DevOps Engineer - Release Engineering (Platform & CI/CD) at Zapier

AI AT ZAPIER At Zapier [Upgrade to PRO to see link] we build and use automation every day to make work more efficient, creative, and human. So if you’re using AI tools while applying here - that’s great! We just ask that you use them responsibly and transparently. Check out our guidance on How to Collaborate with AI During Zapier’s Hiring Process [Upgrade to PRO to see link] including how to use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or others during our hiring process - and when not to. Job Posted: April 13th, 2026 Location: India Zapier is entering its next stage of growth, expanding enterprise capabilities, scaling AI-driven development workflows, and increasing the sophistication of our delivery systems. As our product surface area grows and AI becomes an increasing part of our development lifecycle, so does the complexity of shipping software safely, reliably, and efficiently. We’re looking for an L3 DevOps Engineer (mid-level) and a L4 Sr. DevOps Engineer to help build and evolve the systems that move code from commit to production across Zapier. These are highly hands-on roles for experienced engineers who operate with strong autonomy, take ownership of complex problems, and deliver high-quality platform systems that scale across the organization. If you enjoy designing and building critical infrastructure, improving developer workflows, and owning meaningful technical challenges end-to-end, this role is for you. HERE'S WHAT EACH LEVEL LOOKS LIKE: L3 — Software Engineer: You understand how the systems you work on fit together end-to-end. You can take a well-defined task and deliver it from start to finish, including tests, docs, and deployment. You call out risks early, ask for help when you're stuck, and communicate often about your progress. You debug issues using logs and metrics, and when something is beyond your reach, you know who to bring in. You use AI tools in your daily work and stay responsible for the quality of what ships. L4 — Senior Software Engineer: You go beyond your own tasks. You lead the technical design of projects, especially complex ones that involve other teams. You define the work, break it down for others, and help the team deliver. When things go wrong, you evaluate impact, coordinate the response, and drive long-term fixes. You create patterns and best practices that others adopt. You mentor engineers, give feedback that improves how people think, and spot recurring problems that become roadmap-level improvements. Note: We evaluate your skills and qualifications during the interview process and match them to Zapier's leveling requirements. The final compensation will depend on the level and where you land in our comp bands. TEAM FOCUS Release Engineering owns the systems, standards, and workflows that move code from commit to production — reliably, efficiently, and securely — across Zapier’s platform. Our mission is to make software delivery: - Predictable - Observable - Cost-efficient - Scalable - AI-ready and evolving We standardize CI/CD patterns, improve pipeline performance, reduce delivery friction, and partner with Infra and Security to ensure our release systems are durable and enterprise-ready. IN THIS ROLE, YOU’LL BUILD & OWN CRITICAL CI/CD AND DEPLOYMENT SYSTEMS - Design, implement, and operate CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows - Improve pipeline performance (duration, reliability, and cost) - Build and evolve standardized CI templates and Golden Paths - Implement validation gates, testing strategies, and deployment safeguards - Contribute to rollout strategies (progressive delivery, feature flags, rollback mechanisms) You will spend the majority of your time building production systems and shipping impactful changes. OWN DELIVERY OF COMPLEX INITIATIVES - Own end-to-end delivery of projects or major components within broader initiatives - Participate in discovery and solution design with Tech Leads and cross-functional partners - Define technical approaches through design docs, spikes, or PoCs - Break down work into clear, executable tasks and drive them to completion - Proactively identify risks, tradeoffs, and scope changes - Ensure work meets the Definition of Done, including reliability, observability, and rollout readiness You are accountable for delivering outcomes, not just completing tasks. DRIVE TECHNICAL DESIGN & DECISION-MAKING - Lead design efforts for your projects and contribute to broader system design - Evaluate tradeoffs across performance, cost, reliability, and developer experience - Write clear technical design documents and influence decisions through strong reasoning - Raise and resolve ambiguity, proposing pragmatic and scalable solutions You operate with a high degree of autonomy in technical decision-making within your scope. COLLABORATE ACROSS PLATFORM & ENGINEERING - Partner with Infrastructure, Security, and other engineering teams - Work with Product and Design (when applicable) to align on scope and tradeoffs - Support adoption of platform tooling and CI/CD standards - Communicate progress, risks, and decisions clearly in an async-first environment IMPROVE RELIABILITY, OBSERVABILITY & PERFORMANCE - Define and improve delivery metrics (lead time, deployment frequency, failure rate, cost) - Build and maintain observability across pipelines and deployment systems - Debug complex production issues and participate in incident response - Identify systemic issues and drive improvements proactively RAISE THE ENGINEERING BAR - Review code and designs, providing high-quality feedback - Uphold strong standards for testing, reliability, and maintainability - Contribute to improving team practices, tooling, and workflows - Share knowledge and mentor other engineers through technical guidance (without formal people management) ABOUT YOU YOU ARE HIGHLY TECHNICAL AND HANDS-ON - You are comfortable working across the platform stack — from CI pipelines to deployment infrastructure — and enjoy building reliable, production-grade systems. YOU OWN PROBLEMS END-TO-END - You take responsibility for delivering outcomes, from understanding the problem to shipping and validating solutions in production. YOU OPERATE WITH AUTONOMY - You require minimal guidance to move projects forward, make sound technical decisions, and unblock yourself and others. YOU THINK IN SYSTEMS - You understand how components interact and design solutions that account for scalability, cost, reliability, and developer experience. YOU COMMUNICATE AND COLLABORATE EFFECTIVELY - You work well across teams, align stakeholders, and clearly communicate tradeoffs and decisions. YOU RAISE THE BAR AROUND YOU - You improve code quality, system design, and team practices through your contributions and technical leadership. YOU ARE FLUENT IN AI-ASSISTED DEVELOPMENT - You are comfortable using AI tools in your daily engineering workflow and think critically about where they add value. - You use LLMs/copilots to accelerate coding, debugging, and design exploration - You understand limitations, risks (e.g., correctness, security), and validate outputs - You are interested in how AI impacts CI/CD, testing, and developer experience QUALIFICATIONS - 5–8+ years of experience in software engineering, infrastructure, or platform engineering - Strong experience building and operating CI/CD systems - Experience with GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, or similar tooling - Solid understanding of Kubernetes and modern deployment patterns - Strong coding skills and experience building production systems - Experience in debugging complex systems and improving reliability - Experience contributing to system design and technical decision-making - Experience using AI tools (e.g., LLMs, copilots) in software development workflows - Understanding of how AI impacts software development, testing, or delivery systems Nice to have: - Experience in platform or SRE teams - Experience improving developer experience or internal tooling - Experience working in high-growth or distributed environments This role is ideal for engineers who want to operate at a high technical bar, own meaningful platform systems end-to-end, and pursue a growth path toward Staff or Technical Leadership roles. APPLICATION DEADLINE: The anticipated application window is 30 days from the date job is posted, unless the number of applicants requires it to close sooner or later, or if the position is filled. Even though we’re an all-remote company, we still need to be thoughtful about where we have Zapiens working. Check out this resource [Upgrade to PRO to see link] for a list of countries where we currently cannot have Zapiens permanently working.