Hiring a DevOps Engineer? Here’s How to Hire a Great One

You’ve finally acknowledged that manual deployments are killing your team’s velocity.

Your developers are spending more time wrestling with infrastructure than building features. And every “quick fix” to your deployment process creates three new problems.

Without a skilled DevOps engineer, these infrastructure headaches compound quickly. Deployments take longer, downtime increases, and your development team burns out trying to manage both code and infrastructure. 

Eventually, technical debt piles up so high that scaling becomes nearly impossible, and you’re stuck choosing between stability and growth.

This guide will show you how to hire a DevOps engineer who can streamline your infrastructure, automate your deployments, and give your team the reliability they need to focus on what they do best. Whether you’re hiring locally, remotely within the US, or exploring international talent, the fundamentals of finding the right fit remain the same.

We’ll cover the skills that truly matter, realistic salary expectations, where to find qualified candidates, and the interview questions that reveal whether someone can actually solve your problems—not just talk about tools.

What Does a DevOps Engineer Do?

A DevOps engineer is responsible for streamlining the software development lifecycle by automating processes, managing infrastructure, and ensuring reliable deployments—they bridge the gap between development and operations teams to accelerate delivery while maintaining stability.

The competitive nature of DevOps hiring is undeniable—29% of IT teams have recently hired a DevOps engineer, making it the most recruited role in IT according to Spacelift’s 2025 industry analysis. This demand stems from organizations recognizing that DevOps practices can significantly accelerate software delivery while maintaining system reliability.

DevOps engineers wear many hats, but their core responsibilities typically include:

• Infrastructure management: They design, implement, and maintain cloud infrastructure using tools like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. This includes setting up servers, databases, networking, and security configurations that can scale with your business needs.
• CI/CD pipeline development: They build and maintain continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines that automatically test, build, and deploy code changes. This automation reduces manual errors and speeds up the development process significantly.
• Monitoring and incident response: They implement monitoring systems to track application performance, infrastructure health, and user experience metrics. When issues arise, they’re often the first line of defense in diagnosing and resolving problems.
• Security integration: Modern DevOps engineers incorporate security practices throughout the development lifecycle, implementing automated security scanning, access controls, and compliance monitoring.
• Collaboration and culture: Perhaps most importantly, they work to break down silos between development and operations teams, fostering a culture of shared responsibility and continuous improvement.

The specific focus can vary significantly based on your company’s needs. A startup might need someone who can wear multiple hats and set up infrastructure from scratch, while an enterprise might need someone specialized in optimizing existing complex systems.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a DevOps Engineer?

In the US, average salaries for DevOps engineers range from $82,000 to $223,000, while in Latin America, they range from $30,000 to $100,000.

Senior-level experts with deep Kubernetes, multi-cloud architecture, and advanced security automation skills often command salaries at the top of that range, especially in competitive markets or enterprise settings.

For many companies, though, hiring outside the US opens the door to the same level of expertise at a significantly lower cost.

Based on our experience sourcing for this role, here’s how the salaries break down by experience level.

Hiring in LatAm means a cost savings of up to 70% compared to US-based hires, and it reflects regional differences in cost of living, not talent or capability.

This kind of salary flexibility allows many companies to bring on senior-level DevOps talent for the same budget they’d spend on a junior hire in the US.

While Latin America is often the most attractive region for US companies due to time zone alignment and cultural familiarity, similar cost savings are available in other regions like Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

We’ve used Latin America here as the benchmark because it’s where we place DevOps talent and can speak confidently to current salary ranges.

What Skills Should You Look for When Hiring a DevOps Engineer?

Great DevOps engineers need more than technical skills—they also need strong communication, ownership, and strategic thinking to successfully bridge development and operations teams.

Understanding what skills to evaluate depends heavily on the seniority level you’re targeting for your DevOps role. 

A junior DevOps engineer might excel at implementing CI/CD pipelines using established tools but need guidance on complex infrastructure architecture decisions, while a senior DevOps engineer should be able to design entire deployment strategies, mentor team members, and make architectural decisions that impact the entire organization.

