Lead Site Reliability Engineer, Factory Software

Description:
The Factory Software team at Tesla is building critical applications to enable manufacturing and warehouse management with a strong emphasis on reliability, availability, scalability, speed, and security. We are a diverse, cross-functional team of Controls Engineers, Software Engineers, SREs, and other disciplines working on automated manufacturing and warehouse processes.
This is a technical leadership role. As the Lead Site Reliability Engineer, you will be the primary technical owner and leader for the Factory Software team’s reliability, observability, and infrastructure strategy. You will combine deep hands-on engineering with leadership to set technical direction, raise the bar on engineering practices, and ensure the full stack — from Kubernetes clusters and databases to factory-facing applications — is highly reliable, observable, and performant.

Responsibilities:
Provide technical leadership and set the vision for observability, reliability, and platform standardization across the Factory Software team
Design and implement end-to-end observability and telemetry solutions (OTEL, Prometheus, Grafana, Tempo, etc.) while mentoring the team on best practices
Own the reliability of the full stack: Kubernetes infrastructure, virtual machines, databases, and the middleware applications connecting PLCs, MES systems, and other factory services
Define and drive SLIs, SLOs, error budgets, and golden signals across services
Lead major initiatives to eliminate speed bottlenecks, database contention, and infrastructure issues through proactive monitoring and automation
Write production-grade code and build tools to reduce toil and improve deployment, monitoring, and operational workflows
Participate hands-on in on-call rotations, live troubleshooting during outages (NOC bridges), and blameless post-mortems
Collaborate closely with Platform Engineering, Infrastructure, Controls Engineering, and Software Engineering teams to embed reliability and observability into architecture and development practices
Mentor and coach engineers on technical excellence, observability, Kubernetes, Linux, networking, and reliable system design
Drive continuous improvement in incident response, system performance, and engineering standards across the team

Requirements:
7+ years of experience in Site Reliability Engineering, Platform Engineering, or related systems roles, with significant hands-on experience at scale
Strong technical expertise in Kubernetes, Docker, Linux administration, and networking (routing, VLANs, firewalls, load balancers)
Deep experience with observability tools and concepts (Prometheus, Grafana, Tempo, OTEL, Splunk, etc.)
Proven track record of designing and implementing reliable, observable distributed systems
Proficiency in at least one high-level language (Go, Python, or Java) with experience writing production-grade code
Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives and raise the engineering bar without formal people management authority
Experience with on-call rotations, incident command, and driving reliability improvements through blameless post-mortems
Strong bias for action, excellent communication skills, and a desire to mentor and uplift other engineers
Experience in manufacturing, industrial automation, or complex operational environments is a strong plus

Compensation & Benefits:
Benefits

Along with competitive pay, as a full-time Tesla employee, you are eligible for the following benefits at day 1 of hire:
Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both have options with a $0 paycheck contribution
Company Paid (Health Savings Accounts) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High-Deductible medical plan with HSA
Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
Company paid Basic Life, AD&D
Short-term and long-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
Employee Assistance Program
Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions, Accrued hours for Hourly positions), and Paid Holidays
Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
Weight Loss and Tobacco Cessation Programs
Tesla Babies program
Commuter benefits
Employee discounts and perks program

Expected Compensation
$200,000 - $300,000/annual salary + cash and stock awards + benefitsPay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements dependent on the position offered. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.