Lead Platform Engineer

Garmin; Olathe (KS); On-site; USD 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Garmin's benefit program

Job summary

Garmin is looking for a full-time Lead Platform Engineer at its U.S. headquarters in Olathe, Kansas. This role involves leading automation initiatives and supporting platform operations across cloud and on-premises environments. Successful candidates will have hands-on experience with Linux systems, Terraform, and Kubernetes, and a strong ability to document technical procedures.

The position is suited for experienced engineers with a focus on reliability and performance, offering opportunities for professional growth in a collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• 9+ years of relevant experience in IT or a related field.
• Proven ability to implement disaster recovery and business continuity strategies.
• Hands-on experience with IaC tools like Terraform and Ansible.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex automation efforts and support platform operations.
• Troubleshoot Linux and integration issues in a collaborative environment.
• Document technical processes and improve system reliability.

Skills

Linux operating systems

Terraform

Ansible

Kubernetes

Python

Bash

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Docker

CI/CD tools

Job description

Overview

We are seeking a full-time Lead Platform Engineer at Garmin's U.S. headquarters in the Greater Kansas City area to implement, automate, and support platforms and CI/CD capabilities that enable reliable application delivery across cloud and on-premises environments. In this role, you will lead complex automation efforts, support Linux-based platforms and related integrations, improve operational reliability and performance, and work as a consultant with development teams to support scalable delivery practices. This role is aligned to a level 3 engineering scope with strong hands‑on ownership of automation, platform operations, troubleshooting, and cross‑team technical execution.

Essential Functions

• Exercises a significant degree of leadership to projects and programs which contribute directly to organizational objectives
• Leads major IT projects with multiple system and application integrations across the organization
• Develops and supports system integrations between multiple systems and/or applications
• Contributes to advanced technical research on new technologies and determines feasibility of team or functional goals/objectives
• Leads complex infrastructure, automation, and integration efforts across DevOps and platform-related services
• Builds and improves automation for provisioning, configuration management, and operational support using tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Bash, and Python
• Supports and improves CI/CD pipelines, container platforms, and related developer tooling
• Troubleshoots complex Linux, platform, routing and integration issues involving infrastructure and configuration as code
• Improves system stability, scalability, alerting, logging, automated recovery, and overall operational performance
• Supports implementations while following security, operational, and change management standards
• Uses monitoring and operational data to improve uptime, capacity, and service reliability
• Researches technologies and evaluates practical solutions that support team and business goals
• Maintains clear technical and configuration documentation and communicates effectively across teams
• Plans and executes technical work independently while supporting development teams with onboarding and day-to-day guidance
• Applies standards and procedures to accomplish tasks
• Learns how to use and apply appropriate tools as needed for this role
• Documents work thoroughly and in an organized manner and works collaboratively and professionally in a team environment with Garmin associates to achieve goals

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Management Information Systems, or another related field AND a minimum of 9 years relevant experience OR equivalent combination of education and relevant experience
• Excellent academics (cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 3.0 as a general rule) with the demonstrated ability to apply learned knowledge
• Strong and effective verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills in a small team setting
• Experience in implementing disaster recovery and business continuity strategies
• Hands‑on experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools (Terraform, Ansible) to automate provisioning and configuration of environments
• Experience with Kubernetes, container orchestration, or closely related platform infrastructure in production environments
• Hands‑on experience with Infrastructure as Code and automation tools such as Terraform and Ansible
• Strong understanding of Linux operating systems, TCP/IP networking fundamentals, and containerization technologies such as Docker or Podman
• Experience with source and version control practices
• Working skill in one or more scripting or coding languages such as Bash, Python, Ansible, etc.
• Able to think critically, troubleshoot complex technical issues, and work effectively with configuration as code
• Experience supporting or developing CI/CD and platform pipelines
• Work under light supervision and independently determine effective technical approaches and solution

Desired Qualifications

• Possess a breadth of experience across Linux, networking, and coding or automation disciplines
• Knowledge of Kubernetes and the surrounding platform technologies used to deploy, operate, and support it
• Working knowledge of load‑balancing technologies (Citrix NetScaler, HAProxy, F5, etc.)
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and cloud platform services (ArgoCD, Tekton, Jenkins, etc.)
• Exposure to monitoring and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, OTEL, Elastic, Kibana, etc.)
• Familiarity with high-performance platform environments and supporting development team onboarding
• Exposure to messaging technologies (RabbitMQ, Kafka, etc.)
• Demonstrated ability to document platform configurations, operational procedures, and technical decisions clearly

Garmin International is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran’s status, age or disability.

This position is eligible for Garmin's benefit program. Details can be found here: Garmin Benefits