The key is setting realistic expectations for each experience level rather than expecting junior hires to have senior-level expertise or asking senior candidates to focus on routine tasks that don’t utilize their strategic thinking abilities. This understanding helps you evaluate candidates fairly and ensures you’re asking the right questions during interviews.

When you’re unclear about what level of expertise to expect, you might end up either rejecting qualified candidates who could grow into the role or hiring someone whose skills don’t match your immediate needs.

Here’s how DevOps skills typically progress across experience levels:

Regardless of seniority level, all DevOps engineers should demonstrate certain fundamental capabilities. 

Here are the core skills to evaluate:

Technical skills (The must-haves)

• Cloud platform fundamentals: Look for hands-on experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). They should understand core services like compute, storage, networking, and security rather than just basic usage.
• CI/CD pipeline knowledge: Familiarity with continuous integration and deployment concepts, even if they haven’t mastered specific tools yet. Understanding the principles is more important than tool expertise.
• Containerization basics: Docker understanding is nearly essential in modern DevOps. They should grasp containerization concepts and basic container management.
• Automation mindset: Proficiency in at least one scripting language (Python, Bash, PowerShell) and the ability to identify opportunities for automation.
• Version control: Strong Git knowledge is non-negotiable. They should understand branching strategies, merge conflicts, and collaboration workflows.
• Basic monitoring: Understanding of why monitoring matters and experience with at least one monitoring tool or platform.

Advanced technical skills (For senior roles)

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Experience with tools like Terraform, CloudFormation, or Ansible. They should be able to version control infrastructure and treat it like application code.
• Kubernetes and orchestration: Deep knowledge of container orchestration for managing containerized applications at scale.
• Advanced CI/CD tools: Experience designing and managing complex pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI—especially when tailored to large, multi-stage deployments or infrastructure automation.
• Monitoring and observability: Experience with tools like Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, or Datadog for monitoring application and infrastructure performance.
• Container orchestration: Kubernetes has become the container orchestration standard—80% of organizations use Kubernetes according to CNCF’s 2024 survey. For most teams running production workloads at scale, assessing K8s experience is essential.
• Security Integration: Understanding of DevSecOps practices and ability to integrate security throughout the development lifecycle.

Soft skills

• Problem-solving under pressure: DevOps engineers often deal with production incidents where quick, methodical troubleshooting is essential.
• Communication and collaboration: They need to work effectively with developers, operations teams, and business stakeholders, translating technical concepts into business language.
• Continuous learning: The DevOps landscape evolves rapidly, so look for candidates who demonstrate curiosity and a track record of learning new technologies.
• Ownership mentality: The best DevOps engineers take responsibility for the entire software delivery process, not just their individual tasks.
• Security awareness: Understanding security best practices and how to integrate security into the development pipeline is increasingly important.

Nice-to-have skills (The differentiators)

• Experience with your specific tech stack: If you use specific tools or platforms, candidates with direct experience can hit the ground running faster, though good DevOps engineers can typically adapt to new tools quickly.
• Security specialization: Additional security certifications or experience with security-focused DevOps practices (DevSecOps) can be valuable for companies in regulated industries.
• Cost optimization experience: Understanding of cloud cost management and optimization strategies, especially valuable for companies looking to control infrastructure spending.
• Startup or scale-up experience: Experience building infrastructure from scratch or scaling systems rapidly, particularly valuable for growing companies that need to evolve their infrastructure quickly.

Where Can You Find and Hire Great DevOps Engineers?

You can find strong DevOps engineers through job boards, referrals, and recruiting partners—but your location and sourcing strategy will determine quality and cost.

The talent shortage is stark: 37% of IT leaders cite DevOps and DevSecOps expertise as their organization’s most significant technical skills gap, according to the DevOps Institute’s comprehensive industry research.

This makes strategic sourcing approaches even more critical for successful hiring outcomes.

Deciding between local, national, or global talent

Each approach offers distinct advantages depending on your needs, timeline, and budget:

• Local/in-office hiring provides face-to-face collaboration opportunities and simpler administrative processes, but typically comes with higher costs and a smaller talent pool.
• Remote US-based hiring expands your options significantly while maintaining familiar business practices and similar time zones, though you’ll still pay US-level compensation.
• International hiring opens access to a much larger talent pool with significant cost advantages and diverse perspectives. Latin America offers an excellent balance—strong technical skills, favorable time zone alignment with the US, cultural compatibility, and cost efficiency.
  Other regions like Eastern Europe and South/Southeast Asia also provide quality talent with different advantages.

