Senior Kubenetes/AKS Engineer

Gazelle Global; Utrecht; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Gazelle Global in Utrecht is seeking a genuinely senior Kubernetes/AKS Engineer to own the design, engineering and operation of production Kubernetes on Azure.

The role focuses on AKS, platform standards, security, networking and CI/CD integration, working with enterprise teams to enable scalable deployments. Dutch language required, English advantageous.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on Kubernetes and cloud-native engineering.

Responsibilities

• Design, engineer, and operate enterprise Kubernetes/AKS platforms.
• Own components and contribute to platform roadmap.
• Design scalable AKS architectures on Azure.
• Assist with secure onboarding of workloads to AKS.
• Troubleshoot Kubernetes across clusters, networking, storage, and security.
• Implement platform standards and automation.
• Integrate Kubernetes with CI/CD pipelines.
• Drive automation and reduce manual platform tasks.
• Evaluate new Kubernetes technologies.

Skills

Kubernetes

AKS

Azure

Docker

Networking

Security

CI/CD

IaC

Automation

Platform ownership

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

AKS tooling

Job description

Location: Utrecht, Netherlands - Hybrid
On-site: 2 days per week
Hours: 32-40 hours per week
Contract: Payroll only - No ZZP/Freelance
Duration: Until 30 June 2027, with possibility of extension
Language: Dutch required | English advantageous

The Role

Senior Kubernetes / AKS Engineer

The Role

Location: Utrecht, Netherlands - Hybrid
On-site: 2 days per week
Hours: 32-40 hours per week
Contract: Payroll only - No ZZP/Freelance
Duration: Until 30 June 2027, with possibility of extension
Language: Dutch required | English advantageous

The Role

We are looking for a genuinely senior Kubernetes Engineer to take a key technical role within a large enterprise environment undergoing significant cloud-native transformation.

This is not a general Azure Cloud Engineer position with some Kubernetes exposure. Kubernetes is at the heart of the role. We are looking for someone who has spent several years designing, engineering, operating and improving production Kubernetes platforms, ideally Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

You will take ownership of key areas of the Kubernetes platform, help determine its technical direction and solve complex platform, networking, security and workload onboarding challenges.

You will work alongside platform engineers, architects, security specialists and infrastructure teams to ensure Kubernetes workloads can be deployed securely, reliably and at enterprise scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, engineer, enhance and operate enterprise Kubernetes / AKS platforms

• Take technical ownership of Kubernetes platform components and contribute to the overall platform roadmap

• Design scalable and highly available Kubernetes architectures on Microsoft Azure

• Support engineering teams with the secure and compliant onboarding of workloads onto AKS

• Troubleshoot complex Kubernetes issues across clusters, workloads, networking, storage, identity and security

• Define and implement Kubernetes platform standards, guardrails and engineering best practices

• Translate security and platform requirements into reusable and automated solutions

• Build and improve Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and platform automation

• Integrate Kubernetes environments with CI/CD pipelines and deployment processes

• Implement and maintain Kubernetes security controls, identity models, policies and security baselines

• Work closely with architects on complex containerisation and cloud-native architecture decisions

• Improve platform resilience, availability, scalability and operational stability

• Drive automation and reduce manual platform administration

• Evaluate new Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies and introduce them where appropriate

• Share Kubernetes expertise with other engineers and contribute to the technical development of the wider team
  

Required Experience

We are particularly interested in candidates who identify primarily as Kubernetes / Platform Engineers rather than general Cloud Engineers.

You should bring:

• 5+ years of relevant Kubernetes and cloud-native engineering experience, ideally significantly more for the senior position

• Deep hands‑on experience engineering and operating Kubernetes in production

• Strong commercial experience with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

• Excellent understanding of Kubernetes architecture and core components

• Strong knowledge of containers, including Docker and OCI

• Advanced Kubernetes troubleshooting experience

• Strong understanding of Kubernetes networking, ingress, DNS, load balancing and service connectivity

• Experience with Kubernetes storage, persistent volumes and stateful workloads

• Strong understanding of cluster availability, resilience, scaling and performance

• Strong knowledge of Azure infrastructure supporting AKS, particularly networking, compute, storage and identity

• Extensive Infrastructure as Code and automation experience

• Experience integrating Kubernetes platforms with CI/CD

• Strong knowledge of Kubernetes and cloud security

• Understanding of identity, access management, Zero Trust principles and security baselines

• Ability to independently make and justify technical platform decisions

• Experience working within complex enterprise environments

• Completed Bachelor's degree or equivalent

• Professional Dutch communication skills
  

Highly Desirable

Experience with any of the following would be particularly valuable:

• Kubernetes platform engineering at enterprise scale

• AKS platform architecture and governance

• GitOps and automated Kubernetes deployment patterns

• Kubernetes policy and security automation

• Observability and monitoring of Kubernetes platforms

• Self-service Kubernetes/platform engineering

• KAITO

• Kubernetes-based AI runtime environments

• Hosting and operating self-hosted AI/ML models on Kubernetes

• GPU workloads and containerised AI infrastructure
  

Seniority

The primary requirement is for a very experienced Senior Kubernetes / AKS Engineer who can operate independently, challenge technical decisions and help shape the direction of the platform.

We are also interested in a Junior/Medior Kubernetes Engineer with strong Kubernetes fundamentals who can work alongside senior engineers, handle operational/platform tasks and continue developing deeper AKS expertise.

For both profiles, hands‑on Kubernetes experience is essential. Candidates whose experience is predominantly general Azure/cloud engineering with only limited exposure to Kubernetes are unlikely to be suitable.

Personal Profile

You are someone who:

• Takes ownership rather than waiting for tasks to be assigned

• Enjoys getting deeply involved in Kubernetes engineering and troubleshooting

• Takes responsibility for platform stability and continuity

• Communicates technical decisions clearly

• Works effectively with engineers, architects, security teams and stakeholders

• Is proactive, pragmatic and technically curious

• Enjoys sharing knowledge and improving engineering standards

• Can balance innovation with security, stability and maintainability