Bare-Metal Kubernetes Platform Engineer (On-Prem | SC)

GCS; Ribble Valley; On-site; GBP 129,000 - 166,000; Full time

Job summary

GCS is supporting one of the world's leading technology companies on a highly technical infrastructure programme. We are seeking a Senior Kubernetes Platform Engineer to design, build and secure Kubernetes infrastructure in bare-metal and on-prem environments.

This hands-on role requires deep expertise beyond application deployment, with responsibilities across compute, networking, security and observability. On-site with SC or DV clearance preferred; Outside IR35 contract.

Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on Kubernetes engineering experience.
• Proven experience building Kubernetes clusters on bare metal or on-premises infrastructure.
• Strong Linux infrastructure engineering and networking knowledge.
• Solid understanding of platform security, infrastructure hardening and security-by-design principles.
• Ability to work independently on complex infrastructure engineering challenges.
• SC or DV security clearance (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Design, build and deploy production-grade Kubernetes clusters on bare-metal infrastructure.
• Engineer and optimise the underlying Linux, networking, storage and compute environments.
• Implement Kubernetes security controls, hardening and infrastructure-level security best practices.
• Design, deploy and improve logging and observability pipelines using Fluent Bit, OpenTelemetry and Grafana.
• Integrate platform logging and monitoring with wider security operations and SIEM tooling.
• Support network security monitoring and visibility across infrastructure and hardware network appliances.
• Improve the effectiveness of security tooling, including EDR, vulnerability scanners and antivirus solutions.
• Troubleshoot complex infrastructure challenges and continuously improve platform reliability, performance and security.
• Participate in an on-call rota supporting critical infrastructure.

Skills

Kubernetes engineering

Bare metal/on-prem clusters

Linux networking

Security by design

SC or DV clearance

Independent problem solving

Tools

kubeadm

Kubespray

RKE2

Fluent Bit

OpenTelemetry

Grafana

Job description

GCS is supporting one of the world's leading technology companies on a highly technical infrastructure programme. We are seeking a Senior Kubernetes Platform Engineer to design, build and secure Kubernetes infrastructure in bare-metal and on-prem environments.

This hands-on role requires deep expertise beyond application deployment, with responsibilities across compute, networking, security and observability. On-site with SC or DV clearance preferred; Outside IR35 contract.