Oct 19 2022

Developer Operations: Learning, growth and innovation at Meta

By Meta Careers
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The Developer Operations (DevOps) team ensures that the applications created by developers on Meta's technologies are trustworthy and of high quality. We work closely with the developer community as well as other teams within Meta, such as Partnerships, Policy, Legal, Marketing and Engineering. The DevOps team is growing fast in all regions, and we are always looking for talented people to join our team.
We recently spoke to Sonia R., a Systems Manager on the DevOps team, to learn more about the work she does, and how her team is empowering people to build community and bring the world closer together. Sonia joined the company in 2017 and since then, has evolved from being an individual contributor to a people manager. She credits a love for learning and having a willingness to take on new opportunities for her growth, and says having a strong community of mentors and trusted advisors have empowered her along the way.

Tell us more about your background and your role at Meta

I'm from India and moved to Singapore to pursue a Masters in Information Systems degree. After graduation, I worked in different industries and roles spanning from engineering, project and program management to operations and now, people management. I love connecting with people and working on new projects. I get a great sense of joy when I can solve problems and make an impact on people's lives. One of the causes that I'm most passionate about is women empowerment, and I proudly co-lead the Career team for the Women@ employee resource group in Singapore. I also spend some of my weekends mentoring students at Aidha Singapore, a non-governmental organization that helps foreign domestic workers and lower-income women.
"Sonia posing with a group of women in front of a colorful Women@ sign during the annual women's leadership event."
Sonia celebrating APAC’s annual Women's Leadership Day in 2019.
I’ve been with Meta for just over four years, and I’ve had several opportunities to discover roles I find most meaningful. One of the great things about working at Meta is the sense of empowerment we have to chart our own career path. This is often done through a program called Internal Mobility, which helps team members find roles that align well with their strengths. I’m currently in my fourth role within the DevOps organization, leading the Systems team globally. We work with our Engineering teams and the rest of Operations to enable tooling solutions that help scale our business globally.
"Sonia and four team members gathered in front of a colorful, patterned wall with a silver “1” balloon."
Sonia celebrating a team member’s first work anniversary in the office in 2019.

What different roles have you held on the DevOps team?

I joined the team in 2017 as a developer operations review and support specialist — we supported developers who were integrating their apps on the Facebook app. At the time, I was the only person on the team in APAC. A year later, the team expanded because our business was growing so much and I saw the opportunity to scale the organization. I moved into a scaled operations role on the DevOps team where I was a performance manager responsible for maintaining and managing the performance portfolio of our entire scaled business. In 2019, I moved from being an individual contributor to a people manager position as a scaled operations manager with a focus on setting strategy and leading the same team globally. I found my fourth opportunity — leading a global team that enables tooling solutions to scale businesses, about five months ago. Each position helped me get to where I am today, a systems manager.
"Sonia and five members of her current team taking a virtual group photo."
Sonia and five members of her current team taking a virtual group photo.

What was it like navigating through all of the change?

For me, it has always been about learning and growing. Whenever someone would come to me with an opportunity or challenge, I was always interested in exploring to gain new experience and grow my career. Even when I didn’t have direct experience for the new role, I would seek out information to help me learn what the role was about. I did my own research, connected with others in a similar role and then made the position unique to me based on my vision of the role.

What types of problems does your team help solve?

We support the developer community by ensuring the Facebook app is safe and secure. The developer community is huge, so it’s important that we build processes and policies that provide both developers and people who use our products with a secure and high-quality experience. We also work to continuously improve the platform experience through things like automated detection, strategic review and data analysis. The work we do on the DevOps team empowers people around the world to build community and connect in meaningful ways.
"Sonia and four members of her team standing together indoors."
Sonia and four members of the DevOps team together in the office in 2018.

What advice would you give to someone who’s looking to join the DevOps team?

At Meta, the DevOps team is a bit different. At other companies, DevOps is usually the technical team that just focuses on automation and working with internal developers. Here it’s much bigger than that. We’re a global team, which means we support a number of products globally and need to think more broadly. From how we’re building tools at scale to different ways we can incorporate user feedback and ensure integrity on our platform, we’re constantly thinking about what’s next and sharing creative solutions to drive innovation and impact forward.
If you’re someone who’s looking to work on novel challenges through a trust and safety lens — like solving complex privacy issues — or to solve problems that have never been solved before, this is the team for you.

What’s the best part about working for Meta?

I love how Meta gives you the opportunity to completely own projects which you believe will have the most impact — to me this is very empowering. The company creates such an inclusive environment and people here are comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work. The company lets you focus on your strengths where career progression is less linear and more lateral. In all, we work hard and play hard, so it is an incredibly fun company to work at!

The Developer Operations team at Meta is growing globally. Check out our latest opportunities:

This post, originally published on November 11, 2021, was updated on October 19, 2022, to reflect our shift to Meta and new details about team members, roles and responsibilities.

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