Senior DevOps Specialist

CIRA; Ottawa; Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

CIRA is seeking aSenior DevOps Specialist to design, build and maintain secure, scalable AWS infrastructure across multiple environments. You will manage EKS clusters, implement GitOps with Argo CD, and advance observability, security and automation.

This role offers a hybrid setup with opportunities to collaborate across product, security and development teams in Ottawa and beyond. You will own complex platform initiatives, mentor peers, and contribute to disaster recovery and on‑call incident

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in DevOps, cloud engineering, site reliability or platform engineering.
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS services, particularly EKS, EC2, IAM, VPC, S3, load balancing and cloud networking.
• Extensive experience operating and troubleshooting production Kubernetes environments.
• Strong proficiency with Terraform, infrastructure as code practices and Helm.
• GitOps and deployment automation using Argo CD or Flux.
• Observability and monitoring using Prometheus, Grafana, Loki or equivalents.
• Linux administration, networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, TLS) and troubleshooting.
• Scripting in Bash and/or Python.
• CI/CD, cloud security and infrastructure automation.
• Experience operating production infrastructure and collaborating across teams.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement and maintain secure, scalable AWS infrastructure across environments using Terraform.
• Manage lifecycle of EKS clusters and platform components, including upgrades, networking, storage, security, autoscaling.
• Collaborate with development teams to support Kubernetes deployments and improve workflows with Helm and Argo CD.
• Design observability solutions with metrics, logging and alerting to improve reliability and cost efficiency.
• Build reusable platform tooling and automate deployment workflows to enhance developer experience.
• Own and deliver complex infra initiatives from design to production deployment.
• Implement automated security controls, IAM, secrets management and best practices.
• Support on‑premises and hybrid cloud, including DR and business continuity.
• Mentor teammates and document knowledge.
• Participate in 24/7 on-call rotation for incident response.

Skills

DevOps

Cloud engineering

Site reliability

Kubernetes

Terraform

Helm

GitOps

Observability

Bash/Python

CI/CD

Tools

AWS

EKS

EC2

IAM

VPC

S3

Load balancers

Networking

Job description

Join the team that is building a trusted internet for Canadians! CIRA may be best known for managing the .CA domain but our impact reaches far beyond that. We’re at the forefront of advancing cybersecurity technologies and leading projects that improve the digital experience for users across Canada and the world. Our broad scope of activities is driven by one central goal: to strengthen and secure Canada’s digital landscape.

By working with the CIRA registry team, you’ll play a part in advancing the CIRA Registry Platform, which supports a wide range of domains globally. Help us drive innovation and maintain the high standards of stability and security that our platform is known for. Join us in advancing digital identity and technology in Canada and beyond.

Who you are:

As a Senior DevOps Specialist, you will collaborate with development, security and product teams to build and maintain critical internet infrastructure. You are passionate about designing secure, reliable and scalable systems through automation, cloud-native technologies and operational best practices.

You are a hands‑on engineer who takes ownership of complex technical challenges, drives initiatives independently and shares knowledge to strengthen the team's engineering capabilities.

What you'll do:

• Design, implement and maintain secure, scalable Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure across multiple environments using Terraform and infrastructure as code best practices.
• Manage the lifecycle of Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) clusters and platform components, including upgrades, networking, ingress, storage, security, autoscaling and infrastructure releases.
• Collaborate with development teams to support and troubleshoot Kubernetes deployments and improve deployment workflows using Helm and GitOps tools such as Argo CD.
• Design and improve observability solutions, including metrics, logging and alerting, to optimize platform reliability, performance, resource utilization and cost efficiency.
• Build reusable platform tooling, standardize deployment workflows and automate infrastructure operations to improve developer experience, reliability and efficiency.
• Independently own and deliver complex infrastructure and platform engineering initiatives, from technical design through implementation and production deployment.
• Collaborate with development and security teams to implement automated security controls, identity and access management (IAM), secrets management and infrastructure security best practices.
• Support on-premises infrastructure and hybrid cloud environments, including disaster recovery and business continuity.
• Share knowledge through code reviews, mentoring and technical documentation.
• Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation, including production incident response, troubleshooting and root‑cause analysis.

What you'll bring:

• 5+ years of experience in DevOps, cloud engineering, site reliability engineering or platform engineering.
• Strong hands‑on experience with AWS services, particularly EKS, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), IAM, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), load balancing and cloud networking.
• Extensive experience operating and troubleshooting production Kubernetes environments.
• Strong proficiency with Terraform, infrastructure as code practices and Helm.
• Demonstrated expertise in at least one of the following:
  • GitOps and deployment automation using tools such as Argo CD or Flux.
  • Observability and monitoring using technologies such as Prometheus, Grafana, Loki or equivalent solutions.
• Strong Linux administration, networking fundamentals (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Domain Name System (DNS), Transport Layer Security (TLS) and troubleshooting skills.
• Proficiency in scripting and automation using Bash and/or Python.
• Experience with continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices, cloud security and infrastructure automation.
• Experience operating, troubleshooting and improving the reliability of business‑critical production infrastructure.
• Ability to independently own technical initiatives, evaluate architectural trade-offs and collaborate effectively across teams.

Who we are:

At CIRA, we’re driven by a passion to make a positive impact on Canada’s digital future. We’re not just asking, ‘What more can we do?’—we’re actively exploring new frontiers to enhance and secure the internet for all Canadians. Our recognition as one of the National Capital Region’s Top Employers for ten years is a testament to our vibrant culture. We believe in fostering an environment where collaboration and candour are second nature and where diverse perspectives are integral to our success, because we know that great ideas come from everywhere. If you’re passionate about innovation and ready to make a difference in a dynamic field, join us and help shape the future of the internet!

CIRA embraces a blend of remote and IRL in‑office work to keep our team connected and engaged. Our Ottawa headquarters is a hub for regular events and social activities that bring our team together, encouraging a strong sense of community within our organization. No matter where you work from, you'll always feel part of our vibrant team and our shared mission.

At CIRA, people remain at the centre of our recruitment process. While CIRA uses recruitment platforms that include artificial intelligence‑enabled features, which may be used to support administrative processes or skills‑based assessments, these features are intended to assist our recruitment activities and do not replace human judgment. All applicant screenings, interviews, evaluations and selection decisions are conducted by our staff. Artificial intelligence is not used to make autonomous or final hiring decisions.

This posting is for an existing vacancy. CIRA is committed to fair, inclusive and accessible recruitment practices. Accommodations are available upon request throughout the recruitment, assessment and selection process. If you require any assistance or accommodation, please contact us at [e-mail].