Choosing the right sourcing channel

Here’s a comparison of the most effective approaches for finding DevOps talent:

Each approach has distinct advantages depending on your specific needs, timeline, and budget. Combining multiple channels can yield good results—perhaps starting with professional networks, posting on specialized job boards, and considering recruitment assistance if those methods don’t produce suitable candidates.

The key is matching your sourcing strategy to your situation: if you have strong internal networks and recruiting capabilities, direct hiring often works well. If you’re scaling quickly, hiring internationally, or need specialized expertise outside your usual network, additional support becomes valuable.

Why working with a recruiting partner makes a difference when hiring a DevOps engineer

Working with a recruitment partner becomes particularly valuable when hiring DevOps engineers internationally, where navigating unfamiliar markets, compliance requirements, and technical vetting can turn a straightforward hire into a months-long ordeal.

You can absolutely find a skilled DevOps engineer on your own—many companies do successfully. If you have internal recruiting resources, clear evaluation criteria, and time to manage the process, a DIY approach can work well.

However, if you want to hire offshore and unlock incredible talent and cost savings, you need to know where to look, how to vet candidates across borders, and how to navigate the logistics.

Working with a recruitment or staffing partner that specializes in international hiring can help you bypass the learning curve that comes with building remote teams abroad.

Here’s are the benefits of working with a recruiting agency to hire for DevOps roles outside the US:

• They know the local talent landscape: If you don’t know which companies are respected, which universities produce strong grads, or what salary expectations look like in a given country, it’s easy to misjudge a candidate’s potential. A partner with on-the-ground experience fills in those knowledge gaps fast.
• They’ve already built the network: Instead of starting from scratch, you get access to a curated pool of pre-vetted professionals who have already been screened for technical skills, communication, and alignment with US business norms.
• They help you avoid compliance headaches: From contracts and payroll to local labor laws, international hiring can quickly get complicated. The right partner helps you sidestep risks and ensures you’re set up correctly from day one.
• They move fast—without sacrificing quality: Offshore hiring often feels slower for companies doing it for the first time. A specialized partner knows how to run an efficient process that respects your timeline and still delivers strong candidates.
• They understand what top offshore talent actually wants: Competitive offers aren’t just about salary—they’re about working hours, benefits, growth paths, and cultural fit. A good recruiting partner helps you craft offers that land.

If you’re serious about building a high-performing infrastructure team beyond the US, the right recruiting partner doesn’t just help you find talent—they make sure you hire the right people, the right way.

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How to Hire the Best DevOps Engineers: Best Practices

Hiring a DevOps engineer is straightforward. Hiring one who can design reliable systems, collaborate effectively across teams, and adapt to your specific infrastructure needs? That requires a more strategic approach.

Here’s what experienced hiring managers do when building DevOps teams that actually work:

Stage 1: Define your needs before sourcing

Define your infrastructure priorities, not just your tool preferences

Too many companies create job descriptions that read like a DevOps tool catalog—AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Jenkins, and 15 other technologies marked as “required.”

But great DevOps engineers understand that tools are means to an end. Focus on the infrastructure challenges you need solved: faster deployments, better monitoring, improved security, or cost optimization.

According to one of our recruiters, 

Be clear on which tools are a non-negotiable must, and which can be considered a nice-to-have. Take into account that proficiency with one cloud provider could be translated to another

This approach attracts candidates who can think strategically about your infrastructure needs rather than just those who happen to have used your exact tool stack.

Craft job descriptions that attract serious candidates

Your job description should demonstrate that you understand the DevOps world. Be specific about your tech stack, the types of problems they’ll solve, and how their work will impact the business.

Avoid vague terms like “DevOps ninja” or “infrastructure rockstar.” Great DevOps engineers want to know what systems they’ll be working with and what success looks like.

Stage 2: Screening and evaluation

Test how they think, not just what they know

A good resume shows tool experience. But good evaluation reveals problem-solving approach and practical knowledge.

