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Principal Reliability Engineer Jobs in California

Principal III, SRE

Torrance, CA · Hybrid

$59.75 - $79.50/hr

THE ROLE The SRE Principal Engineer III will work a hybrid schedule, with a requirement to be onsite at our Torrance, CA facility at least two days per week or more if needed, while also having the ...

Principal III, SRE

Torrance, CA · Hybrid

$59.75 - $79.50/hr

Overview THE ROLE The SRE Principal Engineer III will work a hybrid schedule, with a requirement to be onsite at our Torrance, CA facility at least two days per week or more if needed, while also ...

Principal Site Reliability Engineer

Palo Alto, CA · On-site

$67 - $89/hr

About the Role: We're looking for a Principal Site Reliability Engineer to join our Platform Engineering team - someone equally at home writing production Go as designing and operating cloud ...

Principal Site Reliability Engineer

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

$66.50 - $88.25/hr

As a Principal Site Reliability Engineer at FortiCNAPP, you will lead the design, implementation, and optimization of our highly scalable, resilient, and efficient platform infrastructure. You will ...

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Showing results 1-20

Principal Reliability Engineer information

See California salary details

$73K

$145.3K

$209.7K

How much do principal reliability engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 16, 2026, the average yearly pay for principal reliability engineer in California is $145,292.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $116,900.00 and $170,700.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Principal Reliability Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Principal Reliability Engineer, you need deep expertise in reliability engineering principles, statistical analysis, and a degree in engineering or a related field. Familiarity with reliability modeling software (such as ReliaSoft), FMEA/FMECA tools, root cause analysis methodologies, and relevant industry certifications like CRE (Certified Reliability Engineer) is typically required. Strong problem-solving, leadership, and communication skills help drive cross-functional initiatives and mentor junior engineers. These skills ensure the development and maintenance of high-quality, dependable systems, reducing downtime and increasing operational efficiency.

How does a Principal Reliability Engineer typically contribute to cross-functional teams, and what collaboration challenges might arise?

As a Principal Reliability Engineer, you play a pivotal role in partnering with design, operations, and maintenance teams to ensure system reliability from concept through deployment. You’ll often lead failure analysis reviews, set reliability goals, and guide best practices across departments. Challenges can include aligning different teams’ priorities, communicating complex technical concepts to non-engineers, and driving consensus on design or process changes. Success in this role depends on strong communication skills and the ability to foster a collaborative, solutions-focused environment.

What is the difference between Principal Reliability Engineer vs Reliability Engineer?

AspectPrincipal Reliability EngineerReliability Engineer
CredentialsTypically requires a Bachelor's or Master's in Engineering, certifications like CRE or Six SigmaSimilar educational background, often with certifications in reliability or quality
Work EnvironmentLeads reliability strategies across projects, often in senior or lead rolesFocuses on analyzing data, testing, and improving product reliability
Industry UsageUsed in manufacturing, aerospace, energy, and tech industriesCommonly found in similar industries, supporting reliability initiatives
Search & ComparisonOften compared for seniority and scope of responsibilityCompared for technical expertise and hands-on reliability work

The Principal Reliability Engineer typically oversees reliability strategies and leads teams, while the Reliability Engineer focuses on technical analysis and implementation. Both roles require similar credentials and are vital in industries prioritizing product and system dependability.

What is a Principal Reliability Engineer?

A Principal Reliability Engineer is a senior-level professional responsible for ensuring that systems, products, or processes are dependable and function reliably over time. They use their expertise to identify potential points of failure, implement preventive maintenance strategies, and analyze data to improve system performance. Principal Reliability Engineers often lead teams, develop reliability policies, and work closely with other engineering disciplines to enhance product quality and reduce downtime. Their work is critical in industries such as manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, and technology. They typically possess extensive experience in reliability engineering and advanced problem-solving skills.
What job categories do people searching Principal Reliability Engineer jobs in California look for? The top searched job categories for Principal Reliability Engineer jobs in California are:
What cities in California are hiring for Principal Reliability Engineer jobs? Cities in California with the most Principal Reliability Engineer job openings:
Infographic showing various Principal Reliability Engineer job openings in California as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 82% Full Time, and 18% Contract. Highlights an 72% In-person, and 28% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $145,292 per year, or $69.9 per hour.

