At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation.
Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.
Principal DevOps Engineer (Full-Time Employee)
Location: Seattle, WA / Spokane, WA / San Jose, CA
F5 Inc. is seeking an accomplished Principal DevOps Engineer (FTE) to join our innovative team in Seattle, Spokane, or San Jose. As a Principal DevOps Engineer, you will serve as a technical visionary and strategic leader; shaping, architecting, and advancing our DevOps ecosystem. You will drive the technical direction for our automation, reliability, security, and cloud infrastructure initiatives, and mentor engineers at all career stages.
Responsibilities
Set strategic direction and vision for DevOps architecture, automation, and pipeline tooling.
Own the architecture and implementation of scalable, robust Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for hybrid, cloud, and on-prem environments.
Design and optimize complex CI/CD frameworks using leading industry tools to support secure, seamless delivery at scale.
Develop and enforce best practices for automated provisioning, deployment, testing, monitoring, and security across environments and projects.
Spearhead advanced containerization, orchestration, and workload automation initiatives using Docker, Kubernetes, and other container technologies.
Lead cloud platform strategy (AWS, Azure, GCP), driving cloud adoption, architecture, resilience, performance, and cost optimization.
Implement and support continuous monitoring, logging, and alerting utilizing tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and OpenTelemetry (OTEL).
Guide advanced configuration management practices (Ansible, Chef, Puppet, SaltStack) and champion automation at every layer.
Provide technical leadership for DevSecOps, embedding security into all DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure.
Lead complex incident resolution, root cause analysis, and system reliability engineering (SRE) efforts for highly critical systems.
Advise and collaborate with leadership, architects, and principal engineers across product, software, infrastructure, security, and IT.
Drive documentation excellence, ensuring architecture, processes, runbooks, technical and operational guides are thorough and current.
Mentor, coach, and uplift DevOps engineers at every level, establishing high standards and fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.
Influence and develop DevOps roadmaps, evaluate emerging technologies, and promote organizational transformation.
Required Skills & Qualifications
Deep mastery of CI/CD platforms (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins) and proven record designing complex enterprise-grade pipelines
Extensive experience and authority in Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/OpenTofu, AWS CloudFormation), with strong architectural acumen.
Advanced expertise in scripting (Python, Bash/Shell) and proven automation of provisioning, operations, and deployments at scale.
Demonstrated leadership in containerization (Docker, Podman), Kubernetes orchestration, and cloud-native patterns.
Significant experience architecting on major public cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Deep practical expertise with monitoring & observability stacks: Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry.
Broad and deep knowledge in configuration management: Ansible, Puppet, Chef, SaltStack.
Mastery of Git-based version control, branching strategies, and collaborative workflows (GitHub, GitLab).
Advanced infrastructure security skills with hands-on expertise in tools such as Hashicorp Vault, Semgrep, and integrated CI/CD pipeline security.
Experience with artifact management at scale (Artifactory, Docker Registry).
Exceptional troubleshooting and debugging skills in cloud, container, and distributed system environments.
Outstanding communication, technical writing, and documentation skills for both technical and executive audiences.
Demonstrated excellence operating in fast-paced Agile/Scrum environments.
Proven technical leadership, mentorship, and influence across engineering and DevOps organizations.
Preferred Qualifications
Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, Engineering, or related technical field, or equivalent experience.
10+ years of experience designing, leading, and operating large-scale production systems in DevOps, cloud, or SRE roles.
Demonstrated impact leading IaC, automation, and security strategy at enterprise scale.
Extensive experience with high-availability, disaster recovery, performance tuning, and cloud cost management.
Strong expertise in Linux systems administration, networking concepts (TCP/IP, DNS, load balancing, firewalls), and advanced troubleshooting of infrastructure and distributed systems.
History of principal/lead engineering or technical management roles, including mentorship and cross-team collaboration.
Recognized as a thought leader or subject matter expert in DevOps/cloud/infrastructure engineering fields. Contributions (open source, conferences, communities) are a significant plus.
F5 is an equal opportunity employer.
We value innovation, collaboration, and a relentless focus on automation, reliability, and security. If you are driven to lead a DevOps transformation and make a lasting global impact, then apply today!
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The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.
The annual base pay for this position is: $186,400.00 - $279,600.00F5 maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, geographic locations, and market conditions, as well as to reflect F5’s differing products, industries, and lines of business. The pay range referenced is as of the time of the job posting and is subject to change.
You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.f5.com/company/careers/benefits. F5 reserves the right to change or terminate any benefit plan without notice.
Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com).
Equal Employment Opportunity
It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination. F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting accommodations@f5.com.