Site Reliability Engineer
Applies software engineering practices to infrastructure and operations. Focuses on system uptime, incident response, capacity planning, and eliminating toil through automation.
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Key Skills
Salary by Country
| Country | Median (USD) | Net (USD) | PPP Adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | $141 750,00 | $110 565,00 | $118 125,00 |
| 🇺🇸 United States | $135 000,00 | $97 200,00 | $135 000,00 |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | $108 000,00 | $75 600,00 | $144 000,00 |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | $105 300,00 | $73 710,00 | $140 400,00 |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | $105 300,00 | $73 710,00 | $140 400,00 |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | $101 250,00 | $63 787,00 | $138 698,00 |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | $101 250,00 | $67 837,00 | $101 250,00 |
| 🇮🇪 Ireland | $101 250,00 | $72 900,00 | $126 562,00 |
| 🇩🇰 Denmark | $97 200,00 | $60 264,00 | $117 108,00 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | $97 200,00 | $63 180,00 | $149 538,00 |
| 🇮🇱 Israel | $97 200,00 | $68 040,00 | $118 536,00 |
| 🇸🇬 Singapore | $97 200,00 | $82 620,00 | $114 352,00 |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | $91 800,00 | $55 080,00 | $129 295,00 |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | $91 800,00 | $59 670,00 | $125 753,00 |
| 🇭🇰 Hong Kong | $87 750,00 | $77 220,00 | $109 687,00 |
| 🇦🇹 Austria | $87 750,00 | $58 792,00 | $121 875,00 |
| 🇫🇷 France | $87 750,00 | $57 037,00 | $125 357,00 |
| 🇳🇿 New Zealand | $87 750,00 | $65 812,00 | $129 044,00 |
| 🇫🇮 Finland | $83 700,00 | $56 078,00 | $114 657,00 |
| 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | $81 000,00 | $76 950,00 | $124 615,00 |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | $74 250,00 | $55 687,00 | $123 750,00 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | $70 200,00 | $47 033,00 | $117 000,00 |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea | $67 500,00 | $52 650,00 | $116 379,00 |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | $60 750,00 | $42 525,00 | $116 826,00 |
| 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $51 300,00 | $42 066,00 | $106 875,00 |
| 🇵🇹 Portugal | $47 250,00 | $34 020,00 | $105 000,00 |
| 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | $43 200,00 | $33 264,00 | $102 857,00 |
| 🇨🇳 China | $40 500,00 | $31 590,00 | $115 714,00 |
| 🇵🇱 Poland | $40 500,00 | $30 375,00 | $106 578,00 |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico | $33 750,00 | $27 000,00 | $96 428,00 |
| 🇧🇷 Brazil | $29 700,00 | $23 166,00 | $92 812,00 |
| 🇮🇳 India | $24 300,00 | $19 440,00 | $110 454,00 |
| 🇹🇭 Thailand | $20 250,00 | $17 212,00 | $67 500,00 |
| 🇮🇩 Indonesia | $16 200,00 | $13 770,00 | $64 800,00 |
| 🇻🇳 Vietnam | $16 200,00 | $13 284,00 | $64 800,00 |
| 🇵🇭 Philippines | $14 850,00 | $12 177,00 | $61 875,00 |
Career Path
Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) typically come from software engineering or systems engineering backgrounds. The role, popularized by Google, applies software engineering principles to operations problems. Junior SREs learn monitoring systems, incident response procedures, and automation tools.
Mid-level SREs own the reliability of specific services, define SLOs and error budgets, build automation to eliminate toil, and participate in on-call rotations. They write software to improve system reliability and reduce manual operational work.
Senior SREs design reliability strategies for critical systems, lead incident command during major outages, and mentor teams on reliability engineering practices. They build observability platforms, chaos engineering frameworks, and capacity planning tools.
Staff and principal SREs define the reliability culture and practices for the entire organization. They establish SLO frameworks, design globally distributed systems, and drive initiatives that fundamentally improve system resilience. They often work directly with executive leadership on reliability strategy.
SRE is one of the highest-paying engineering disciplines, reflecting the critical nature of the work and the on-call commitment. The career path can lead to director of reliability, VP of infrastructure, or CTO roles, particularly at companies where uptime is a core business requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Site Reliability Engineer do?
Applies software engineering practices to infrastructure and operations. Focuses on system uptime, incident response, capacity planning, and eliminating toil through automation.
How much does a Site Reliability Engineer earn?
Median Site Reliability Engineer salaries range from about $14,850 to $141,750 USD depending on country. See the full breakdown below.
How do Site Reliability Engineer salaries compare by country?
This page compares median and net Site Reliability Engineer salaries across countries — see the detailed table below.