Principal III, SRE

Herbalife

Torrance, CA • Hybrid

$59.75 - $79.50/hr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 17 days ago


Job description

THE ROLE


The SRE Principal Engineer III will work a hybrid schedule, with a requirement to be onsite at our Torrance, CA facility at least two days per week or more if needed, while also having the flexibility to work remotely. This role is responsible for leading, designing, and implementing robust Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices to ensure high availability, scalability, and resilience of critical business systems and applications. The SRE Principal Engineer III will focus on improving system reliability through automation, monitoring, and performance tuning, working closely with development and operations teams to champion a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
The SRE team consists of:
    SRE Engineers
    Deployment Automation
    Incident Response and Postmortem Analysis
    Observability and Monitoring
This role will drive the adoption of best practices in multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud platforms, managing services from major cloud providers like Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, Oracle OCI, Google GCP, and Alibaba Cloud. The SRE Principal Engineer III will focus on automation, incident management, performance monitoring, and optimizing infrastructure to support scalable, reliable systems. The position will also be responsible for fostering collaboration between development, operations, and security teams to streamline system operations across the organization.
 

HOW YOU WOULD CONTRIBUTE:


    Lead the implementation and optimization of SRE practices, ensuring system reliability, performance, and scalability.
    Architect and maintain automation for infrastructure provisioning, deployment, and incident response.
    Establish and implement SLOs (Service Level Objectives) and SLIs (Service Level Indicators) for key services.
    Collaborate with development teams to design and deliver reliable software systems, ensuring that production environments are optimized for uptime and performance.
    Create and maintain monitoring, alerting, and observability solutions to provide real-time insights into system health and performance.
    Respond to production incidents, perform root cause analysis, and implement corrective measures to prevent recurrence.
    Continuously improve system performance, capacity planning, and reliability through infrastructure tuning and automation.
    Facilitate post-incident reviews, fostering a blameless culture that focuses on learning from incidents.
    Collaborate with security teams to ensure infrastructure meets compliance, security standards, and best practices.
    Champion a collaborative environment across development, operations, and security teams to enhance operational efficiency and knowledge sharing.
    Drive the adoption of automation tools and frameworks to minimize manual intervention and optimize systems.
 


Skills Required:
    Proven expertise in SRE practices, with a focus on automation, incident management, observability, and infrastructure scalability.
    Extensive knowledge of cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP, Alibaba) and hybrid-cloud environments, with a focus on reliability and performance optimization.
    Experience with automation tools and scripting languages, such as Python, Go, Terraform, or Ansible, for leading infrastructure and incident response.
    Strong understanding of containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and orchestration systems.
    Solid grasp of monitoring and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Dynatrace, Splunk) to ensure real-time system health monitoring.
    Expertise in capacity planning, performance tuning, and failure management techniques.
    Strong background in incident management, root cause analysis, and postmortem processes to improve system resilience.
    Deep understanding of security and compliance requirements, and the ability to ensure production environments meet industry standards.
    Experience with Agile and DevOps methodologies to ensure fast, reliable delivery of services.

Experience Required:
    10+ years of experience in IT, with a focus on SRE, DevOps, or infrastructure engineering roles.
    Extensive hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure management and automation tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or equivalent.
    Proficiency in scripting and automation languages like Python, Bash, Go, or Ruby for infrastructure automation.
    Proven experience in managing large-scale systems, ensuring reliability, high availability, and scalability.
    Expertise in container orchestration technologies, including Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Docker Swarm.
    Deep knowledge of monitoring and observability platforms (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Dynatrace), including experience building and maintaining alerting and dashboard systems.
    Strong understanding of version control systems and CI/CD practices to optimize code deployment as it relates to infrastructure.
    Demonstrated ability to optimize performance in multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud environments, ensuring uptime and performance at scale.
 

Education Required:
    Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or related field, or equivalent experience.
 

Certificates / Training Preferred:
    Relevant cloud certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, or Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect.
    SRE-related certifications like Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Google Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer.
 


Herbalife offers a variety of benefits to eligible employees in the U.S. (limited to the 50 States and the District of Columbia), which includes Group Health Programs, other Voluntary Benefit Programs, and Paid Time Off. Group Health Programs include Medical, Dental, Vision, Health Savings Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Basic Life/AD&D; Short-Term and Long-Term Disability, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Other Voluntary Benefit Programs include a 401(k) plan, Wellness Incentive Program, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), Supplemental Life/Critical Illness/Hospitalization/Accident Insurance, and Pet Insurance. Paid time off includes Company-observed U.S. Holidays, Floating Holidays, Vacation, Sick Time, a Volunteer Program, Paid Maternity and Paternity Leave, Bereavement Leave, Personal Leave and time off for voting.