The Senior DevOps Engineer will apply DevOps principles to enhance a production environment, automate processes, design infrastructure, and mentor junior engineers while collaborating with various teams.
Skydance offers a dynamic, inclusive, and ever-evolving culture where innovative ideas are welcomed, and growth fostered. The partnership between unique creativity and technological advancements are demonstrated within each pillar of the company. At the heart of it all is a commitment to boldly entertaining and relevant storytelling.
While all Animation studios look to hire people who are creative and hard-working, Skydance Animation is specifically looking for pioneers who seek to push the limits of what the world’s most collaborative art form can achieve, and to give those pioneers the space and the resources to build a new studio that’s doing something different.
If you’ve ever dreamt of what the early days of Hollywood must have been like, of what it takes to roll up your sleeves and break new ground, figure out a new process, and to one day say, “I was there when it all began,” then welcome aboard…
For information on Skydance’s privacy practices, see the Skydance U.S. Personnel Privacy Notice located at https://skydance.com/privacy-personnel/.
---
The Senior DevOps Engineer is a senior member of the Information Technology organization, responsible for applying modern DevOps practices to a large, existing production environment.
This role is not greenfield. You will work within a mature, heterogeneous infrastructure, on-premises and cloud, progressively introducing automation, standardization, and reliability improvements without disrupting active production.
You will partner closely with Pipeline, Production Technology, Security, and Engineering teams to influence how infrastructure is designed, delivered, and operated, acting as a technical driver for DevOps principles across the studio.
Responsibilities
- Apply DevOps principles to an existing, production-critical IT environment, balancing modernization with stability
- Design, implement, and operate a global Linux ecosystem supporting workstations, servers, and animation production pipelines
- Partner with Pipeline, Production, and Technology teams to introduce infrastructure-as-code, automation standards, and repeatable deployment patterns
- Identify high-value manual, error-prone, or inconsistent operational processes and replace them with automated solutions using Terraform, Ansible, and Python
- Architect, provision, and maintain infrastructure across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and OCI, including compute, storage, networking, and virtualization
- Own end-to-end technical designs for infrastructure projects, including prioritization, implementation, documentation, and operational handoff
- Maintain a deep understanding of studio workflows and collaborate with Production Technology to evolve systems alongside production needs
- Design, build, and maintain CI/CD pipelines; guide development teams toward reliable build, test, and deployment practices
- Define and promote best-in-class CI/CD, source control, and branching strategies in collaboration with Engineering and Security teams
- Design, operate, and maintain render farm infrastructure, with a focus on configuration management and performance monitoring
- Present technical options to leadership, including architectural trade-offs, cost analysis, and risk considerations
- Act as a technical advocate for automation, observability, and reliability across IT and production-facing teams
- Participate in a 24×7 production on-call rotation, focusing on root-cause analysis and long-term remediation
- Mentor junior engineers and help raise the overall operational maturity of the IT organization
Requirements
- 8+ years of experience as a DevOps Engineer, Site Reliability Engineer, or equivalent role supporting production systems
- Strong hands-on experience with infrastructure automation and configuration management (Terraform, Ansible, Puppet, or similar)
- Proficiency in scripting and programming for systems integration and automation (Python required; Bash, Go, or similar preferred)
- End-to-end experience designing and operating CI/CD pipelines in production environments
- Demonstrated experience architecting and operating infrastructure in one or more major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP, and/or OCI)
- Solid Linux systems administration experience, including application deployment, service troubleshooting, and containerized workloads
- Experience operating and supporting source control platforms (e.g., GitHub), including branching and release workflows
- Hands-on experience with containerization and Kubernetes-based platforms in production environments
- Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly explain technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Proven problem-solving ability and a pragmatic approach to operational reliability
Nice to Have
- Experience with identity and access management systems, including MFA providers (Okta, Duo) and authentication protocols (LDAP, Active Directory, SAML, OAuth), a plus
- Working knowledge of NFS and SMB file protocols across Linux, macOS, and Windows environments, including performance and reliability considerations, a plus
- Experience operating file transfer and content distribution systems (e.g., Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Signiant, Aspera, FTP, Filerunner), a plus
- Prior experience in animation, visual effects, or media and entertainment environments, a plus
How You’ll Be Successful
- Reduce manual, ad-hoc infrastructure changes by replacing them with reproducible, automated workflows
- Increase consistency and reliability across environments without disrupting active production
- Improve system observability, debuggability, and operational confidence through better tooling and standards
- Deliver incremental modernization that leaves systems more maintainable than you found them
- Build trust with engineers, pipeline, and production teams by shipping practical improvements that solve real problems
- Raise the overall DevOps maturity of the IT organization through example, documentation, and mentorship
The compensation for this exempt position in Los Angeles, CA is $145,000-175,000 annually. The rate offered may vary based on the candidate’s location, qualifications, experience and relevant expertise, among other factors. The range indicated is for base salary only and does not reflect the total compensation package, including bonus, benefits, etc.
