Staff Devops Engineer Jobs in California
Staff Devops Engineer jobs in California represent one of the most active markets in the country, concentrated heavily in the technology, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise software sectors with demand at every level from junior devops engineer through principal and staff. The largest hiring clusters are in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego, where companies like Google, Apple, and Salesforce maintain deep devops engineering teams. The most in-demand specialties in California right now are Kubernetes and container orchestration, CI/CD pipeline development, and cloud platform engineering across AWS and GCP. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
Find Staff Devops Engineer JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 16+ Staff Devops Engineer jobs
Location
Irvine, California
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
Hybrid
Department
Technology and InnovationConnected Services
Compensation
- $154,000 – $211,750 • Offers Equity • Offers Bonus • This role has an annual bonus target of 15%
The posted salary represents the lowest and highest ranges RV Tech reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for the position. Any posted salary range pertains only to the estimated starting pay for the role. Actual starting pay is based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, skillset, qualifications, specific competencies, relevant education, and location.
About Us
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world.
The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.
Role Summary
As a Staff Technical Program Manager on the Developer Productivity, DevOps & Cloud Platform team, you will lead complex, cross-functional programs that improve how our engineers build, deploy, operate, and continuously improve software.
You will operate with a high degree of initiative and independent judgment. You will be the connective tissue between our DevOps and internal tooling teams, infrastructure and cloud leaders, engineering organizations, and partners across the company and external brands. Your work will create clarity where ownership is distributed, turn ambiguous problems into executable plans, and help teams make durable improvements to the systems and practices they rely on every day.
This role spans three connected program spaces:
Product-oriented programs, including internal and external customer-facing tools and AI-enhanced workflows
Platform-focused programs, including infrastructure, cloud services, developer platforms, build systems, CI/CD, and operational tooling.
Internal-facing programs, including systems and tools that improve the way our engineers use data and AI, accelerate software development workflows, and strengthen incident response and learning.
You will be expected to flex across all three areas, often within the same program. The strongest candidates combine program-management rigor with enough technical fluency to earn the trust of engineers, understand system and operational tradeoffs, and help leaders make informed decisions without taking ownership away from the teams doing the work.
Responsibilities
Lead multi-team technical programs from problem definition through delivery, adoption, and measurable business or engineering outcomes.
Establish program strategy, scope, milestones, dependencies, decision forums, operating cadence, and success metrics.
Partner with DevOps, infrastructure, cloud, security, data, AI, and engineering leaders to align priorities and sequence work across organizational boundaries.
Drive improvements from incident management, including incident readiness, severity and escalation models, communications, command structures, post-incident learning, and follow-through on corrective actions.
Coordinate programs that improve reliability and speed across build, test, release, deployment, observability, and production operations.
Translate technical complexity into clear decisions, risks, tradeoffs, and actions for both engineering and executive audiences.
Identify gaps in ownership, process, architecture, or operating mechanisms and create practical paths to resolution.
Use data and operational signals to understand program health, expose systemic issues, and measure whether improvements are working.
Build alignment across teams with different incentives, priorities, and levels of technical context.
Influence without direct authority by creating clarity, building trust, surfacing issues early, and holding teams accountable to agreed outcomes.
Represent the program in leadership reviews and provide concise, decision-oriented status updates.
Improve the way we run programs by developing reusable mechanisms, templates, metrics, and working practices that scale beyond a single initiative.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
5+ years of progressive experience in technical project and/or program management, engineering program management, product operations, engineering operations, or a related field.
Experience leading complex, cross-functional programs involving software engineering, infrastructure, cloud, DevOps, developer tools, or production operations.
Strong technical fluency in modern software delivery and operations, such as CI/CD, build systems, cloud infrastructure, observability, distributed systems, service ownership, or incident response.
Demonstrated ability to lead through influence across multiple teams and organizational boundaries.
Experience operating effectively in ambiguous environments where the path, ownership model, or solution is not yet defined.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor technical and program narratives to engineers, executives, and external partners.
A track record of identifying systemic problems, establishing a clear operating model, and delivering measurable improvement.
Sound judgment about when to create structure, when to move quickly, and when to escalate.
Strong team player known for building trust and partnering across functional lines.
Comfort using metrics, dashboards, operational data, and qualitative feedback to guide decisions.
A bias toward action, learning, and continuous improvement.
Willingness and enthusiasm to use AI tools as part of day-to-day program management work (not just programs about AI).
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with large-scale developer productivity, platform engineering, SRE, DevOps transformation, or cloud modernization programs.
Experience leading incident-management or operational-excellence transformations across an enterprise.
Experience working with AI and data platforms or enabling AI-assisted engineering workflows.
Experience working across a technology company, automotive organization, or other complex product and platform environment.
Experience partnering with external customers, brands, suppliers, or strategic technology partners.
Familiarity with program and portfolio tools, engineering metrics, service-management practices, and modern product-development methods.
