How to hire a release engineer

How to hire a release engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step release engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a release engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new release engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a release engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a release engineer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a release engineer to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a release engineer that fits the bill.

   The following list breaks down different types of release engineers and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Release Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Release Engineer	Software developers are the creative minds behind computer programs. Some develop the applications that allow people to do specific tasks on a computer or another device... Show more	$35-62
   Software Engineer-Consultant	A software engineer consultant develops and recommends strategies to optimize a company's software engineering operations. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis to find new opportunities, performing software evaluations and risk assessments, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing processes, and developing solutions against problem areas... Show more	$40-73
   Software Development Engineer	A software development engineer is responsible for designing and developing software systems and applications based on clients' specifications and business needs. Software development engineers manage operating systems and analyze network codes to maintain the compatibility of the software applications and control systems... Show more	$38-70

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • GIT
   • Python
   • Jenkins
   • Continuous Integration
   • Java
   • Windows
   • Jira
   • Linux
   • AWS
   • Source Code
   • Release Management
   • QA
   • Release Process
   • PowerShell

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage safety, quality control and oversight of plumbing and mechanical projects.
   • Write scripts in perl and shell to automate the build process and packaging the product.
   • Manage all the bugs and changes into a production environment using the JIRA issue tracking tool.
   • Configure and manage SPLUNK for monitoring over existing platform.
   • Develop Ansible Playbooks to simplify and automate day-to-day server administration tasks.
   • Develop PowerCLI/PowerShell scripts to automate VMWare host and virtual machine inventory.

   More release engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your release engineer job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A release engineer can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, release engineers' average salary in south dakota is 37% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level release engineers 44% less than senior-level release engineers.
   • Certifications. A release engineer with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a release engineer's salary.

   Average release engineer salary

   $97,777yearly

   $47.01 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level release engineer salary

   $73,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average release engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$124,329	$60
   2	Washington	$105,429	$51
   3	New York	$95,659	$46
   4	Massachusetts	$92,275	$44
   5	Nevada	$92,125	$44
   6	New Jersey	$91,036	$44
   7	Georgia	$89,009	$43
   8	Texas	$86,953	$42
   9	Florida	$86,502	$42
   10	North Carolina	$85,707	$41
   11	Virginia	$84,759	$41
   12	Minnesota	$84,182	$40
   13	Ohio	$83,879	$40
   14	Michigan	$83,283	$40
   15	Wisconsin	$80,663	$39
   16	Illinois	$79,504	$38
   17	Nebraska	$78,444	$38

   Average release engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$156,960	$75.46	3,202
   2	Credit Karma	$153,873	$73.98	2
   3	Netflix	$148,533	$71.41	22
   4	Apple	$146,132	$70.26	674
   5	Google	$144,687	$69.56	647
   6	Yelp	$143,002	$68.75
   7	The Knot	$141,757	$68.15	2
   8	Addepar	$141,535	$68.05	4
   9	Chegg	$140,368	$67.48
   10	PayPal	$136,893	$65.81	19
   11	StubHub	$136,098	$65.43	117
   12	eBay	$135,916	$65.34	37
   13	Zoox	$134,953	$64.88	111
   14	Amazon	$128,890	$61.97	922
   15	Fisher Investments	$127,170	$61.14	16
   16	Macy's	$126,600	$60.87	6
   17	Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc.	$126,144	$60.65	6
   18	MUFG EMEA	$125,782	$60.47
   19	Adobe	$124,077	$59.65	111
   20	Clover Network	$123,013	$59.14

4. Writing a release engineer job description

   A release engineer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a release engineer job description:

   Release engineer job description example

   · Bachelor's degree in related IT discipline or 8 - 12 years of relevant experience

   · Broad understanding of web technologies to include application and web servers, load balancers, browsers, protocols, data formats, markup and programming languages, and SSL

   · Experience with administering application server architectures in large enterprise environments utilizing WebLogic, JBoss, or similar servers

   · Knowledge of Apache web server administration

   · Familiarity with the Linux command line and basic Linux architecture

   · Ability to troubleshoot Java-based web applications

   · Shell and/or Python scripting experience

   · Deep understanding of infrastructure as code principles and the use of technologies such as Ansible, Chef, Puppet, or Salt

   · Working knowledge of database technologies such as Oracle and SQL

   · Knowledge of identity management solutions such as Oracle IAM or RH-SSO (Keycloak) is a plus

   · Experience with load balancing technologies such as HA Proxy is a plus

   · Experience with CI/CD pipelines utilizing Jenkins is a plus

   · Familiarity with Docker and VMWare is a plus

   · Required to perform on-call duities and regular after hours work requests

   Additional Requirements:

   · Experience following DoD Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) is a plus Ability to effectively communicate verbally and in writing to customers and senior leaders

   Required Certifications:

   • Must obtain/maintain a DoD 8570 IAT Level II certification (Security+, CCNA Security, CySA+, GICSP, GSEC, CND, SSCP)within 6 months of hire

   Peraton Overview

   Peraton drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets. Every day, our employees do the can't be done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers.

   An Equal Opportunity Employer including Disability/Veteran.

   For Colorado Residents Colorado Salary Minimum: $78,700
   Colorado Salary Maximum: $191,000
   
   The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position, and is just one component of Peraton's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. In addition, Peraton provides a variety of benefits to employees.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right release engineer for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your release engineer job on Zippia to find and recruit release engineer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting release engineers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   If your interviews with release engineer applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new release engineer

   Once you've found the release engineer candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new release engineer first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a release engineer?