#animation
Skydance is a diversified media company founded by David Ellison in 2010 to create high quality, event-level entertainment for global audiences. The Company brings to life stories of immersive worlds across its feature film, television, interactive, and animation divisions.
Recruitment Fraud Alert
It has come to our attention that there may be fraudulent activity by individuals impersonating our Talent Acquisition team. Skydance will only contact you from an official “@skydance.com” email address. If you suspect that you are being contacted by an unauthorized person or believe that the correspondence you have received is suspicious, please do not click on any links or attachments in such emails and submit any questions or concerns to our information security team at https://skydance.com/report-suspected-fraud/.
Top Skills
Ansible
AWS
Azure
GCP
Kubernetes
Linux
Oci
Python
Terraform
Skydance Media Santa Monica, California, USA Office
2900 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA, United States, 90404
Similar Jobs
Cloud • Computer Vision • Information Technology • Sales • Security • Cybersecurity
Senior DevOps Engineer responsible for building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, automating deployments, optimizing cloud infrastructure (including GovCloud), managing containerized applications with Docker and Kubernetes, implementing monitoring and security best practices, and collaborating with development teams to improve reliability and scalability.
Top Skills:
BitbucketChrome ExtensionsCi/CdDockerGoGovcloudJenkinsKubernetesUi Frameworks
Aerospace • Hardware • Robotics • Software • Manufacturing
Design, implement, and maintain scalable infrastructure and automation across cloud and on-prem sites. Improve uptime, deploy pipelines, champion IaC and configuration management, define SLOs, and reduce operational toil to accelerate development velocity.
Top Skills:
Kubernetes,Gcp,Helm,Terraform,Gitlab,Prometheus,Grafana,Loki,Jfrog Artifactory,Ansible,Puppet,Mlops
Aerospace
Design, develop, deploy, and maintain software infrastructure for flight software (FSW), flat-sat, and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing. Automate FSW/HITL test pipelines, work hands-on with space hardware, and collaborate across teams to verify spacecraft functionality and support program deliverables.
Top Skills:
Python,Git,Jira,Ci/Cd,Kubernetes,C,C++,C#,Teamcity,Linux,Ansible,Cloud Computing,Databases,Networking,Distributed Applications
What you need to know about the Los Angeles Tech Scene
Los Angeles is a global leader in entertainment, so it’s no surprise that many of the biggest players in streaming, digital media and game development call the city home. But the city boasts plenty of non-entertainment innovation as well, with tech companies spanning verticals like AI, fintech, e-commerce and biotech. With major universities like Caltech, UCLA, USC and the nearby UC Irvine, the city has a steady supply of top-flight tech and engineering talent — not counting the graduates flocking to Los Angeles from across the world to enjoy its beaches, culture and year-round temperate climate.
Key Facts About Los Angeles Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 375,800; 5.5% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Snap, Netflix, SpaceX, Disney, Google
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, adtech, media, software, game development
- Funding Landscape: $11.6 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Strong Ventures, Fifth Wall, Upfront Ventures, Mucker Capital, Kittyhawk Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: California Institute of Technology, UCLA, University of Southern California, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Quantum Science and Engineering