Total Rewards
We build the exceptional — and we believe the people doing that work should be rewarded accordingly. In addition to a competitive base salary, full-time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program.
Payments are discretionary and not guaranteed; actual amounts depend on company results and the terms of the plan in effect, and require active employment at the time of payout. This role is also eligible for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), subject to board approval and the terms of our equity incentive plans, including applicable vesting requirements.
In addition to our compensation programs, we invest in our people with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the health, wellbeing, and financial future for full-time employees — including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs. Offerings vary by country. Learn more about our global benefit programs.
External candidates can apply for this role through the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies careers site (https://rivianvw.tech/#careers).
Equal Opportunity
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are also committed to ensuring compliance with all applicable fair employment practice laws regarding citizenship and immigration status.
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at candidateaccommodations@rivian.com.
Candidate Data Privacy
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies” may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) record keeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies affiliates; and (iii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies’ service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.
If you provide a mobile telephone number as part of your application or during the recruitment process, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use that number to contact you via SMS text message for recruitment-related purposes, including scheduling, logistics, and status updates. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any text message you receive from us. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of applying for or being considered for employment.
-
Please note this job posting represents an open, active vacancy. Additionally, we are not currently accepting applications from third party application services.
Compensation Range: $154,000 - $211,750Location
Irvine, California
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
Hybrid
Department
Technology and InnovationConnected Services
Compensation
- $154,000 – $211,750 • Offers Equity • Offers Bonus • This role has an annual bonus target of 15%
The posted salary represents the lowest and highest ranges RV Tech reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for the position. Any posted salary range pertains only to the estimated starting pay for the role. Actual starting pay is based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, skillset, qualifications, specific competencies, relevant education, and location.
About Us
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world.
The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.
Role Summary
As a Staff Technical Program Manager on the Developer Productivity, DevOps & Cloud Platform team, you will lead complex, cross-functional programs that improve how our engineers build, deploy, operate, and continuously improve software.
You will operate with a high degree of initiative and independent judgment. You will be the connective tissue between our DevOps and internal tooling teams, infrastructure and cloud leaders, engineering organizations, and partners across the company and external brands. Your work will create clarity where ownership is distributed, turn ambiguous problems into executable plans, and help teams make durable improvements to the systems and practices they rely on every day.
This role spans three connected program spaces:
Product-oriented programs, including internal and external customer-facing tools and AI-enhanced workflows
Platform-focused programs, including infrastructure, cloud services, developer platforms, build systems, CI/CD, and operational tooling.
Internal-facing programs, including systems and tools that improve the way our engineers use data and AI, accelerate software development workflows, and strengthen incident response and learning.
You will be expected to flex across all three areas, often within the same program. The strongest candidates combine program-management rigor with enough technical fluency to earn the trust of engineers, understand system and operational tradeoffs, and help leaders make informed decisions without taking ownership away from the teams doing the work.
Responsibilities
Lead multi-team technical programs from problem definition through delivery, adoption, and measurable business or engineering outcomes.
Establish program strategy, scope, milestones, dependencies, decision forums, operating cadence, and success metrics.
Partner with DevOps, infrastructure, cloud, security, data, AI, and engineering leaders to align priorities and sequence work across organizational boundaries.
Drive improvements from incident management, including incident readiness, severity and escalation models, communications, command structures, post-incident learning, and follow-through on corrective actions.
Coordinate programs that improve reliability and speed across build, test, release, deployment, observability, and production operations.
Translate technical complexity into clear decisions, risks, tradeoffs, and actions for both engineering and executive audiences.
Identify gaps in ownership, process, architecture, or operating mechanisms and create practical paths to resolution.
Use data and operational signals to understand program health, expose systemic issues, and measure whether improvements are working.
Build alignment across teams with different incentives, priorities, and levels of technical context.
Influence without direct authority by creating clarity, building trust, surfacing issues early, and holding teams accountable to agreed outcomes.
Represent the program in leadership reviews and provide concise, decision-oriented status updates.
Improve the way we run programs by developing reusable mechanisms, templates, metrics, and working practices that scale beyond a single initiative.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
5+ years of progressive experience in technical project and/or program management, engineering program management, product operations, engineering operations, or a related field.
Experience leading complex, cross-functional programs involving software engineering, infrastructure, cloud, DevOps, developer tools, or production operations.
Strong technical fluency in modern software delivery and operations, such as CI/CD, build systems, cloud infrastructure, observability, distributed systems, service ownership, or incident response.
Demonstrated ability to lead through influence across multiple teams and organizational boundaries.
Experience operating effectively in ambiguous environments where the path, ownership model, or solution is not yet defined.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor technical and program narratives to engineers, executives, and external partners.
A track record of identifying systemic problems, establishing a clear operating model, and delivering measurable improvement.
Sound judgment about when to create structure, when to move quickly, and when to escalate.
Strong team player known for building trust and partnering across functional lines.
