Kubernetes Platform Architect and Technical Lead (On-Prem)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Oak Ridge (TN); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) seeks a Kubernetes Platforms Principal Architect to lead the design, implementation, and lifecycle of on‑premises Kubernetes (RKE2) clusters within the NCCS. The role emphasizes scalability, reliability, and maintainability of the internal platform powering HPC workloads.

You will mentor 8–12 engineers, drive IaC and GitOps practices, and collaborate with cybersecurity, SRE, and development teams to meet security and usability requirements.

Qualifications

• BS degree in computer science or related field.
• Minimum 8 years of platforms engineering experience; Kubernetes exp. (5+ years).
• Strong knowledge of Linux/UNIX fundamentals and networking.
• Experience with automation and deployment tooling (Bash, Python/Go).
• Experience with IaC and GitOps (Puppet, Ansible, GitLab CI, Argo CD).
• Ability to architect and lead complex Kubernetes platforms at scale.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture, design, and lifecycle of on-prem Kubernetes (RKE2) clusters.
• Evaluate and standardize core platform components across networking, CI/CD, OS management, service mesh, and operators.
• Build test environments to evaluate candidate technologies for performance and reliability.
• Drive cluster upgrade strategy, security hardening, and scalability planning.
• Mentor a team of 8–12 engineers and provide design reviews and guidance.
• Collaborate on an internal developer platform (Backstage, AWS Proton) and secure container image baselines.

Skills

Kubernetes platform engineering

Linux systems

Security hardening

Mentorship

Technical leadership

Communication

Education

BS in computer science or related field

Tools

RKE2

Argo CD

GitLab CI

Puppet

Ansible

Go

Python

Job description

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) seeks a Kubernetes Platforms Principal Architect to lead the design, implementation, and lifecycle of on‑premises Kubernetes (RKE2) clusters within the NCCS. The role emphasizes scalability, reliability, and maintainability of the internal platform powering HPC workloads.

You will mentor 8–12 engineers, drive IaC and GitOps practices, and collaborate with cybersecurity, SRE, and development teams to meet security and usability requirements.