Who we are?
Here at Focused Labs, we are a small, select, software consultancy that wants to improve the world of software engineering through excellence. We help companies solve tough problems while delivering products to market quickly, providing end-users with fantastic digital experiences and upskilling in-house development teams. Our unique approach and proven track record help us build sustainable, trusted partnerships.
Our values:
- Listen first - we are experts when it comes to software, but lifelong learners in the domain of our customers. We listen, collaborate, and iterate closely with our clients.
- Learn why - we are deeply invested in the outcomes of our clients and apply our expertise to make wise technology decisions with them.
- Love your craft - we love programming and the craft of software engineering.
At Focused Labs, our Engineers are both practitioners and experts in their craft. This role would play a crucial role in shaping and implementing DevOps best practices, driving organizational transformation, and ensuring the successful delivery of complex software projects. With clients, we develop trust and influence - we are unintimidated and unintimidating. With colleagues, we set the standard for how we deliver success for clients.
This position requires a deep understanding of DevOps methodologies, extensive hands-on experience with DevOps tools, and excellent leadership and communication skills.
What would you be doing, broadly?
- Engagement Strategy & Execution: Senior DevOps Engineers kickoff initiatives with new clients and work with the stakeholders to continuously manage goals and execution. As such, you will be accountable for client success; expected to manage stakeholder relationships, project timeline and budget, and quality control of all deliverables.
- DevOps Practice Development: Through past experience and work with clients, Senior DevOps Engineers will continuously develop the playbook for DevOps engagements.
- You act as the model for how delivery happens and level up the rest of the team to the expectations we hold for delivery.
- You bring insights, learnings, and approaches from your engagements back to the rest of the delivery leadership team so that we can continually evolve our communication and training of practices across the entire delivery org. Your work helps us continuously drive towards increased quality and consistency.
What would you be doing on a client engagement?
- DevOps Strategy and Planning:
Assess current development and operations processes and collaborate with executive leadership to define and develop a comprehensive DevOps strategy aligned with client goals.
Stay informed on industry trends and emerging technologies to drive innovation within the organization.
- Implementation and Automation:
Establishing enterprise-grade infrastructure plans and architect tailored solutions for clients that enable self-service application teams.
Designing DevOps solutions tailored to the scale and needs of client application teams.
Establishing or building on definition and education for operating production enterprise solutions including SLAs, SLOs, security compliance, disaster recovery, etc.
Working with application teams to build automated deployment pipelines, ephemeral environments, and production deployment process.
Educate and consult enterprise organizations on how to leverage modern DevOps practices and the benefits public cloud while keeping them security and compliant.
- Client Relationship Management:
Expand contract values with existing clients by identifying opportunities for additional services and solutions.
Act as a trusted advisor to clients, understanding their business needs and aligning DevOps strategies accordingly.
Why are we excited about you?
Senior DevOps Engineers are highly skilled and effective practitioners both in their technical field as well as as consultants.
- You have 6+ years of experience as a DevOps engineer or related role.
- You are comfortable working with non-technical stakeholders and are comfortable participating in daily meetings with clients.
- You have exposure into web application development in Java/Spring, C#/.NET, Python/Django, Javascript/Typescript/Node or similar.
- You have experience as a consultant and a track record of expanding influence with clients and peers alike.
- You have hands-on experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and configuration management tools for efficient infrastructure provisioning and management like Terraform, Ansible, or CDK.
- You have experience and opinion on how to manage 24/7 support, leveraging tools like PagerDuty, DataDog, New Relic, Prometheus, Grafana.
- You have hands on experience working with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) tools and platforms available across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
- You’ve used operational monitoring tools like Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch, LogDNA, etc.
- You have strong computer networking fundamentals including experience with configuring routers, switches, firewalls, or load balancers.
- You navigate ambiguity and can lead teams through it.
What to know before you apply:
- This is a contract role with the potential to convert to a full-time employee.
- This role will require 25-50% travel within the United States.
- The hourly rate range during the contracting period is: $100 - $145
Benefits
... But with a nicer setup. Everyone on our team is reimbursed up to $1,000 to kit out a comfortable home office.
We all keep Focused Hours - 9 to 4 Central - to collaborate with your team. Adjust the rest of your weekly schedule based on client needs, location, and preference.
We don’t do annual reviews for the same reason we don’t release software once a year. We reward good work when it happens.
Our salary ranges are transparent and raises are discussed when you earn them, so everyone gets fair pay.
We match 100% of your contributions for the first 3% of your salary and 50% for the next 2%, vesting immediately.
We allow you to change your major medical plan up to 4 times per year.
21 vacation days, 5 sick days — enough time away to really like it when you're here.
Everyone gets 12 weeks of fully paid leave to welcome new family members — and a structured welcome back to work.
Our Core Values
Love your Craft
We’re passionate about being the best at what we do, down to every detail.
Listen First
We listen, collaborate and iterate closely with our clients and each other.
Learn Why
We keep asking questions, to continuously learn and continuously improve.