Software Engineer, Site Reliability - Merpay/Mercoin

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Responsibilities

*Your assignment to either Merpay or Mercoin will be decided following the interview process.

• On April 28, 2021, Mercari Group established Mercoin, Inc. Mercoin is a new company developing services related to cryptoassets and blockchain technologies. By taking on the cryptoasset business, we will make it even easier for users to utilize financial services within the Mercari marketplace app, such as by allowing users to receive payment for Mercari sales in bitcoin and providing a single wallet function that incorporates not only Merpay’s payment and remittance services, but credit, cryptoassets, and asset management features as well.
• Mercari has also started work on blockchain technologies, which present new opportunities for individuals to exchange value. The company wants to redefine what it means to buy and sell, enabling anyone and everyone to easily exchange value in all its forms—not only as belongings and money, but services and digital content like non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
• In these exciting times, Merpay and Mercoin are looking for Software Engineers (Site Reliability). Details on the position are as follows.
• Operate apps and middleware, improve stability and performance
• Build and operate databases and networks in the cloud
• Establish and support the platform for microservices constructed on Kubernetes
• Make tools to help foster the culture and understanding of Site Reliability Engineering, increase awareness of SRE culture among the development teams
• Develop and operate various tools for automating operations
• Build and operate monitoring environments for incident detection and capacity planning
• Design and operate approaches to microservices platform security and compliance
• As a member of the development teams, conduct monitoring and make improvements to increase stability and reliability of the product

Unique and Bold Challenges

• Merpay and Mercoin are financial services, so reliability is extremely important. It’s the SRE Team’s job to create that reliability. For example, we work on developing tools to visualize reliability and will sometimes work as a part of the development teams to run improvement cycles. By collaborating with the development teams, we learn about the different domains at Merpay and Mercoin in order to provide technical support.
• There aren’t many companies natively operating a financial services cloud system and using a microservices architecture. Merpay’s SRE Team always thinks about automation and develops its own tools in working to improve operations. In incorporating new tech and different perspectives into your work on operational infrastructure, you will take on a wide range of technical challenges.
• Working as part of the SRE Team requires communication with a wide range of other teams, not only within the company, but in negotiation with cloud service vendors, for example. We have many members from countries outside of Japan and hold some meetings in English. This presents an opportunity to think about the reliability of Merpay and Mercoin by exploring services and infrastructure from various perspectives.
• Every year sees new challenges arise, not only with work to improve operation of currently released services, but in designing and constructing new businesses for which development is yet to begin.

Qualifications

Required Experience

• Understanding of the culture and mindset of Site Reliability Engineering
• Experience using public (AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.) or private cloud environments
• Experience operating automated environments running on tools based on the concepts of CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code
• The ability to identify system issues (root of drops in performance, SPoF, etc.) and to work together with team members (including those from the development teams) to find solutions

Preferred Experience

• Shared understanding and belief in our company’s mission and values
• Experience designing and operating networks in the cloud
• Experiencing using CDNs such as Fastly, Cloudflare, and CloudFront
• Experience with database performance tuning
• Experience developing and operating products and tools using programming languages such as Go, Java, Scala, or Python
• Deep knowledge and operational experience related to security, including OS, networks, and middleware
• Deep knowledge of and operational experience with Kubernetes
• Experience using tools based on the concept of chaos engineering, such as Gremlin, Chaos Mesh, and AWS Fault Injection Simulator
• Experience building and operating service meshes using Istio, Envoy, Linkerd, Consul, etc.
• Deep knowledge of the financial and cryptocurrency exchange domain, or experience building and operating infrastructure
• Business-level ability in their second language (referring to English for native Japanese speakers, and Japanese for native English speakers)

Screening Criteria

• Fit with Mercari group’s values and understanding of the our product
• Communication skills to negotiate with development teams as an SRE member
• Mindset of taking ownership and working proactively to solve problems
• Mindset of taking the initiative to learn and apply new technology and perspectives
• *Check here for more details.

Technical Assessment Criteria

• Ability to think logically to solve the problems presented in the test
• Correct error handling and testing
• Sufficient readability to allow for collaboration with many different people
• README and other documentation is easy to understand for the user

Language Requirements

• English or Japanese: Independent (CEFR-B2)
  * For details about CEFR, see here 

About the Company

Circulate all forms of value to unleash the potential in all people

"What can I do to help society thrive with the finite resources we have?" The Mercari marketplace app was born in 2013 out of this thought by our founder Shintaro Yamada as he traveled the world. We believe that by circulating all forms of value, not just physical things and money, we can create opportunities for anyone to realize their dreams and contribute to society and the people around them. Mercari aims to use technology to connect people all over the world and create a world where anyone can unleash their potential. For more information about Mercari Group’s mission, see Mercari's Culture Doc.

Equal Opportunity Hiring

Here at Mercari, we work to realize a world in which no one’s potential is limited by their background and everyone has the opportunity to freely create value. We also firmly believe that a mindset of Inclusion & Diversity is essential for us to achieve our mission.This, of course, extends to our hiring practices as well.

Mercari is committed to eliminating discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, physical disability, and other such factors so that anyone who shares our mission and values can join us, regardless of their background. For more details, please read our I&D Statement.

Working Conditions

Employment Status

Full-time

• Probationary period: First 3 months after joining the company. (During this period your contract conditions will be the same as that of a permanent employee.)

Office

Roppongi

• Smoking is prohibited within our offices
• Mercari has introduced a work style policy called “Your Choice.” Each member is free to choose whether they want to work in the office or work fully remote. *Exceptions made for certain kinds of work.

Work Hours

• Full flextime (no “core time” or “flex time”)
  *Does not apply to all positions

Holidays

• Two days off per week (as well as national holidays, New Year's break, etc.)
• Paid leave, congratulatory and bereavement leave, relax days, sick leave

Salary

• Annual salary paid in 12 monthly installments (including fixed overtime allowance)
• Based on skills, experience, and abilities
• Reviewed twice a year

Benefits

• Complete health and social insurance
• Incentive program
• Support systems, including those that benefit the employee’s family members
  *See this page for details.

Support

• Relocation support
• Language learning support
• Translation/interpretation support
  *See this page for details.