Principal Cloud-Native Architect — Kubernetes Leader

Akamai Technologies, Inc.; Frankfort (KY); On-site; USD 169,000 - 305,000; Full time

Job summary

Akamai Technologies, Inc. is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead Kubernetes and cloud-native architecture across our managed services. You will shape the strategy, drive scale, and mentor squads to deliver reliable cloud-native capabilities.

Join our Compute Team to influence how we evolve our Kubernetes-based platforms, partner with cross-functional leaders, and champion open-source integrations while maintaining an exceptional engineering culture.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• Experience building and scaling managed services and Kubernetes-based platforms.
• Expert knowledge of container runtimes (e.g., docker, containers) and orchestrators.
• Mastery in Go, Python, or Bash.
• Champion for sustaining an exceptional work environment and advocating for diverse opinions in technical debates.

Responsibilities

• Providing cross-team architectural oversight and strategic guidance to ensure cloud-native efforts are cohesively implemented across all product development teams.
• Acting as a unifying technical authority for cloud-native initiatives, ensuring architectural alignment, standardization, and technical excellence organization-wide.
• Partnering with cross-functional leadership to integrate diverse cloud-native technologies, bridging gaps between individual product teams and core platform infrastructure.
• Facilitating a unified technical strategy that empowers teams to deploy and operate cloud-native services efficiently, rather than focusing on a single product silo.
• Mentoring engineering teams across the organization, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and shared technical standards.

Skills

Kubernetes

Cloud-native architectures

Go

Python

Bash

Mentoring teams

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Docker

Job description

Akamai Technologies, Inc. is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead Kubernetes and cloud-native architecture across our managed services. You will shape the strategy, drive scale, and mentor squads to deliver reliable cloud-native capabilities.

Join our Compute Team to influence how we evolve our Kubernetes-based platforms, partner with cross-functional leaders, and champion open-source integrations while maintaining an exceptional engineering culture.