Principal Kubernetes Control Plane Engineer

Bitdeer Technologies Group; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Bitdeer Technologies Group is seeking a Principal Kubernetes Control Plane Engineer to architect and build the foundation for our AI-native NeoCloud platform. You will design scalable control plane architectures, implement Operators and CRDs, and ensure zero-downtime upgrades across distributed regions.

This role requires deep distributed systems expertise and leadership to drive enterprise-grade reliability.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience in distributed systems.
• Strong Go expertise and production-grade experience.
• Proven leadership and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Design scalable Kubernetes control plane architectures for multi-cluster fleets.
• Develop Operators and CRDs to manage lifecycle orchestration.
• Optimize etcd performance and ensure multi-region resilience.

Skills

Go programming

Distributed systems

Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/EE

Tools

Kubernetes

Cluster API

etcd

Terraform

Job description

Bitdeer is a world-leading technology company for AI and Bitcoin mining infrastructure.

Bitdeer is committed to providing comprehensive Bitcoin mining solutions for its customers and building AI computational infrastructure to support the AI revolution. Bitdeer handles complex processes involved in computing such as equipment procurement, transport logistics, data center design and construction, equipment management, and daily operations. Bitdeer also offers advanced cloud capabilities to customers with high demand for artificial intelligence.

Headquartered in Singapore, Bitdeer has deployed data centers across multiple countries, including the United States, Norway, Bhutan, and Ethiopia.

To learn more, visit https://ir.bitdeer.com/

Position Overview

We are seeking a Principal Kubernetes Control Plane Engineer to architect the foundational control plane for our AI-native NeoCloud platform. You will be responsible for building highly available, automated systems to manage the lifecycle of thousands of Kubernetes control planes, ensuring zero-downtime upgrades and seamless multi-cluster federation. This role is central to our mission of providing a "NeoCloud" experience, requiring a strategic mindset to balance complex distributed systems design with robust, production-grade engineering. You will lead the development of the "chassis" that supports our high-performance AI workloads, ensuring our infrastructure is scalable, resilient, and ready for enterprise-grade demands.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable control plane architectures using tools like Cluster API to enable fleet-wide automation.
• Develop custom Kubernetes Operators and Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) to streamline lifecycle management and orchestration.
• Optimize etcd performance and ensure rock-solid state management across distributed cloud regions.
• Implement secure, multi-tenant isolation mechanisms at the API server layer to support enterprise-grade security and tenancy.
• Architect solutions for zero-downtime upgrades and multi-cluster federation to provide a seamless user experience for our AI customers.
• Collaborate with AI Scheduling and Fabric engineering teams to ensure the control plane integrates tightly with GPU orchestration layers.
• Lead design reviews and mentor engineers to uphold high standards of distributed systems architecture across the team.
• Drive platform reliability by identifying and mitigating failure modes in the control plane chassis before they impact customer training or inference jobs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 8+ years of software engineering experience, with deep, hands-on expertise in Go.
• Extensive experience contributing to or extending the Kubernetes ecosystem (e.g., Operators, API Server, etcd, Cluster API).
• Proven track record of operating, debugging, and scaling large-scale distributed systems in production environments.
• Deep understanding of multi-tenancy models, cluster federation, and API governance in cloud-native environments.
• Familiarity with infrastructure automation (e.g., Terraform, CI/CD pipelines) and managed cloud services.
• Strong technical leadership skills; ability to influence architectural decisions and align cross-functional teams.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex system requirements into manageable engineering milestones.
• Experience working in high-velocity, high-growth engineering environments is highly preferred.

Bitdeer is committed to providing equal employment opportunities in accordance with country, state, and local laws. Bitdeer does not discriminate against employees or applicants based on conditions such as race, color, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, marital and/or parental status, religion, political opinion, nationality, ethnic background or social origin, social status, disability, age, indigenous status, and union.