Director, DevOps & SRE - Houston Chronicle : Job Details

The Hearst Newspapers Product Development team builds exceptional product experiences that balance editorial, business, and end-user considerations in service of our mission. Our team includes engineers, QA, product managers, UX researchers, designers, and product operations specialists. We are organized into cross-functional pods supporting end users, internal users, and revenue goals. We work collaboratively and diligently. We are creative and disciplined. We are respectful, fun, and supportive of one another.

Job Description

The DevOps & SRE team exists to accelerate our engineering organization's delivery speed, enhance platform reliability, and ensure secure and scalable operations.

As a Director, DevOps & SRE, you will lead our strategy and execution in infrastructure reliability, automation, and engineering operational efficiency. You'll collaborate across engineering and product teams to enable seamless deployments, robust platform performance, and scalable systems to support our growing product portfolio.

• Cloud Modernization: Drive strategic initiatives to modernize cloud infrastructure, leveraging Infrastructure as Code (IaC), containerization, and cloud-native technologies to optimize performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
• Operational Excellence: Automate deployment pipelines, streamline software releases, and implement CI/CD best practices to achieve continuous delivery and reduce operational friction.
• Talent Development: Manage, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of DevOps and SRE professionals, fostering career growth and maintaining high standards for performance and accountability.
• Team Culture and Collaboration: Foster a positive and inclusive team environment by addressing logistical, operational, and morale-related needs, promoting collaboration and engagement.
• Capacity Planning & Performance: Proactively assess and scale infrastructure to reliably support current workloads and anticipate future growth, ensuring optimal performance and resource efficiency.
• Security, Compliance & Risk Management: Implement robust security practices and ensure compliance across infrastructure, manage risks, and maintain alignment with regulatory and industry standards.
• Data-Driven Observability: Implement and manage comprehensive monitoring, alerting, and logging solutions to enable rapid incident response, proactive problem identification, and continuous improvement based on key performance indicators.
• Incident Response Coordination: Define, manage, and participate in rapid response procedures to effectively handle security incidents, outages, and vulnerabilities, ensuring minimal downtime and disruption to users.
• Budget and Vendor Management: Manage cloud and infrastructure budgets, negotiate with vendors, and evaluate third-party tools and services to ensure cost-effectiveness and alignment with technical goals.

• Experienced Cloud Architect: Proven experience architecting solutions in public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) using Infrastructure as Code tools like Terraform, implementing cloud-native architectures, and managing scalable performant systems.
• Outcome-Driven: You prioritize results and are adept at using data to measure success.
• Accountable: You commit and follow through, taking responsibility and recognizing areas for improvement, for both you and your team.
• Strategic Problem-Solver: You excel at diagnosing challenges and implementing scalable, performant solutions.
• Collaborative Leader: You communicate effectively, facilitate team discussions, and inspire trust across functions.
• Proactive and Resourceful: You anticipate issues, propose solutions, and continuously improve processes.
• Trusted Partner: You are trusted by your colleagues and manager to follow through on your commitments and always leave things in a better place than you found them (whether that be relationships, documentation, operations, etc).

Core Competencies:

• Architecting modern cloud solutions
• Attention to scalability, observability, and maintainability
• Provisioning and managing infrastructure with Terraform or similar IaC framework
• Strong communication and cross-team collaboration
• Leading and mentoring teams
• Automating failover in business critical systems
• Disaster recovery and high availability
• Leading infrastructure migration efforts
• Scripting and automation using languages such as Python, Bash, or similar
• Computer networking

Technical Tools: Examples include Docker, Kubernetes/ECS, Terraform, AWS, FireHydrant, Fastly/Cloudfront, Nginx/API Gateway, New Relic, Github, GitHub Actions/CodePipeline, Jira, Confluence, Slack automation. Experience with these tools is not mandatory but preferred.

In accordance with applicable law, Hearst is required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role if hired in New York. The estimated range is $175,000 - $200,000 + bonus. For candidates outside New York, salary will be aligned to the specific location. Final salary will depend on skills, experience, certifications, and education.

With over 3,000 employees nationwide, Hearst Newspapers publishes 24 dailies and 52 weeklies, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, and others. Our mission is to be the most trusted, respected, and accurate source of news, placing readers' interests above all, and committed to truthfulness, fairness, and independence.