Infrastructure Engineer
Designing, automating, and managing cloud and on-premise infrastructure
Infrastructure Engineer is a role in the DevOps & SRE family. It has 60 skills across 5 levels (from Junior to Principal). 136 skills are mandatory. Key domains: Programming Fundamentals, Backend Development, Database Management.
Skill Matrix
60 skills × 5 levels. Click on a cell for details.
AI-Assisted Development
4 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | A | W | A | E | E |
| Cursor IDE | A | W | A | E | E |
| ChatGPT / Claude | A | W | A | E | E |
| Prompt Engineering for Code | A | W | A | E | E |
API & Integration
3 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| REST API Design | A | W | A | E | E |
| GraphQL Design | A | W | A | E | E |
| API Documentation | A | W | A | E | E |
Architecture & System Design
3 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System Design Fundamentals | A | W | A | E | E |
| Capacity Planning | A | W | A | E | E |
| Disaster Recovery Design | A | W | A | E | E |
Backend Development
3 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Python Web Frameworks | A | W | A | E | E |
| Apache Kafka | A | W | A | E | E |
| Redis | A | W | A | E | E |
Cloud & Infrastructure
17 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Docker | A | W | A | E | E |
| Container Security Scanning | A | W | A | E | E |
| Kubernetes Core | A | W | A | E | E |
| Kubernetes Advanced | A | W | A | E | E |
| Helm | A | W | A | E | E |
| Terraform | A | W | A | E | E |
| Pulumi | A | W | A | E | E |
| Ansible | A | W | A | E | E |
| Crossplane | A | W | A | E | E |
| Serverless Functions | A | W | A | E | E |
| AWS | A | W | A | E | E |
| Istio Service Mesh | A | W | A | E | E |
| Envoy Proxy | A | W | A | E | E |
| Network Fundamentals | A | W | A | E | E |
| Load Balancing | A | W | A | E | E |
| CDN & Edge Computing | A | W | A | E | E |
| VPN & Network Isolation | A | W | A | E | E |
Database Management
4 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | A | W | A | E | E |
| Database Indexing | A | W | A | E | E |
| Replication & High Availability | A | W | A | E | E |
| Backup & Disaster Recovery | A | W | A | E | E |
DevOps & CI/CD
2 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Actions / GitLab CI | A | W | A | E | E |
| GitOps Practices | A | W | A | E | E |
Observability & Monitoring
4 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structured Logging | A | W | A | E | E |
| Prometheus & Grafana | A | W | A | E | E |
| OpenTelemetry | A | W | A | E | E |
| SLI / SLO / SLA | A | W | A | E | E |
Programming Fundamentals
8 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algorithms & Complexity | A | W | A | E | E |
| Data Structures | A | W | A | E | E |
| OOP & SOLID Principles | A | W | A | E | E |
| Design Patterns | A | W | A | E | E |
| Multithreading | A | W | A | E | E |
| Async Programming | A | W | A | E | E |
| Code Quality & Refactoring | A | W | A | E | E |
| Type Safety & Type Systems | A | W | A | E | E |
Security
6 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OWASP & Application Security | A | W | A | E | E |
| Secure Coding Practices | A | W | A | E | E |
| Secrets Management | A | W | A | E | E |
| Network Security | A | W | A | E | E |
| Cloud Security | A | W | A | E | E |
| Kubernetes Security | A | W | A | E | E |
Testing & QA
3 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit Testing | A | W | A | E | E |
| Integration Testing | A | W | A | E | E |
| Chaos Engineering | A | W | A | E | E |
Version Control & Collaboration
3 skills| Skills | Jun | Mid | Sen | Lead | Princ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Git Advanced | A | W | A | E | E |
| Code Review | A | W | A | E | E |
| Documentation as Code | A | W | A | E | E |
FAQ
What skills are needed for the Infrastructure Engineer role?
The Infrastructure Engineer role requires 60 skills, of which 136 are mandatory. Skills are distributed across 5 levels: from Junior to Principal. See full matrix.
How to advance to the next level in the Infrastructure Engineer role?
Use the Grade Calculator to assess your current level and get personalized recommendations. The system will show which skills need to be developed for the next level.
How does the community define requirements for the Infrastructure Engineer role?
Role requirements are shaped by the community through a proposal system. Any member can suggest changes that go through voting and expert review.