Principal Cloud Kubernetes Engineer

We are seeking a Principal Cloud Kubernetes Engineer to join our global infrastructure team to lead the architecture strategy and evolution of our cloud-native platform across public cloud and on-premises environments. This role serves as the organization's technical authority for Kubernetes platform engineering automation and cloud infrastructure driving platform scalability reliability security and developer experience.

The Principal Engineer will work across infrastructure application development security and operations teams to establish standards guide architecture decisions and deliver highly automated self-service platforms supporting mission-critical workloads.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Architecture & Strategy

• Define and maintain the Kubernetes platform roadmap and cloud-native strategy.
• Architect multi-cluster multi-region and multi-cloud Kubernetes platforms supporting enterprise-scale workloads.
• Establish platform engineering standards reference architectures and operational best practices.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and provide technical guidance on platform modernization initiatives.
• Lead technical decision-making for container orchestration platform automation and cloud infrastructure investments.

Kubernetes Platform Engineering

• Design deploy and operate enterprise Kubernetes platforms using EKS AKS GKE Rancher Spectro Cloud Palette or equivalent technologies.
• Define cluster lifecycle management processes including provisioning upgrades patching and decommissioning.
• Architect multi-tenant Kubernetes environments with strong isolation governance and compliance controls.
• Design Kubernetes networking architectures leveraging Cilium Calico service mesh technologies and eBPF-based observability.
• Establish cluster security baselines and platform governance standards.

Infrastructure Automation & Platform as Code

• Lead adoption of Infrastructure as Code and GitOps methodologies across engineering teams.
• Develop reusable Terraform modules Helm charts and platform automation frameworks.
• Design self-service provisioning capabilities for Kubernetes clusters environments and application onboarding.
• Implement Kubernetes Operators controllers and automation frameworks to eliminate operational toil.
• Define platform engineering patterns enabling rapid and consistent infrastructure delivery.

Cloud Infrastructure & Hybrid Operations

• Architect Kubernetes solutions spanning AWS Azure GCP and on-premises environments.
• Design resilient multi-region and disaster recovery architectures.
• Lead cloud infrastructure modernization initiatives and workload migrations.
• Define backup recovery business continuity and platform resiliency strategies.
• Establish storage architectures using Portworx CSI drivers OpenEBS or cloud-native storage services.

Reliability Engineering & Observability

• Define enterprise observability standards and platform reliability objectives.
• Establish SLIs SLOs and error budgets for critical platform services.
• Architect monitoring logging tracing and alerting solutions using Prometheus Grafana OpenTelemetry Loki and related technologies.
• Lead root cause analysis efforts for major incidents and drive systemic improvements.
• Develop resiliency testing chaos engineering and disaster recovery validation programs.

Security & Compliance

• Establish Kubernetes security architecture and cloud security standards.
• Lead implementation of policy-as-code frameworks using Kyverno OPA/Gatekeeper and admission controllers.
• Define workload identity secrets management and zero-trust platform strategies.
• Partner with security teams to satisfy regulatory audit and compliance requirements.
• Drive secure software supply chain initiatives including image signing SBOM validation and runtime protection.

Technical Leadership

• Serve as the highest-level Kubernetes and platform engineering subject matter expert.
• Lead architecture reviews and provide technical guidance across multiple engineering teams.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence engineering excellence across the organization.
• Drive cross-functional initiatives involving platform engineering DevOps SRE security and application teams.
• Contribute to organizational technology strategy and long-term infrastructure planning.

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of infrastructure cloud engineering DevOps SRE or platform engineering experience.
• 7+ years of hands-on Kubernetes experience in production environments.
• Deep expertise designing and operating Kubernetes platforms at enterprise scale.
• Strong experience with cloud platforms including AWS Azure and/or GCP.
• Advanced experience with GitOps methodologies and tools such as Argo CD Flux and Fleet.
• Expert-level Terraform experience and Infrastructure as Code practices.
• Strong understanding of Kubernetes internals including:
• Control plane architecture
• Scheduling
• Networking
• Service discovery
• Storage
• Security
• Experience with service mesh technologies including Istio Linkerd or Consul.
• Expertise in Kubernetes networking CNI implementations and eBPF technologies such as Cilium.
• Strong programming experience with Go Python or similar languages.
• Experience building platform automation operators controllers or Kubernetes extensions.
• Experience with enterprise identity integration using OIDC SAML LDAP and cloud-native identity services.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Rancher Spectro Cloud Palette Crossplane Backstage or other platform engineering solutions.
• Experience designing Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs).
• Experience with OpenTelemetry and distributed tracing architectures.
• Experience implementing software supply chain security controls.
• Experience managing regulated or highly compliant environments.
• Active participation in Kubernetes or CNCF open-source communities.
• Experience presenting architecture guidance to executive leadership and technical stakeholders.

Preferred Certifications

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
• Google Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer
• Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
• HashiCorp Terraform Associate
• Linux Foundation Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist
• CNCF Kubestronaut Program Certifications

We are an equal-opportunity employer and do not discriminate because of race color religion sex national origin ancestry marital status veteran status age disability sexual orientation or gender identity or expression or any other legally protected category. InterSystems is an E-Verify Employer in the United States.

What We Do

InterSystems builds the software that makes complex systems work—reliably securely and at scale. For more than 45 years we’ve been the information engine behind some of the world’s most mission-critical applications in healthcare government and business. Our data management integration and analytics technologies help organizations connect disparate systems turn data into insight and deliver better outcomes. From enabling interoperable healthcare and advancing clinical care to powering national infrastructure and large-scale enterprise systems our technology is used every day by millions of people in more than 80 countries. What sets InterSystems apart is not just what we build but how we build it. We focus on long-term innovation deep engineering excellence and solving hard problems that truly matter. Our teams work closely with customers to tackle real-world challenges—often behind the scenes but always at the heart of what keeps essential systems running. If you’re motivated by meaningful work technical depth and the opportunity to have a global impact you’ll find it here.

Why Work With Us

Because we are a profitable privately-held software company we place our clients first in everything we do. You’ll work on meaningful complex problems alongside deeply curious experts in a culture that values learning ownership and long-term growth—without the pressure of quarterly Wall Street demands.

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