Kubernetes Platform Specialist Lead Engineer

Job Title : Kubernetes Platform Specialist Lead Engineer

Location : Birmingham, Alabama

Experience : 12+ Years

Employment Type : Contract

Interview Type : In-Person or Webcam

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Kubernetes Platform Specialist Lead Engineer who can design, build, and optimize Kubernetes-based container platforms for enterprise-scale applications. The ideal candidate will be responsible for leading platform engineering efforts, improving reliability, scalability, and automation, and ensuring best practices across cloud-native deployments. This role requires hands-on expertise with Kubernetes, DevOps tooling, CI / CD, container security, and modern infrastructure-as-code technologies.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the design, implementation, and management of Kubernetes clusters across cloud and hybrid environments.

Build and maintain scalable, reliable, and secure Kubernetes platforms using best practices.

Automate deployments, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Develop and improve CI / CD pipelines with tools such as Jenkins, GitLab, Azure DevOps, or Argo CD.

Implement monitoring, logging, alerts, and performance optimization for large-scale systems.

Work closely with development, security, and cloud engineering teams to support platform enhancements.

Manage cluster upgrades, patching, networking, storage, and troubleshooting.

Ensure compliance, security hardening, and RBAC configurations for Kubernetes.

Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and documentation for engineering teams.

Evaluate and integrate new cloud-native technologies as needed.

Required Qualifications

12+ years of total IT experience with at least 6+ years dedicated to Kubernetes engineering.

Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes cluster administration, Helm, Operators, and container orchestration.

Expertise in Docker, container runtime management, and container build processes.

Proficiency with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

Strong knowledge of IaC tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or Pulumi.

Experience with networking concepts including load balancing, service mesh, and ingress controllers.

Strong knowledge of DevOps tools and CI / CD automation pipelines.

Experience with observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Splunk, or Datadog.

Solid understanding of security practices including vulnerability scanning, image registry management, and secrets management.

Strong scripting skills in Bash, Python, or Go.

Excellent communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Kubernetes certifications such as CKA, CKAD, or CKS.

Experience with GitOps methodologies and tools such as Argo CD or Flux.

Experience building highly available and multi-cluster architectures.