Comfort using metrics, dashboards, operational data, and qualitative feedback to guide decisions.
A bias toward action, learning, and continuous improvement.
Willingness and enthusiasm to use AI tools as part of day-to-day program management work (not just programs about AI).
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with large-scale developer productivity, platform engineering, SRE, DevOps transformation, or cloud modernization programs.
Experience leading incident-management or operational-excellence transformations across an enterprise.
Experience working with AI and data platforms or enabling AI-assisted engineering workflows.
Experience working across a technology company, automotive organization, or other complex product and platform environment.
Experience partnering with external customers, brands, suppliers, or strategic technology partners.
Familiarity with program and portfolio tools, engineering metrics, service-management practices, and modern product-development methods.
Total Rewards
We build the exceptional — and we believe the people doing that work should be rewarded accordingly. In addition to a competitive base salary, full-time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program.
Payments are discretionary and not guaranteed; actual amounts depend on company results and the terms of the plan in effect, and require active employment at the time of payout. This role is also eligible for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), subject to board approval and the terms of our equity incentive plans, including applicable vesting requirements.
In addition to our compensation programs, we invest in our people with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the health, wellbeing, and financial future for full-time employees — including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs. Offerings vary by country. Learn more about our global benefit programs.
External candidates can apply for this role through the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies careers site (https://rivianvw.tech/#careers).
Equal Opportunity
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are also committed to ensuring compliance with all applicable fair employment practice laws regarding citizenship and immigration status.
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at candidateaccommodations@rivian.com.
Candidate Data Privacy
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies” may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) record keeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies affiliates; and (iii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies’ service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.
If you provide a mobile telephone number as part of your application or during the recruitment process, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use that number to contact you via SMS text message for recruitment-related purposes, including scheduling, logistics, and status updates. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any text message you receive from us. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of applying for or being considered for employment.
-
Please note this job posting represents an open, active vacancy. Additionally, we are not currently accepting applications from third party application services.
Compensation Range: $154,000 - $211,750See All 16 Staff Devops Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Staff Devops Engineer JobsStaff Devops Engineer Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Staff Devops Engineer Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Aerospace & Defense
- Electronics & Hardware
- Consulting & Professional Services
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in staff devops engineer jobs across California.
- Minimum seven years of devops or site reliability engineering experience in production environments
- Deep expertise with Kubernetes, Docker, and container orchestration at scale
- Hands-on experience with CI/CD tooling such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or CircleCI
- Proficiency with infrastructure-as-code using Terraform, Ansible, or Pulumi
- Experience on at least one major cloud platform including AWS, GCP, or Azure
- Strong scripting skills in Python, Bash, or Go for automation and tooling development
Staff Devops Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a staff devops engineer in California?
Staff devops engineer is not a licensed or state-regulated role in California, so the path runs through education and demonstrated experience. Most California employers expect a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field, combined with several years of progressive devops experience. Earning widely recognized certifications such as the Certified Kubernetes Administrator or AWS Certified DevOps Engineer strengthens a candidacy considerably in California's competitive tech market.
How much do staff devops engineers make in California?
Staff devops engineers in California earn a median of about $174,410 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $105,060 for the lowest 10% to over $272,670 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire staff devops engineers in California?
Employers hiring staff devops engineers in California right now include ivo, Okta, and Vast, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. California's density of enterprise technology headquarters and cloud-native companies means staff-level devops roles appear across both large hyperscalers and fast-growing mid-size software firms throughout the state.
Which California cities have the most staff devops engineer jobs?
San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Clara consistently post the most staff devops engineer openings in California. The San Francisco Bay Area dominates because of its concentration of technology headquarters and cloud infrastructure companies, while Los Angeles reflects growth in media technology and enterprise software, and San Diego benefits from defense-tech, biotech, and a rising number of cloud-focused employers in the region.
Are there remote staff devops engineer jobs in California?
Yes, and more than most fields. Devops engineering is inherently infrastructure-driven work that runs through code, cloud consoles, and automated pipelines, making it well suited to remote arrangements. About 40% of staff devops engineer openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, with the fully remote roles most common in cloud platform engineering and CI/CD pipeline work where no physical datacenter presence is required.
How can I get hired as a staff devops engineer in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is moving laterally from a systems administrator, software developer, or IT operations role and building devops tooling experience through project work or open-source contributions. Large California employers like Google, Meta, and Salesforce run associate site reliability and junior infrastructure engineering programs that accept candidates from adjacent disciplines. Earning a Certified Kubernetes Administrator credential or completing a cloud associate certification on AWS or GCP gives applicants a concrete credential that California hiring managers recognize as a signal of readiness.
Where can I find and apply to staff devops engineer jobs in California?
You can find and apply to staff devops engineer jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current California openings updated regularly. Search the listings for roles that match your experience level, cloud platform focus, and preferred location or remote arrangement, then apply directly to the ones that fit.
See All 16 Staff Devops Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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