Kubernetes Platform Engineer

TALENTMATE; Dubai; On-site; AED 360,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Oivan is seeking an experienced Senior Kubernetes Platform Engineer to build, operate and troubleshoot enterprise Kubernetes platforms in the UAE. You will manage RKE2 clusters, SUSE Rancher Manager HA, NVIDIA GPU Operator and CI/CD pipelines for AI/ML workloads.

You will implement GitOps with Fleet, Argo CD or Flux, and use Helm/Kustomize, Istio and CIS hardening to ensure secure, reliable operations.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in IT, with 3+ years operating Kubernetes in production.
• Strong troubleshooting with kubectl, logs and node-level tools.
• Experience with Rancher Manager day-2 ops and high availability.
• Experience deploying NVIDIA GPU Operator on RKE2 and GPU sharing.
• Automation with CI/CD and GitOps; familiar with Fleet, Argo CD or Flux.
• Experience with Helm, Kustomize, Istio; IaC with Terraform/Ansible.
• Strong Linux admin skills and networking fundamentals.
• English language advanced; Arabic a plus.

Responsibilities

• Install, configure and operate production Kubernetes clusters (RKE2) across environments.
• Set up SUSE Rancher Manager in HA with backup and RBAC and cluster provisioning.
• Automate provisioning/configuration via Terraform and Ansible.
• Troubleshoot platform issues end-to-end and perform root-cause analysis.
• Deploy NVIDIA GPU Operator and configure GPU sharing for AI/ML workloads.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines for app and platform delivery.
• Implement GitOps with Rancher Fleet, Argo CD or Flux; manage workloads with Helm/Kustomize.
• Deploy and operate Istio ingress/egress, mTLS and policies; monitor with Prometheus/Grafana.
• Operate SUSE Virtualization (Harvester) for VM workloads and guest clusters.
• Plan upgrades with minimal downtime; design backup and DR plans.

Skills

Kubernetes operations

Troubleshooting

RKE2

SUSE Rancher Manager

NVIDIA GPU Operator

CI/CD & GitOps

Istio service mesh

Infrastructure as Code

Terraform & Ansible

Linux admin & networking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

SUSE Rancher Manager

NVIDIA GPU Operator

Terraform

Ansible

GitLab CI / Jenkins / GitHub Actions

GitOps tools: Fleet, Argo CD or Flux

Helm

Kustomize

Istio

Harvester / SUSE Virtualization

Job description

Role

Oivan is looking for an experienced Senior Kubernetes Platform Engineer to join our team in the UAE. You will build, operate and troubleshoot enterprise Kubernetes platforms including GPU-enabled clusters for AI/ML workloads. This role requires strong expertise in:

• Hands-on Kubernetes operations, with strong troubleshooting and root-cause investigation skills
• SUSE Rancher Manager setup, operations and multi-cluster management
• NVIDIA GPU Operator deployment and operations on top of RKE2
• Automation through CI/CD pipelines and GitOps-based delivery
• Istio service mesh

Hands-on experience with RKE2, Rancher and SUSE Virtualization is a very strong plus. Candidates without it must at least understand what these products are and their core concepts.

What You'll Do

Key responsibilities:

• Install, configure and operate production Kubernetes clusters, primarily RKE2, across on-premise, air-gapped and hybrid environments
• Set up and operate SUSE Rancher Manager in high availability: installation, upgrades, backup and restore, authentication and RBAC, and provisioning or importing downstream clusters
• Automate infrastructure provisioning and configuration using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and Ansible)
• Troubleshoot and investigate platform issues end to end (nodes, pods, CNI networking, DNS, ingress, storage, certificates, etcd and the control plane) and drive root-cause analysis to closure
• Deploy and operate the NVIDIA GPU Operator on RKE2, including driver and container toolkit configuration for RKE2's embedded containerd, the device plugin, GPU Feature Discovery and DCGM monitoring
• Configure GPU sharing (MIG and time-slicing) and support the scheduling and operation of AI/ML workloads on GPU nodes
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab CI, Jenkins, GitHub Actions) for application and platform delivery
• Implement GitOps with Rancher Fleet, Argo CD or Flux, keeping Git as the single source of truth for cluster configuration and deployments
• Package and manage workloads with Helm and Kustomize
• Deploy and operate Istio: traffic management, ingress and egress gateways, mTLS and authorization policies, and mesh troubleshooting
• Operate SUSE Virtualization (Harvester) to run VM workloads alongside containers and to host RKE2 guest clusters
• Implement monitoring, logging and alerting with Prometheus, Grafana and Rancher Monitoring and Logging
• Harden clusters using CIS benchmarks (including the RKE2 CIS profile), Pod Security Admission, network policies and secrets management
• Plan and execute Kubernetes, RKE2 and Rancher upgrades with minimal downtime
• Design and test backup and disaster recovery, including etcd snapshots, Rancher backups and workload backup (e.g., Velero)
• Create and maintain runbooks, playbooks and platform documentation
• Conduct knowledge transfer and training sessions for customer and internal teams
• Work closely with customer stakeholders in on-site engagements

Qualifications & Skills

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in IT, with 3+ years administering Kubernetes in production
• Strong Kubernetes troubleshooting and investigation skills:
  • Systematic debugging with kubectl, events, logs, crictl and node-level tools
  • Diagnosing networking, DNS, storage, scheduling, certificate and control-plane issues
  • Root-cause analysis and clear incident write-ups
• Hands-on experience with Rancher Manager setup and day-2 operations
• Experience deploying and operating the NVIDIA GPU Operator, ideally on RKE2
• Automation with CI/CD and GitOps:
  • GitLab CI, Jenkins or GitHub Actions
  • Fleet, Argo CD or Flux
  • Helm and Kustomize
• Hands-on experience with Istio service mesh
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform and Ansible
• Strong Linux administration (SLES / SLE Micro, RHEL or Ubuntu) and networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, load balancing, TLS)
• Monitoring and observability: Prometheus, Grafana and centralized logging
• Strong Bash scripting; Python or Go is a plus
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
• Strong experience working in on-premise enterprise environments, including air-gapped setups
• Ability to work independently in customer-facing roles
• English (advanced); Arabic language skills are a strong advantage

Desirable

• SUSE Security (NeuVector) and SUSE Storage (Longhorn)
• CNI expertise: Canal, Calico or Cilium
• Secrets management: HashiCorp Vault, Sealed Secrets or External Secrets Operator
• Private registries and air-gapped image management (e.g., Harbor)
• AI/ML platform tooling (e.g., Kubeflow, KServe, Ray)
• Other Kubernetes platforms: Red Hat OpenShift, EKS, AKS or GKE

Preferred Certifications

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
• SUSE Rancher certification (Administrator or Deployment Specialist)
• Istio Certified Associate (ICA)
• NVIDIA-Certified Associate: AI Infrastructure and Operations

Job Details

Role: Kubernetes Platform Engineer

Experience: 5+ years (3+ years hands-on Kubernetes)

Location: Onsite / UAE

• Role Level: Associate
• Work Type: Full-Time
• Country: United Arab Emirates
• City: Dubai
• Company Website: https://oivan.com/
• Job Function: DevOps & QA
• Company Industry: Software Development
• Sector: Software Development

About The Company

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