How to hire a Devops Engineer

How to hire a devops engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step devops engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a devops engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new devops engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a Devops Engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your devops engineer job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a devops engineer for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine Employee vs Contractor Status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A devops engineer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, devops engineers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list presents devops engineer salaries for various positions.

   Type Of Devops Engineer	Description	Hourly Rate
   Devops Engineer	Software developers are the creative minds behind computer programs. Some develop the applications that allow people to do specific tasks on a computer or another device... Show More	$38-64
   Software Developer	A software developer is responsible for designing application systems to support the user and business' needs. Duties of a software developer include testing software codes, performing diagnostic programs and troubleshooting, interpreting system data and establishing efficient parameters, and ensuring the compatibility of the systems... Show More	$32-54
   Software Engineer-Consultant	A software engineer consultant develops and recommends strategies to optimize a company's software engineering operations. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis to find new opportunities, performing software evaluations and risk assessments, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing processes, and developing solutions against problem areas... Show More	$40-73

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common Skills:

   • Python
   • Docker
   • Java
   • Infrastructure
   • Jenkins
   • GIT
   • Linux
   • Ansible
   • Kubernetes
   • CI/CD
   • Azure
   • Configuration Management
   • Windows
   • Bash

   Check All Skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Develop ant scripts to manage VisualStudio project builds.
   • Perform daily builds for managing the system test and UAT environments.
   • Design IP plans, LAN connectivity and manage engineers during acceptance testing.
   • Manage and maintain corporate own domains and corresponding DNS zones and records.
   • Communicate these needs to the leads and maintain the integrity of the data in the TFS.
   • Manage the application, server configurations and automate the deployments of application to the IBM WebSphere application server.

   More Devops Engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the devops engineer job description is a good way to get more applicants. A devops engineer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a devops engineer in Nebraska may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level devops engineer. Additionally, a devops engineer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average devops engineer salary

   $104,019yearly

   $50.01 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level devops engineer salary

   $80,000 yearly salary

   Updated March 31, 2025

   Average devops engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
   1	California	$131,692	$63
   2	Washington	$114,438	$55
   3	New York	$109,527	$53
   4	Massachusetts	$103,984	$50
   5	New Jersey	$101,236	$49
   6	Utah	$100,113	$48
   7	District of Columbia	$99,576	$48
   8	Maryland	$99,242	$48
   9	Virginia	$98,361	$47
   10	Pennsylvania	$97,720	$47
   11	Arizona	$96,795	$47
   12	Minnesota	$94,226	$45
   13	Texas	$93,735	$45
   14	Colorado	$93,419	$45
   15	Illinois	$92,087	$44
   16	North Carolina	$91,166	$44
   17	Ohio	$90,938	$44
   18	Indiana	$87,929	$42
   19	Missouri	$87,776	$42
   20	Georgia	$87,344	$42

   Average devops engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
   1	The Citadel	$169,189	$81.34	2
   2	ByteDance	$158,150	$76.03
   3	Roku	$154,709	$74.38	8
   4	Dotdash	$151,990	$73.07
   5	Google	$151,196	$72.69	397
   6	TikTok	$150,962	$72.58
   7	Sprinklr	$150,553	$72.38	1
   8	Apple	$149,324	$71.79	829
   9	Chegg	$148,843	$71.56
   10	Upstart Network	$148,764	$71.52
   11	eBay	$148,477	$71.38	44
   12	Zocdoc	$147,273	$70.80	14
   13	Atlassian	$146,469	$70.42	29
   14	Evernote	$146,047	$70.21
   15	Rubicon Global	$145,913	$70.15
   16	DoorDash	$145,405	$69.91	128
   17	Safeway	$144,791	$69.61
   18	NerdWallet	$144,284	$69.37
   19	Flexion Therapeutics	$143,957	$69.21	2
   20	Pure Storage	$143,902	$69.18	7

4. Writing a Devops Engineer Job Description

   A devops engineer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a devops engineer job description:

   Devops Engineer job description example

   One Demand Data & Analytics (ODDA) is a Mars Wrigley program that harnesses the power of data and insights to solve some of the critical business-wide problems we face - unlocking quality growth and operational excellence.
   
   Through ODDA, we deliver connected insights across the entire demand ecosystem. We empower our Associates with the right data, tools and capabilities so they can take decisive action, maximizing value and making a meaningful impact on our consumers, our customers and our business.
   
   The Portfolio & Innovation Analytics vertical within ODDA seeks to equip Mars Associates with the capabilities needed to address portfolio health and innovation from a holistic and analytics-driven viewpoint.
   What will be your responsibilities? Builds software functionality and participates in delivery team, taking on development responsibilities for the entire tech stack Work closely with Tech Leads and developers of various teams to assess existing problems and to produce process improvement solutions Detect upcoming bottlenecks and production issues proactively and consult teams hands-on towards improved technical solutions Participate in planning delivery time, code quality, and process efficiency improvement projects Execute on plan by building coding standardizations and automating processes for the organization Perform daily tasks such as environmental health checks, disk space monitoring, and environmental status reports Maintain and grows knowledge of platform configuration management and troubleshooting Actively participate in deploying application artifacts to appropriate target environments using the supported technologies and infrastructure Survey developers and technical members of the organization to understand their main pain points in the coding and development process Collaborate with the rest of DevOps team to deliver consistent and holistic solution to the organization
   
   What are we looking for? Bachelor's degree in computer science, application programming, software development, information systems, database administration, or other related field 4 to 6 years' experience in devops role or equivalent Excellent coding and scripting skills (Bash, Perl) and experience with implementing high-scale cloud architectures using modern, cloud-based container platforms (PaaS/SaaS) Working knowledge of deployment automation solutions (i.e. Puppet, Chef, Ansible) Knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure) and cluster management tools like Kubernetes, Docker, configuration management and monitoring Experience with continuous integration and related tools such as Jenkins, Hudson, Maven, Ant, Git, Sonar, etc. Experienced with building, debugging, operating systems, databases and infrastructure at scale
   
   What can you expect from Mars?
   Work with over 130,000 like-minded and talented Associates, all guided by The Five Principles. Join a purpose driven company, where we're striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today. Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University. An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.
   #LI-LD1

   Copy This Example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right devops engineer for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your devops engineer job on Zippia to find and recruit devops engineer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit devops engineers, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a devops engineer applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new devops engineer

   Once you've decided on a perfect devops engineer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a devops engineer?