Mobile DevOps

Skills

• The team will spend time troubleshooting pipeline failures understanding why jobs fail and creating processes that will: • Automatically capture error codes and failure logs when jobs fail in the pipeline. • Work to automate the logging and error-reporting process to help developers understand issues without needing to retry builds or manually search for logs. • The team will escalate issues that need to be addressed by platform-specific teams (iOS/Android) but will help triage and surface issues for those teams to address. Platform-Specific Knowledge: • While deep knowledge of iOS and Android development isn’t necessary the team members will need to have a strong understanding of the build processes for both platforms. This includes: • Knowing how to trigger builds for both platforms. • Understanding how tests are executed and ensuring that these tests run smoothly within the pipeline. • Having a high-level understanding of the memory management differences between platforms (e.g. Android’s use of Docker vs iOS’s use of separate runners). • The ability to read code in the context of the mobile build pipeline even if they’re not directly writing the mobile app code themselves. Integrating Security and Compliance: • Although security testing will be handled by a centralized team (InfoSec ESG tools etc.) this team will: • Help integrate security scans and vulnerabilities into the pipeline (e.g. by hooking security tools into the CI pipeline). • Ensure that security-related findings are displayed to developers in the pipeline and that those findings are tracked and acted upon. • Monitor for vulnerabilities in the build process (e.g. dependencies code obfuscation etc.) and escalate them to the appropriate security teams. Tooling and Scripting: • The team will be responsible for building and maintaining various tools and scripts to support the pipeline. This will include: • Kotlin scripts for build tools and custom pipeline tasks. • Python batch scripts for automating manual processes in the build pipeline. • Dockerfile creation for containerized environments and managing images. • Developing API integrations to upload test results (such as from Sauce Labs or other third-party testing tools) into the pipeline for visibility. Collaboration and Coordination: • The team will work closely with platform-specific development teams (iOS/Android) security teams and SREs to ensure smooth integration of all tools and processes. • Coordinate with internal teams to ensure that security policies and regulatory compliance are adhered to in the development and deployment process even though the team itself is not directly responsible for compliance management. • Work cross-functionally to gather feedback from developers on pipeline reliability and user experience making adjustments as needed.

Description

The new team will be focused on improving DevOps, security, regulatory compliance, and operational performance within the mobile development space at USAA. Their key focus will be on optimizing the mobile app build pipeline, streamlining developer workflows, and ensuring the reliability, security, and efficiency of mobile applications being developed across iOS and Android platforms.



The team will handle the DevOps side of the pipeline, taking ownership of the tools and processes that support mobile app builds. However, security and regulatory compliance are still managed centrally by other teams, and this group will integrate those processes into the pipeline.



Pipeline Optimization and Monitoring:



• Build Pipeline Monitoring: One of the primary goals is to improve the reliability and performance of the build pipelines used for mobile development (iOS and Android). The team will:

• Create tooling to monitor the health of these pipelines (e.g., failure rates, build times, performance bottlenecks).

• Improve pipeline visibility in systems like Datadog to track and report on build failures.

• Help debug failed pipeline jobs by providing clearer error messages and actionable insights for developers.

• Standardize and define SLIs (Service Level Indicators) and SLOs (Service Level Objectives) specific to the mobile build pipeline to ensure consistent performance expectations and targets.



Optimizing Build and Execution:



• Reducing Build Times: The team will focus on reducing pipeline build times, which are currently too long (sometimes up to 1-2 hours).

• Work on optimizing pipeline configurations in GitLab CI, improving job execution efficiency.

• Use Kotlin and Python scripting to automate and optimize tasks within the pipeline.

• Analyze and improve test execution in the pipeline, including performance testing of the build process.

• Efficient Test Execution: There is a significant focus on making test execution more efficient and reliable. For example:

• Ensure tests are running consistently and producing clear results.

• Help integrate and optimize testing frameworks and services

Responsibilities

• • Mobile DevOps engineers (3 for iOS and 3 for Android) will:
• • Focus on the build pipeline, tool creation, and pipeline monitoring.
• • Write and maintain scripts (e.g., Kotlin, Python) for build process automation.
• • Troubleshoot build failures and collaborate with other teams to address underlying issues.
• • Understand mobile app build processes for Android and iOS (including Docker vs native runners).
• • Integrate testing, monitoring, and security tools into the pipeline.
• Technical Skills:
• • Strong experience with GitLab CI and CI/CD pipelines.
• • Proficiency in Kotlin, Python, and Docker for scripting and pipeline automation.
• • Familiarity with mobile development platforms (Android/iOS) and their respective build processes.
• • Experience working with API integration, especially in the context of third-party tools and test execution services.
• • Monitoring tools experience (e.g., Datadog) for tracking pipeline health and performance.
• • Understanding of security tools and their integration into pipelines (but not direct security testing).

Educational Requirements

• 1. iOS/Android mobile dev background
• 2. DevOps development experience/CICD experience
• 3. source control experience
• 4. scripting experience-will take any groovy is preferred