Kubernetes Engineer
Charlotte, VT - USA
Department:
Job Summary
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We are seeking an experienced Kubernetes Engineer/Administrator. This role focuses on managing and scaling our enterprise-grade Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) infrastructure. You will be responsible for designing implementing and maintaining production Kubernetes clusters that support critical enterprise workloads across multiple Azure regions.
Primary Responsibilities
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Management
- Design deploy and manage enterprise-scale AKS clusters across multiple Azure regions
- Implement and maintain private AKS clusters with advanced networking configurations
- Configure and manage customer-managed encryption keys (CMK) for cluster disk encryption
- Implement blue/green deployment strategies for zero-downtime cluster upgrades
- Manage AKS cluster lifecycle including upgrades node pool scaling and disaster recovery
- Optimize cluster performance cost and resource utilization
- Implement AKS Fleet Manager for multi-cluster management and orchestration
- Configure AKS Automatic for simplified cluster operations and auto-scaling
- Manage AKS Managed Namespaces for improved multi-tenancy and resource isolation
Security & Compliance
- Implement and maintain private networking architectures with Azure Private Endpoints
- Configure and manage Workload Identity (OIDC) and user-assigned managed identities
- Integrate Azure Policy for governance compliance and security enforcement
- Implement Kubernetes RBAC and Azure RBAC integration
- Manage secrets integration with Azure Key Vault using CSI drivers
- Ensure secure communication between AKS and Azure PaaS services
- Implement network policies and pod security standards
Service Mesh & Advanced Networking
- Deploy and manage Linkerd service mesh for secure service-to-service communication
- Implement mTLS between services with automatic certificate rotation
- Configure traffic splitting load balancing and observability with Linkerd
- Troubleshoot service mesh networking and performance issues
- Integrate service mesh metrics with Azure Monitor
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Develop and maintain Terraform modules for AKS and supporting Azure infrastructure
- Build reusable production-ready Terraform patterns following Azure best practices
- Implement infrastructure automation and GitOps workflows
- Manage Terraform state version control and module lifecycle
- Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for infrastructure patterns
GitOps & CI/CD
- Design and implement GitOps workflows using ArgoCD for application deployments
- Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions for Kubernetes workloads
- Integrate AKS with Azure Container Registry (ACR) for container image management
- Implement automated testing and validation for infrastructure and application changes
- Manage deployment strategies (rolling updates blue/green canary)
- Maintain GitHub Actions workflows for infrastructure provisioning and testing
Azure Platform Integration
- Integrate AKS with Azure services including
- Configure and maintain private endpoints for all Azure services
- Implement VNet integration and subnet delegation patterns
- Design and implement service connectivity across Azure regions
Monitoring Observability & Operations
- Implement comprehensive monitoring and alerting with Azure Monitor
- Configure Log Analytics workspaces and integrate with AKS
- Build dashboards and alerts for cluster health performance and security
- Leverage Linkerd metrics and distributed tracing for service observability
- Troubleshoot complex cluster networking and application issues
- Conduct capacity planning and cost optimization
- Participate in on-call rotation for production support
- Perform post-incident analysis and implement preventive measures
Required Qualifications
- Technical Skills - Azure & Kubernetes
- 5 years of hands-on Kubernetes experience in production environments
- 2 years of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) experience required
- Strong Terraform expertise with proven ability to build reusable production-ready modules
- Deep understanding of Kubernetes architecture networking storage and security
- Experience with private AKS clusters and Azure Private Link/Private Endpoints
- Proficiency with Azure networking: VNets subnets NSGs private DNS zones VNet peering
- Strong understanding of Azure managed identities Workload Identity and RBAC
- Experience with Azure Key Vault integration (CSI driver disk encryption sets)
- Hands-on experience with customer-managed encryption keys in Azure
- Experience with Azure Container Registry including geo-replication and vulnerability scanning
- Knowledge of AKS advanced features (Fleet Manager AKS Automatic Managed Namespaces) is
- a plus
Infrastructure as Code & Automation
- Advanced Terraform skills with module development experience
- Git version control and branching strategies (GitHub)
- GitOps tools: ArgoCD
- GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines
- Infrastructure testing and validation practices
Platform & Tools
- Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell
- kubectl helm kustomize
- Linux system administration
- Scripting: Bash Python or PowerShell
- Container technologies: Docker containerd
- GitHub workflows and Actions
Soft Skills
- Strong analytical and troubleshooting abilities
- Excellent documentation skills with focus on knowledge sharing
- Collaborative team player with mentoring capabilities
- Effective communication for both technical and business audiences
- Self-motivated with ability to manage complex projects
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced Kubernetes & Cloud Skills
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
- Experience with Linkerd service mesh - deployment configuration and troubleshooting
- Experience with AKS Fleet Manager for multi-cluster orchestration
- Familiarity with AKS Automatic and managed namespace patterns
- Experience with Kubernetes operators and Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs)
- Service mesh implementations (Linkerd preferred; Istio Open Service Mesh)
- Advanced CNI configurations (Azure CNI Calico Cilium)
- Multi-cluster management and federation
- Experience with other cloud platforms (GCP GKE AWS EKS) is a plus
- Azure Certifications
- Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)
- Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500)
- Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
Platform Engineering Experience
- Building internal developer platforms on Kubernetes
- Policy-as-code implementation (Azure Policy OPA Kyverno)
- Cost optimization and FinOps practices for Kubernetes
- Chaos engineering and reliability testing
- Multi-region disaster recovery patterns
Required Qualifications
- Technical Skills - Azure & Kubernetes
- 5 years of hands-on Kubernetes experience in production environments
- 2 years of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) experience required
- Strong Terraform expertise with proven ability to build reusable production-ready modules
- Deep understanding of Kubernetes architecture networking storage and security
- Experience with private AKS clusters and Azure Private Link/Private Endpoints
- Proficiency with Azure networking: VNets subnets NSGs private DNS zones VNet peering
- Strong understanding of Azure managed identities Workload Identity and RBAC
- Experience with Azure Key Vault integration (CSI driver disk encryption sets)
- Hands-on experience with customer-managed encryption keys in Azure
- Experience with Azure Container Registry including geo-replication and vulnerability scanning
- Knowledge of AKS advanced features (Fleet Manager AKS Automatic Managed Namespaces) isa plus
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Required Experience:
IC