Staff Database Reliability Engineer

Quizlet (View all Jobs)

Denver, CO; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA

Please mention No Whiteboard if you apply!
I'm a one-man team looking to improve tech interviews, and could use any support! 😄


Interview Process

1. Preliminary screen 2. Role-specific applied exercises where candidates create new projects/apps or make improvements to pre-existing code

Salary

$141,000 - $195,000

Programming Languages Mentioned

Python, SQL


About Quizlet:

Inspired by our belief that anyone can learn anything and powered by our own curiosity, we build the smartest tools we can imagine to help students learn.  

Quizlet is the popular, global learning platform and app that millions of students, teachers and everyday people use to study any subject imaginable for school, work or as part of their personal interests -- including two-thirds of high school students and half of all college students in the US. Combining cognitive science and machine learning, Quizlet guides students through adaptive study activities to confidently reach their learning goals. We’re on track to become the undisputed leader in user-generated learning content and engagement, at the scale of YouTube.  

Valued at $1 billion, Quizlet has raised over $60 million in venture capital from investors including Icon Ventures, Union Square Ventures, General Atlantic, Costanoa Ventures, Owl Ventures, and Altos Ventures.  

To serve our global community of learners, our teams tackle lofty technical challenges and design for use cases across cultures and languages. We work hard, act like owners, and collaborate every chance we get. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.


About the Team:

The Data Engineering team is growing fast. Apart from traditional Data Eng responsibilities for OLAP functions, we also own the OLTP and streaming databases that power Quizlet’s learning platform.  This team has been involved in projects including building database load test framework, MemoryStore migration, and ProxySQL Kubernetes implementation.

About the Role:

Reliable data stores are the bed rocks of running large-scale services at Quizlet.  This team works with product engineering to transition from a primary and replica cluster setup to technologies that scale better; raise database reliability awareness, and advise on datastore selection for new projects.  A Database Reliability Engineer has the opportunity to make an enormous impact on our next phase of growth.  

This is a hybrid role. While you are currently permitted to work remotely in Denver, New York, and the San Francisco Bay Area, you must remain able to work in the office as business needs dictate and as identified by your manager.
In this role, you will:
  • Monitor and support Cloud SQL MySQL, Spanner, ElasticSearch, Memcached, and Redis clusters
  • Perform daily maintenance, monitoring, problem resolution and internal customer/development support
  • Develop, implement and maintain automation tools to manage and monitor diverse database technologies we have
  • Do capacity planning and load testing on various databases
  • Perform database & Application (SQL) performance tuning and database upgrades
  • Be on-call for production databases on a rotation basis
  • Implement automation for DDL migrations
  • Perform root cause analysis of production-related database issues
  • Monitor and support MySQL, BigQuery, Cloud Spanner, and Memcache instances
  • Make sure backups are recoverable at all times
  • Troubleshooting and identifying Database performance issues quickly
  • Support the product teams with their persistent storage needs
  • Apply your engineering skills and best practices on databases
  • Create and update database documentation as required
  • What you bring to the table:
  • 8+ years of industry experience
  • 2-3 years of experience maintaining at least one of the database technologies cited above
  • 2-3 years of experience with a cloud service platform
  • Experience installing and setting up databases as well as monitoring and diagnostics
  • Knowledge of database replication, backup, and restore
  • Experience with running large databases with high throughput and low latency
  • Experience with on-call and incident management
  • Good software development skills in Python, Go, or similar languages for scripting and automation
  • Experience performing schema changes in production
  • Proven ability to thrive in an environment that prioritizes giving and receiving candid feedback
  • Passion for learning and technology
  • Bonus points if you have:
  • Knowledge of infrastructure tools like Terraform, Consul and Argo
  • Some experience working with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
  • Compensation, Benefits & Perks:
  • Quizlet is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Salary transparency helps to mitigate unfair hiring practices when it comes to discrimination and pay gaps.  Total compensation for this role is market competitive, including a starting base salary of $141,000 - $195,000, depending on location and experience, as well as company stock options
  • Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
  • 20 vacation days (and we expect you to take them!)
  • Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, HMO, VSP Choice)
  • Employer-sponsored 401k plan with company match
  • Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
  • Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, Wellness benefits
  • 40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice


  • We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome! 
    We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership.
    We provide a transparent setting, that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!  


    In Closing:

    We hope you are excited about everything you read so far. We highly encourage you to apply for this position, even if you feel you do not meet all the requirements. Quizlet is always looking for amazing folks that believe in our mission and can contribute to our team in various ways - not merely candidates that fit a certain mold.

    We have a bias for action, take initiative, and take pride in delivering results. We make informed decisions whenever possible but are unafraid to take calculated risks on great ideas to promote learning. We embrace challenges and see effort as the path to mastery. We’re constantly seeking opportunities to learn and we embrace curiosity. Quality matters at Quizlet, and we hold the bar high on everything we do.
     
    We treat each other with honesty and respect, encourage vigorous debate, and seek critical feedback. We value diversity, humility, transparency, and collaboration as the best paths to our success — as individuals, as a team, and as a company.

    Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are actively working to build a team that is representative of the diverse communities we serve, and an open, inclusive work environment where all employees can thrive. As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Come join us!

    To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies:
    At this time Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles. 
    Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.

    Please mention No Whiteboard if you apply!
    I'm a one-man team looking to improve tech interviews, and could use any support! 😄


    Get weekly alerts of new jobs from companies not using whiteboard interviews!