Kubernetes & Cloud Platform Manager

The Intersect Group; United States; Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

The Intersect Group is seeking a Lead Kubernetes Platform Engineer to own and evolve our AWS-based Kubernetes platform. You will architect, operate, and scale large EKS environments, ensuring security, reliability, and developer productivity.

You will lead a small team of engineers, establish platform standards, implement GitOps practices, and drive automation across CI/CD and infrastructure as code, shaping cloud-native delivery at scale.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of infrastructure, platform engineering, DevOps, or cloud engineering experience.
• 5+ years of hands-on Kubernetes administration and engineering experience in production environments.
• Expert-level experience managing large-scale Kubernetes clusters, preferably Amazon EKS.
• Deep understanding of Kubernetes architecture including: Control Plane Components, Worker Nodes, Networking, Storage, RBAC, Security Policies, Ingress Controllers, Service Discovery, Autoscaling.
• Strong expertise with: Amazon EKS, Terraform, Docker, GitOps.
• Experience implementing Kubernetes security best practices, image scanning, runtime security, and secrets management.
• Strong knowledge of Kubernetes observability and monitoring solutions.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot issues across: Container Runtime, Networking, DNS, Application Layer.
• Experience leading technical teams and mentoring engineers.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and operate highly available Amazon EKS environments supporting critical production workloads.
• Design and implement Kubernetes platform standards, governance, multi-cluster strategies, and operational best practices.
• Manage cluster lifecycle activities including provisioning, upgrades, patching, scaling, backup, disaster recovery, and decommissioning.
• Drive Kubernetes platform modernization initiatives focused on reliability, automation, security, and developer experience.
• Establish and maintain Kubernetes security controls, policies, network segmentation, RBAC, Pod Security Standards, and admission controls.
• Optimize cluster performance, resource utilization, scheduling, autoscaling, and workload placement strategies.
• Lead Kubernetes incident response, root cause analysis, troubleshooting, and platform remediation efforts.
• Develop and maintain Helm charts, Kubernetes manifests, and reusable deployment patterns.
• Build and support GitOps deployment workflows utilizing modern CI/CD practices.
• Implement container image management, vulnerability scanning, and image hardening strategies.
• Standardize observability across Kubernetes environments through centralized monitoring, logging, tracing, and alerting solutions.
• Implement service mesh, ingress, networking, and traffic management solutions where appropriate.
• Design and maintain supporting AWS infrastructure using Terraform and IaC methodologies.
• Manage AWS services supporting Kubernetes environments including VPCs, IAM, ECR, Route53, Load Balancers, Security Groups, and CloudWatch.
• Implement highly resilient cloud architectures with strong security and operational controls.
• Partner with development teams to ensure applications are architected for cloud-native deployment and Kubernetes scalability.
• Lead and mentor a team of Platform and DevOps Engineers.
• Act as the primary Kubernetes Subject Matter Expert across the organization.
• Establish engineering standards, operational runbooks, and platform governance practices.
• Coach engineers on Kubernetes architecture, troubleshooting methodologies, and cloud-native technologies.
• Drive operational excellence and continuous improvement initiatives.

Skills

Kubernetes

Leadership

Mentoring

Solution design

Tools

Amazon EKS

Terraform

Docker

GitOps

CI/CD

Job description

DIRECT HIRE - No C2C Candidates / No Contract to Hire! No Sponsorship available for this role!

ONLY Local Candidates to DFW will be considered - HYBRID 3 days ONSITE

Must be authorized to work in the United States.

No visa sponsorship available now or in the future.

Candidates must be able to work on a W-2 basis without sponsorship.

Must be eligible to work in the U.S. without employer sponsorship.

Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled and hands-on Lead Kubernetes Platform Engineer to own and evolve our AWS-based Kubernetes platform. This role is responsible for the architecture, operation, scaling, security, and reliability of large-scale Amazon EKS environments that support mission-critical applications.

The ideal candidate is a Kubernetes subject matter expert with deep experience operating production Kubernetes clusters, implementing GitOps and Infrastructure-as-Code practices, driving platform automation, and mentoring engineering teams. While AWS expertise is required, Kubernetes will be the primary focus of this role.

The candidate will also lead a small team of engineers and establish best practices for container platform operations, security, scalability, and reliability.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and operate highly available Amazon EKS environments supporting critical production workloads.
• Design and implement Kubernetes platform standards, governance, multi-cluster strategies, and operational best practices.
• Manage cluster lifecycle activities including provisioning, upgrades, patching, scaling, backup, disaster recovery, and decommissioning.
• Drive Kubernetes platform modernization initiatives focused on reliability, automation, security, and developer experience.
• Establish and maintain Kubernetes security controls, policies, network segmentation, RBAC, Pod Security Standards, and admission controls.
• Optimize cluster performance, resource utilization, scheduling, autoscaling, and workload placement strategies.
• Lead Kubernetes incident response, root cause analysis, troubleshooting, and platform remediation efforts.
• Develop and maintain Helm charts, Kubernetes manifests, and reusable deployment patterns.
• Build and support GitOps deployment workflows utilizing modern CI/CD practices.
• Implement container image management, vulnerability scanning, and image hardening strategies.
• Standardize observability across Kubernetes environments through centralized monitoring, logging, tracing, and alerting solutions.
• Implement service mesh, ingress, networking, and traffic management solutions where appropriate.
• Design and maintain supporting AWS infrastructure using Terraform and Infrastructure as Code methodologies.
• Manage AWS services supporting Kubernetes environments including VPCs, IAM, ECR, Route53, Load Balancers, Security Groups, and CloudWatch.
• Implement highly resilient cloud architectures with strong security and operational controls.
• Partner with development teams to ensure applications are architected for cloud-native deployment and Kubernetes scalability.
• Lead and mentor a team of Platform and DevOps Engineers.
• Act as the primary Kubernetes Subject Matter Expert across the organization.
• Establish engineering standards, operational runbooks, and platform governance practices.
• Coach engineers on Kubernetes architecture, troubleshooting methodologies, and cloud-native technologies.
• Drive operational excellence and continuous improvement initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of infrastructure, platform engineering, DevOps, or cloud engineering experience.
• 5+ years of hands-on Kubernetes administration and engineering experience in production environments.
• Expert-level experience managing large-scale Kubernetes clusters, preferably Amazon EKS.
• Deep understanding of Kubernetes architecture including:
• Control Plane Components
• Worker Nodes
• Networking
• Storage
• RBAC
• Security Policies
• Ingress Controllers
• Service Discovery
• Autoscaling
• Strong expertise with:
• Amazon EKS
• Terraform
• Docker
• GitOps
• Experience implementing Kubernetes security best practices, image scanning, runtime security, and secrets management.
• Strong knowledge of Kubernetes observability and monitoring solutions.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot issues across:
• Container Runtime
• Networking
• DNS
• Application Layer
• Experience leading technical teams and mentoring engineers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)