Give candidates a scenario-based assessment: “Our deployment pipeline is failing intermittently. Walk me through how you’d investigate and resolve this.” Look for systematic thinking, not memorized answers.

According to our recruiters, it’s important to ask candidates to walk through their experience setting up CI/CD pipelines, what tools they’ve used, and how they ensured reliability and scalability. These questions provide a good overview of the tools they’re currently using and are most proficient with.

Prioritize collaboration skills alongside technical abilities

DevOps is fundamentally about breaking down silos. Technical skills matter, but if someone can’t work effectively with development teams or communicate clearly during incidents, they’ll struggle in the role.

Ask about times they’ve had to convince developers to change processes or how they’ve handled disagreements about technical approaches. Look for evidence of influence without authority.

Stage 3: Making the offer and closing the deal

Move quickly for strong candidates

The DevOps market is competitive. When you find someone who fits your technical requirements and demonstrates strong collaboration skills, don’t delay.

Have your interview process streamlined and be prepared to make decisions quickly. The best DevOps engineers often have multiple opportunities.

Focus on growth opportunities, not just compensation

Many DevOps engineers are motivated by learning opportunities and the chance to work with cutting-edge technologies. Highlight interesting technical challenges, learning budgets, conference attendance, or the chance to influence architectural decisions.

Remote work flexibility has become particularly important for candidates in this role, so be clear about your policies and expectations.

Interview Questions for Hiring DevOps Engineers 

To find the best DevOps engineer, you need to go beyond resumes—these interview questions uncover how candidates think, solve problems, and collaborate under pressure.

“Can you walk me through your experience in setting up and maintaining CI/CD pipelines? What tools have you used, and how did you ensure the pipeline was reliable and scalable?”

This question reveals their hands-on experience with one of the most critical DevOps responsibilities. Listen for specific details about tools they’ve used, challenges they’ve overcome, and how they’ve improved pipeline performance over time.

Strong answers will include concrete examples of reliability improvements they’ve implemented, such as automated testing strategies, rollback procedures, or monitoring solutions. They should be able to explain both technical decisions and their business impact.

“How do you manage and secure both cloud-based and on-premise infrastructures? What tools and strategies do you implement?”

This question tests their understanding of hybrid infrastructure environments and security best practices. Look for candidates who can discuss specific security measures, compliance requirements, and how they balance security with operational efficiency.

Good candidates will mention infrastructure as code practices, access management strategies, monitoring and logging approaches, and how they stay current with security best practices.

“Describe a time when a critical system went down. How did you handle the incident, and what did you learn from it?”

This question reveals their problem-solving abilities under pressure and their approach to incident management. You’re looking for evidence of systematic thinking, clear communication during crises, and a learning mindset.

Strong answers will show they can quickly diagnose issues, communicate effectively with stakeholders during outages, implement temporary fixes while working on permanent solutions, and conduct thorough post-mortems to prevent future incidents.

“What automation tools have you used for software deployment and monitoring, and how did you decide which tools to implement?”

This question assesses both their technical knowledge and strategic thinking about tool selection. Great DevOps engineers don’t just use tools—they evaluate and choose the right tools for specific environments and requirements.

Listen for candidates who can explain the trade-offs between different tools, how they’ve adapted tools to specific needs, and their experience with implementing new tools in existing environments.

“Which cloud platform do you feel most comfortable with and why? How would you approach migrating to a different platform if needed?”

This question tests both their technical depth and adaptability. While specialization is valuable, the best DevOps engineers understand core principles that transfer between platforms.

Strong candidates will demonstrate deep knowledge of their preferred platform while showing they understand that many concepts and practices are transferable. They should be able to discuss migration strategies and learning approaches for new platforms.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring DevOps Engineers

Even with a solid process, it’s easy to make costly missteps when hiring DevOps talent. Here are the most common mistakes that lead to poor hires or extended searches:

1. Treating DevOps as just “server administration”

Many companies still view DevOps engineers as glorified system administrators who can also write scripts. This leads to hiring people who can manage servers but lack the automation mindset and development collaboration skills that make DevOps effective.

