What Principal SRE Jobs Ask For
Across 139 open Principal SRE postings that list skills, the ones mentioned most often are cloud, automation, observability.
Updated September 19, 2026
150 open Principal SRE postings. The percentages below are measured over the 139 of them that list skills at all.
| Skill | Mentioned in |
|---|---|
| cloud | 93% |
| automation | 78% |
| observability | 71% |
| ci-cd | 65% |
| aws | 61% |
| kubernetes | 58% |
| python | 55% |
| ai | 52% |
| infrastructure-as-code | 50% |
| terraform | 50% |
| networking | 48% |
| linux | 45% |
| devops | 40% |
| distributed-systems | 40% |
| gcp | 38% |
| azure | 35% |
| grafana | 35% |
| bash | 29% |
| docker | 29% |
| ansible | 29% |
| cloud-native | 29% |
| prometheus | 29% |
| oracle | 28% |
| java | 24% |
| dns | 22% |
| github | 19% |
| cybersecurity | 18% |
| datadog | 18% |
| api | 17% |
| sql | 17% |
| agile | 16% |
| splunk | 15% |
| eks | 14% |
| gitlab | 14% |
| saas | 14% |
| agentic-ai | 14% |
| gitops | 14% |
| unix | 14% |
| analytics | 13% |
| elk | 13% |
"Mentioned in" counts postings that name the skill anywhere — including as a nice-to-have — so treat it as the ceiling, not the bar.
Browse 150 open Principal SRE jobs →
Across all SRE levels
Most SRE postings never state a level. This wider list covers them too.
- cloud 3,868
- automation 3,439
- python 3,082
- observability 3,009
- kubernetes 3,008
- ci-cd 2,623
- aws 2,596
- terraform 2,483
- infrastructure-as-code 2,305
- ai 2,291
- devops 2,144
- linux 2,097