Systems Engineer (Junior/ Intermediate) - DNS team

Hybrid: From home and our office at Amsterdam Central Station

Salary: Between 41.000 to 56.000 EUR plus excellent secondary benefits (see below)

Full-time: 37.5 hours per week (working part-time is also possible)

IMPORTANT: You should be living in the Netherlands

We are a highly collaborative, international System Engineering team looking for a new colleague to join our team. You will be part of a unique, not-for-profit organisation that has a significant impact on the core of the Internet. If you are passionate about engineering, Infrastructure as Code and operating a critical piece of Internet infrastructure, then this is the job for you.

We value collaboration and technical expertise, and we use a wide variety of technologies,

including Linux (Redhat-based), Git, VictoriaMetrics (Prometheus), DNS (BIND, Knot, NSD) Routing (Juniper, Arista, BIRD, FRR) and Configuration management (SaltStack, Ansible).

🧠 What You Will Be Doing:  

You will work in our DNS team and your job will include tasks like:

• Maintaining Linux-based systems (Redhat-based) (with Ansible and SaltStack)

• Managing our global DNS deployments using BGP anycast

• Researching new technologies to improve our infrastructure and services (XDP, encrypted DNS, etc.)

• After six months in the department, you will be expected to participate in our 24/7 standby rotation - shifts are one week every 5 weeks (compensated on top of your salary)

• You might need to travel up to two times a year to attend and present at ISP networking conferences such as RIPE Meetings and Network Operator Group (NOG) meetings.

👀 What We're Looking For:

• Experience building, maintaining and troubleshooting Linux servers and services.

• Experience with Infrastructure As Code (Ansible, SaltStack or similar.)

• Experience with Bash and Python scripting

• Understanding of core Internet protocols (DNSSEC, BGP, etc.)

Additionally:

• Higher professional or academic level of working and thinking

• Communication: Strong written and spoken English

• Embracing change: Eagerness to keep learning and a willingness to adapt

• Team player: Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills

📢What You Can Expect From Us:

• A modern, flexible and informal work environment with an emphasis on a healthy work/life balance

• Flexible work-from-home policy, so you can arrange your weekly office and 'working from home' days in a way that works for you. Working from abroad for a number of days per year is also possible

• An annual salary between 41.000 to 56.000 EUR (before tax). This includes the standard 8% annual “holiday pay”.

• Excellent secondary benefits: 5% end-of-year allowance, annual budgets for health, transportation and technology purposes, non-contributory pension scheme, paid parental leave, top-tier health insurance coverage for you and your family and 33 vacation days (full-time 37.5 hours)

• A generous training budget each year that can be used for professional development

• An in-house free barista providing healthy varied lunches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and nice breakfasts on Thursdays, plus monthly office social events.

• Organisation-wide internal training program designed to develop critical soft skills - like feedback, resilience, and leadership -giving you the tools to excel in your career and beyond.

• Casual team events such as team outings, annual Christmas party and summer BBQ. 

👥 The DNS team

We are an international team of three highly motivated engineers who love our craft. We are responsible for building and maintaining DNS services for one of the global Root name servers, several top-level domains and reverse delegations for IP address space.

We work in an agile environment and rely on good communication and collaboration within our team and organisation.

🛜About The RIPE NCC

The RIPE NCC is a not-for-profit organisation founded on the belief that the Internet should be governed openly, transparently and together with the wider Internet community. We are one of the oldest Internet organisations in Europe and are proud of our legacy.

Our strength is our staff. We bring together more than 180+ people from over 44 countries in our modern, vibrant office in the east wing of Amsterdam Central Station. Currently, we have a hybrid way of working and our staff can work from their homes and the office. Our official working language is English, but our colleagues speak more than 30 languages.

Our backgrounds are diverse, but our goal is the same: we work for the good of the Internet. Will you join us?

📋How To Apply

If interested, please click the ‘Apply’ button and submit your CV and cover letter in English. Adding a cover letter is highly important and appreciated, our team read them carefully. 

Not ready to apply yet? Then send me an email to openings@ripe.net and we can have an informal chat.

At the RIPE NCC, we are proud to serve our members and the RIPE community in 76 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. We celebrate unique perspectives and talents from different backgrounds and cultures. So if you're passionate about what you do and want to help shape the future of the Internet, apply now - we'd love to hear your story. 

Please note that due to the nature of our activities, we will require successful candidates to follow a pre-employment screening (conducted by our partner Validata). This involves carrying out a background check and sharing education certificates.