Kubernetes Platform Leader — Scale, Reliability & Security

KAYAK; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work policy (remote/hybrid)

Team-wide time off

Volunteer Time Off (VTO)

Wellness programs

Employee ERGs (affinity groups)

Career growth opportunities

Job summary

KAYAK seeks a Manager, Kubernetes Operations to lead the container platform team responsible for reliability, scalability, and security of our Kubernetes platform at global scale. You will own the roadmap, drive lifecycle management, and guide incident reviews while partnering with security and engineering teams.

Leadersh ip, deep Kubernetes expertise, and a commitment to inclusive, high-performing teams are essential as you shape the strategy and nurture talent in a fast-moving environment.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of operating large-scale, 24/7 production Kubernetes environments.
• Experience with cluster lifecycle management (upgrades, provisioning, capacity planning).
• Hands-on expertise with RBAC, network policy, and cluster hardening.
• Experience with on-premises and cloud infrastructure (GCP/AWS).
• Strong scripting/automation skills (Python/Go/Bash) to support IaC workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of container platform engineers, owning hiring, performance management and career development.
• Own the technical roadmap and operational strategy for the Kubernetes platform across production and non-production environments.
• Drive reliability, scalability, and security of the Kubernetes platform; ensure observability and incident response are blameless.
• Promote infrastructure-as-code and GitOps for cluster config and deployments; reduce manual toil.
• Collaborate with software engineering, security, and infra teams to align platform roadmap with broader goals.
• Coach engineers on Kubernetes best practices and security postures; foster ownership and learning.

Skills

Kubernetes

Observability tooling

Automation scripting

Leadership

Cloud platforms

Infrastructure as code

Communication

People management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Job description

KAYAK seeks a Manager, Kubernetes Operations to lead the container platform team responsible for reliability, scalability, and security of our Kubernetes platform at global scale. You will own the roadmap, drive lifecycle management, and guide incident reviews while partnering with security and engineering teams.

Leadersh ip, deep Kubernetes expertise, and a commitment to inclusive, high-performing teams are essential as you shape the strategy and nurture talent in a fast-moving environment.