Platform Engineer

Cisco Systems Inc; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems Inc is building a global demo platform to enable sales, partners and customers to run demonstrations from a shared multi-tenant infrastructure. You will manage production Kubernetes clusters, Linux nodes, networking, storage, and VM lifecycles using KubeVirt and Terraform/Ansible, with GitOps tooling for automated deployment.

You will contribute to Kubernetes APIs, implement monitoring with Prometheus/Grafana, and ensure security baselines and capacity planning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps, SRE, or Linux systems engineering.
• Strong Linux administration experience (RHEL family) and basic host networking knowledge.
• Production experience operating Kubernetes, including upgrades, debugging, and day‑2 operations.
• Experience with Linux virtualization (KVM/QEMU, KubeVirt, OpenShift Virtualization) and VM lifecycles.
• Experience with Kubernetes networking and persistent storage (CNI, CSI, PVCs).
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/Ansible) and Git-based CI/CD or GitOps (Argo CD/Flux).
• Scripting or automation in Python, Go, or Bash; knowledge of Multus and multi‑homed VMs.
• Knowledge of API-first platform design using operators, CRDs, or admission webhooks.

Responsibilities

• Build, upgrade, and operate production Kubernetes clusters across diverse environments.
• Own cluster fundamentals: Linux nodes, networking, ingress, storage, RBAC, security baselines.
• Run KubeVirt in production with VM lifecycle, templates, live migration, and disk attach.
• Enable VM networks beyond default pod network; ensure tenant isolation.
• Integrate cluster with data-center networking and storage (CSI) including snapshot/clone workflows.
• Automate infrastructure and cluster lifecycle with IaC and GitOps tooling.
• Contribute to Kubernetes APIs used by product (operators, CRDs, admission).
• Package deployments with Helm as reusable templates; monitor with Prometheus/Grafana.

Skills

Kubernetes

Linux administration

Automation

Terraform

Ansible

GitOps

CI/CD

Networking

Storage

Python

Go

OpenShift Virtualization

VMware

Cluster management

Education

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

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

KubeVirt

Argo CD

Flux

Helm

Prometheus

Grafana

OpenShift Virtualization

Job description

Join the Cisco Global SE Demo Team building a new global platform to enable sales, partners and customers to run demonstrations from the same multi-tenant infrastructure. You will work hands‑on across Linux, Kubernetes, automation and day‑2 operations. This role owns cluster lifecycle, node networking, storage, CI/CD, and the APIs other teams will use to create virtual machines, networks, and related lab environments for demonstrations, labs, and training on our platform. We work as a small hands‑on engineering and design team at the core of the platform and we share ownership and reliability across upgrades, incidents and capacity planning with the operations team. Your Impact

• Build, upgrade, and operate production Kubernetes clusters, including on‑premises and bare‑metal environments.
• Own cluster fundamentals, including Linux nodes, networking, ingress, storage, RBAC, and security baselines.
• Run KubeVirt in production, including VM lifecycle, templates, scheduling, live migration, and disk attach.
• Enable additional networks for VMs beyond the default pod network, including isolation between tenants or environments.
• Integrate the cluster with data‑centre networking and storage (CSI), including snapshot and clone workflows for VM disks.
• Automate infrastructure and cluster lifecycle using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and/or Ansible) and GitOps (Argo CD or Flux).
• Contribute to Kubernetes APIs used by the product (operators, CRDs, admission, or similar) so VMs and networks can be automated without manual node changes.
• Package and standardise deployments with Helm as reusable templates.
• Implement monitoring, logging, and alerting (for example Prometheus and Grafana) and help define SLIs/SLOs for cluster and VM operations.
• Fix across Linux, KVM/QEMU, Kubernetes, networking, and storage, and support incident response with the operations team when required.
• Partner with the operations team on monitoring, alerting, and capacity planning.
• Document how the platform is built, operated, and used. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field and 4+ years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps, SRE, or Linux systems engineering (or equivalent work experience).
• Strong Linux administration and troubleshoting experience (RHEL-family or similar), including host networking such as bridging, VLANs or equivalent, bonding, and MTU.
• Experience operating Kubernetes in production, including upgrades, debugging, and day‑2 operations.
• Experience with Linux virtualization (KVM/QEMU, KubeVirt, OpenShift Virtualization, or similar), including VM lifecycle, not containers only.
• Experience with Kubernetes networking and persistent storage (CNI, CSI, PVCs).
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and/or Ansible).
• Experience with Git plus CI/CD and/or GitOps (Argo CD, Flux, or similar).
• Scripting or automation experience in Python, Go, and/or Bash., Production experience with KubeVirt or OpenShift Virtualization, including live migration, CDI/DataVolumes, and instance types.
• Experience with Multus (or equivalent) and multi‑homed VMs, including tenant or environment isolation on L2/L3.
• Experience with operators, CRDs, or admission webhooks, treating the platform as an API rather than cluster install only.
• Experience with CSI snapshot/clone, template libraries, or high‑churn VM disk provisioning.
• Traditional hypervisor background (VMware, KVM) and/or experience moving VM estates onto Kubernetes.
• Experience with Cluster API, Rancher, OpenShift, or another Kubernetes lifecycle tool.
• Observability experience with Prometheus, Grafana, Loki/ELK, or OpenTelemetry.
• Experience with policy and security, including NetworkPolicy, admission control, and secrets management.
• CKA, CKAD, CKS, or equivalent Linux/Kubernetes certifications.
• Good communication skills, while being self‑motivated with a focus on execution. At Cisco, we're revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era - and beyond. We've been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint. Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you'll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere. We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.
• Cisco is an affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, genetic information, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. Cisco will consider for employment, on a case by case basis, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.