Look for candidates who understand the cultural and process changes that DevOps represents, not just the technical tools. They should be able to discuss how they’ve improved developer velocity, reduced deployment friction, and fostered collaboration between teams.

2. Expecting immediate productivity without proper onboarding

DevOps engineers need deep context about your systems, processes, and business requirements before they can make meaningful improvements. Companies often expect new hires to start optimizing infrastructure on day one without providing adequate documentation or system overview.

Plan for a 60–90 day ramp-up period where new hires learn your systems while contributing to smaller, well-defined projects. Set realistic expectations for when they’ll be ready to tackle complex infrastructure changes.

3. Focusing only on years of experience instead of quality of experience

Many companies get stuck on specific years of experience requirements without considering the depth and relevance of that experience.

A candidate with 3 years of intensive DevOps experience at a fast-growing startup might be more valuable than someone with 6 years of traditional IT operations experience.

Evaluate the complexity of problems they’ve solved, the scale of systems they’ve managed, and the impact of their work rather than just counting years.

4. Not testing practical skills during the interview process

Resumes and conversations can be misleading. The best way to evaluate a DevOps engineer’s abilities is through practical exercises that mirror real work scenarios.

Consider giving candidates a simple infrastructure challenge to work through during the interview, such as designing a deployment strategy for a hypothetical application or troubleshooting a common infrastructure issue.

This reveals their problem-solving approach and communication style.

Final Thoughts

You know you need a DevOps engineer. The question now is whether you can find the right one without getting stuck in a lengthy hiring process or settling for someone who doesn’t quite fit.

The approach in this guide—focusing on problem-solving ability over tool lists, testing practical skills instead of theoretical knowledge, and considering global talent pools—can help you move faster while making better hiring decisions.

Most importantly: don’t overthink it. If you find someone who can clearly explain how they’ve solved problems similar to yours, communicates well, and demonstrates ownership mindset, you’ve likely found your person. The specific tools they’ve used matter less than how they think about infrastructure challenges.

Need to move faster? At Near, we can have a top LatAm-based DevOps engineer on your team within 21 days. We handle the sourcing, screening, and technical evaluation so you can focus on the final decision.

Our candidates work during your hours, integrate seamlessly with your team, and deliver exceptional results at rates 30–70% lower than US-based engineers. They bring the same technical expertise and professional standards you’d expect from top US talent.

Book a free consultation call today. You can interview candidates for free and only pay once you make a hire. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring DevOps Engineers

How long does it typically take to hire a DevOps engineer?

Traditional hiring processes often take 2–6 months due to the specialized nature of the role and limited candidate pool. 

However, working with a specialized recruitment partner, like Near, who maintain pre-vetted talent pools can reduce this to 2–3 weeks. The key is starting your search before you desperately need someone, as rushed hiring often leads to poor matches.

What are the biggest red flags when interviewing DevOps candidates?

Watch for candidates who claim expertise in an unrealistic number of tools without demonstrating deep knowledge in any. 

As our recruiter warns, “If they mention proficiency with a huge stack of tools in a short amount of time, that might be a red flag. It’s rare for someone to be equally proficient across a wide range of tools.”

Also be cautious of candidates who can’t explain past challenges they’ve faced or how they’ve handled system failures—these experiences are crucial for DevOps success.

Can I outsource DevOps instead of hiring in-house?

Absolutely—and it’s increasingly popular. Outsourced DevOps teams often provide:

• Specialized experience across many environments
• Flexible, on-demand support
• Round-the-clock coverage
• Faster setup and less overhead

For many startups or companies without deep infrastructure expertise in-house, outsourcing DevOps can be a faster, more cost-effective way to build reliable pipelines and environments.

That said, hiring in-house can be a better choice if:

• You need deep, ongoing integration with your engineering and product teams
• You’re building custom infrastructure that requires long-term consistency and ownership
• You want someone embedded in your culture who can contribute to cross-functional decisions
• You’re scaling rapidly and need a full-time team to maintain and evolve complex systems

If you choose to outsource, define the scope clearly, vet vendors for security and long-term stability, and consider starting with a pilot project. For many companies, the right move is starting out with an outsourced solution and gradually building toward an in-house one as needs evolve.