Senior Automation Engineer (Platform & AI)

Hamilton Barnes ?; New York (NY); On-site; USD 203,000 - 248,000; Full time

Job summary

Hamilton Barnes is seeking a Senior Automation Engineer to transform infrastructure into a full-scale platform automation function, focusing on AI-driven automation with Kubernetes at the center. You’ll build, deploy, and operate containerized workloads across multiple environments and lead platform evolution with IaC practices.

You’ll work across engineering, security, and compliance to ensure observable, auditable AI systems and mentor peers in Linux, containers, and automation.

Qualifications

• Strong SRE or sysadmin background with Kubernetes and Docker/container experience.
• Solid Linux fundamentals; comfortable troubleshooting at the OS, network, and application layers.
• Working knowledge of LLM APIs, agent orchestration patterns, and building reliable AI pipelines in production.
• Security-minded: aware of AI-specific risks and how to mitigate them.
• Python or Go for automation and tooling; CI/CD and IaC experience (e.g., Terraform, Ansible).

Responsibilities

• Build, deploy, and operate containerized workloads at scale — currently ~50 microservices running on Docker Swarm, migrating to Kubernetes as the corporate standard.
• Own and evolve the Kubernetes platform, including container orchestration, service resilience, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Design and run agentic AI systems in production — agent harnesses, context management, RAG pipelines, and prompt engineering — with attention to token cost optimization and observability.
• Implement hybrid model strategies: lightweight/on-prem LLMs for routine decisions, frontier models for complex reasoning tasks.
• Partner across engineering, security, and compliance to ensure AI systems are observable, auditable, and defensible.
• Lead technically without formal authority; mentor engineers on Linux, containers, and automation practices.

Skills

Kubernetes

Docker

Linux basics

Networking basics

LLM APIs

Agent orchestration

AI pipelines

Python/Go

CI/CD

IaC

Terraform

Ansible

Security awareness

Communication

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

Job description

Job Title: Senior Automation Engineer (Platform & AI)

Location: New York, Chicago or Kansas City

Salary: Up to $225,000 TC

Do you want to work for a global financial technology business delivering the infrastructure, trading platforms and investment solutions that connect market participants worldwide.

We are seeking a Senior Automation Engineer to help transform our infrastructure team into a full-scale platform automation function over the next three years. This role combines hands-on site reliability engineering with the design and operation of AI-driven automation, with Kubernetes as the central pillar.

What you'll do

• Build, deploy, and operate containerized workloads at scale — currently ~50 microservices running on Docker Swarm, migrating to Kubernetes as the corporate standard
• Own and evolve the Kubernetes platform, including container orchestration, service resilience, and infrastructure-as-code
• Design and run agentic AI systems in production — agent harnesses, context management, RAG pipelines, and prompt engineering — with attention to token cost optimization and observability
• Implement hybrid model strategies: lightweight/on-prem LLMs (e.g., via OpenRouter) for routine decisions, frontier models for complex reasoning tasks
• Partner across engineering, security, and compliance to ensure AI systems are observable, auditable, and defensible
• Lead technically without formal authority; mentor engineers on Linux, containers, and automation practices

What you'll bring

• Strong SRE or sysadmin background with deep hands-on Kubernetes and Docker/container experience
• Solid Linux fundamentals; comfortable troubleshooting at the OS, network, and application layers
• Basic networking literacy (routing/switching concepts) — no expert-level certification required
• Working knowledge of LLM APIs, agent orchestration patterns, and building reliable AI pipelines in production
• Security-minded: aware of AI-specific risks (prompt injection, tool misuse, data leakage) and how to mitigate them
• Python or Go for automation and tooling; CI/CD and IaC experience (e.g., Terraform, Ansible)
• Clear communicator — able to translate technical trade-offs into decisions leadership can act on
• Financial services or other regulated industry experience is a plus