture .

In this role you:

• Own and build scalable testing infrastructure and end-to-end automated validation for edge appliances, covering functional, resiliency, performance, and upgrade and rollback testing, with high reliability, strong observability, and clear release gates, including tests that validate the platform can meet scaling and performance requirements under production-like workloads.

• Improve failure triage with AI-assisted tooling that reduces time-to-detection and time-to-resolution.

• Lead and mentor engineers building and maintaining test automation and release qualification.

• Partner with OS, security, hardware, and application teams to ensure validation keeps pace with rapid product development.

• Debug complex regressions across hardware/firmware/OS boundaries and collaborate cross functionally to drive fixes to resolution.

• Build dashboards and alerting for regression detection, performance drift, and release readiness.

Qualifications:

• 10+ years software engineering experience (or equivalent depth), including ownership of CI/CD systems and architecting large scale test automation.

• Strong coding ability in Python, Rust and or Go, with comfort writing shell scripts.

• Deep hands-on experience with Linux and/or FreeBSD in systems contexts (boot, networking and storage).

• Strong ability to design, build, and operate cloud services that support CI/CD and test automation, including maintaining service reliability, scalability, observability, and cost efficiency.

• Experience designing automated test frameworks for reliability, performance, hardware-in-loop, integration testing.

• Proven ability to provide technical leadership across teams through setting standards, mentoring, and owning roadmaps.

• Experience with modern CI systems and build and release pipelines such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins or similar tools.

• Strong debugging skills across distributed systems and low-level systems boundaries using logs, metrics, tracing, and performance tooling

• Proficiency working on highly distributed systems

You will be successful in this role if you

• Can define, scope, and drive cross-functional projects from ambiguous problem statements through delivery.

• Demonstrate strong ownership and follow-through, with clear accountability for outcomes.

• Are a self-starter who is curious, proactive, and comfortable asking questions when details are unclear

• Learn quickly and enjoy ramping up on new technologies and unfamiliar parts of the stack

Nice to have:

• Using AI tools for operational triage (log clustering, anomaly detection), with a pragmatic approach (guardrails, fallback paths, auditability).

• Performance tooling: perf, flamegraphs, bpftrace/eBPF, dtrace (FreeBSD), fio, network benchmarking.

• Contribute to and collaborate with relevant open-source communities.

• Experience with hardware lab automation and fleet provisioning workflows such as PXE boot, imaging, remote power control, serial console access, and rack automation.

• Experience with incident response practices including postmortems, root cause analysis, and driving preventative engineering actions.

• Experience validating BIOS and firmware behavior, managing firmware rollouts, and working with hardware vendors on platform issues.

Generally, our compensation structure consists solely of an annual salary; we do not have bonuses. You choose each year how much of your compensation you want in salary versus stock options. To determine your personal top of market compensation, we rely on market indicators and consider your specific job family, background, skills, and experience to determine your compensation in the market range. The range for this role is $388,000.00 - $619,000.00. This compensation range will vary based on location.

Netflix provides comprehensive benefits including Health Plans, Mental Health support, a 401(k) Retirement Plan with employer match, Stock Option Program, Disability Programs, Health Savings and Flexible Spending Accounts, Family-forming benefits, and Life and Serious Injury Benefits. We also offer paid leave of absence programs. Full-time hourly employees accrue 35 days annually for paid time off to be used for vacation, holidays, and sick paid time off. Full-time salaried employees are immediately entitled to flexible time off. See more details about our Benefits here .

Netflix is a unique culture and environment. Learn more here .

Inclusion is a Netflix value and we strive to host a meaningful interview experience for all candidates. If you want an accommodation/adjustment for a disability or any other reason during the hiring process, please send a request to your recruiting partner.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and celebrate diversity, recognizing that diversity builds stronger teams. We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Job is open for no less than 7 days and will be removed when the position is filled.