What skills should a Site Reliability Engineer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Systems Analysis among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Site Reliability Engineer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes 3M Post-it App, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe AIR, and Adobe Creative Cloud software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Site Reliability Engineer work?

O*NET records 29 titles for this occupation, including Infrastructure Engineer, IT Architect, Information Technology Architect, and Solutions Architect. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Site Reliability Engineer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 41% reported their level of education as "Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Site Reliability Engineer role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Site Reliability Engineer resume example

Built from the O*NET occupation Computer Systems Engineers/Architect, which is how this job is recorded officially.

A resume for a Site Reliability Engineer needs to show the work itself: design and develop solutions to complex applications problems, system administration issues, or network concerns. Day to day that means work like this: communicate with staff or clients to understand specific system requirements; investigate system component suitability for specified purposes, and make recommendations regarding component use. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Infrastructure Engineer
IT Architect
Information Technology Architect
Solutions Architect
Systems Engineer
IT Engineer
Information Technology Engineer
Network and Infrastructure Engineer
Systems Application Engineer
Systems Architect
Systems Consultant
Web Architect
Application Systems Architect
Cloud Architect
Cloud Solution Architect
Computer Systems Architect
Enterprise Architect
Firmware Engineer

O*NET records 29 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Communicate with staff or clients to understand specific system requirements.
Investigate system component suitability for specified purposes, and make recommendations regarding component use.
Provide customers or installation teams guidelines for implementing secure systems.
Direct the analysis, development, and operation of complete computer systems.
Direct the installation of operating systems, network or application software, or computer or network hardware.
Monitor system operation to detect potential problems.
Identify system data, hardware, or software components required to meet user needs.
Perform ongoing hardware and software maintenance operations, including installing or upgrading hardware or software.
Verify stability, interoperability, portability, security, or scalability of system architecture.
Research, test, or verify proper functioning of software patches and fixes.
Configure servers to meet functional specifications.
Collaborate with engineers or software developers to select appropriate design solutions or ensure the compatibility of system components.

28 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Communicate with staff or clients to understand specific system requirements, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Investigate system component suitability for specified purposes, and make recommendations regarding component use, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Provide customers or installation teams guidelines for implementing secure systems, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Direct the analysis, development, and operation of complete computer systems, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

3M Post-it App
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe ActionScript
Adobe AIR
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe Flex
Adobe FrameMaker
Adobe Photoshop
Advanced business application programming ABAP
AJAX
Altia Design
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2

263 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Blade servers
Computer network routers
Desktop computers
Graphics display cards
Laptop computers
Lightweight directory access protocol LDAP servers
Mainframe computers
Mass storage devices
Motherboards
Multi-conductor cables
Personal computers
Radio frequency cables

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

AWS
Ansible
Jira
Bash
C
C++
Docker
Firewall
Git
Go

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Critical Thinking
03Reading Comprehension
04Speaking
05Systems Analysis
06Systems Evaluation
07Writing
08Complex Problem Solving
09Operations Analysis
10Active Learning

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Computers and Electronics
English Language
Telecommunications
Customer and Personal Service
Engineering and Technology
Administration and Management

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

41%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school
27%Associate's Degree
23%Bachelor's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Site Reliability Engineer do?: Design and develop solutions to complex applications problems, system administration issues, or network concerns. Day to day that includes work like communicate with staff or clients to understand specific system requirements and Investigate system component suitability for specified purposes, and make recommendations regarding component use.
What skills should a Site Reliability Engineer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Systems Analysis among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Site Reliability Engineer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes 3M Post-it App, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe AIR, and Adobe Creative Cloud software. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Site Reliability Engineer work?: O*NET records 29 titles for this occupation, including Infrastructure Engineer, IT Architect, Information Technology Architect, and Solutions Architect. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Site Reliability Engineer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 41% reported their level of education as "Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Site Reliability Engineer role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.