Senior Software Engineer, Site Reliability Engineering at Google
Kirkland, WA
$174,000–$253,000from the description
Jul 21, 2026
Kirkland, WA
Jul 23, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A mid-level SRE role focused on keeping large-scale Google production services reliable, performant, and available. Day-to-day work spans the full service lifecycle — from design consulting and capacity planning before launch, to monitoring, automation, and incident response afterward. Suits engineers with a background in both software development and distributed systems who are comfortable owning systems end-to-end in production at massive scale.
Senior level · 5+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
Posted 5 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 29,800 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 22,400–38,800
Applicant volume Heavy — This req sits in a large pool with little in its requirements to thin it, and auto-apply tools fire at everything in the occupation. Applying early and leading with the rare skills below is what gets read.
What the occupation pays Median $170,959 (middle half $135,720–$216,519). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The posting names no specific programming languages, frameworks, or infrastructure tools — the only concrete technical requirements are years of software development experience, distributed systems experience, and technical leadership experience. No preferred tools or stack are enumerated beyond a Master's degree in CS/Engineering.
SOC classification is Medium confidence: Google SRE roles are primarily software-engineering work (writing reliability and automation code, owning systems end-to-end), which maps to 15-1252 Software Developers. However, the role also has a strong operations/systems-administration dimension (monitoring, incident response, capacity planning), making 15-1244 a plausible runner-up.
The posting's own level framing is contradictory: the title says 'Senior' but the experience descriptor immediately below it reads 'Mid Experience.' The minimum qualifications (5 years software development, 3 years distributed systems, 2 years technical leadership) are consistent with a Senior-level role; seniority is assessed as Senior.
Compensation is stated as $174,000–$253,000/year plus a 15% bonus target and equity. The bonus and equity are noted but cannot be captured in the compensation fields.
The degree requirement is Bachelor's in CS, Engineering, or a related field; the JD does accept 'equivalent practical experience,' which would normally yield the degree requirement of None. However, the JD also lists a Master's as a preferred qualification. Because the Bachelor's gate is stated as a hard minimum (not waived by experience in the strict reading of the Minimum Qualifications section), it is captured as Bachelors — though candidates with equivalent practical experience may still be considered.
Work locations are Seattle, WA and Kirkland, WA (both within the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue CBSA). No remote option is indicated.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): software development, technical leadership.
Read the full posting
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