Senior Kubernetes Platform Architect for Exascale HPC

UT-Battelle; Oak Ridge (TN); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

UT-Battelle is seeking a Kubernetes Platform Principal Engineer/Architect to design, implement, and lead on-premises Kubernetes clusters (RKE2) across our HPC platforms. You will drive architecture, automation, and tooling to ensure scalable, secure, and reliable infrastructure powering ORNL’s world-class supercomputing systems.

You will mentor a team of engineers, collaborate with cybersecurity and SRE teams, and guide platform enhancements from development to operations, balancing security,

Qualifications

• 8+ years of platforms engineering experience with at least 5 years of Kubernetes experience.
• Experience designing, implementing and operating highly available Kubernetes platforms in production environments.
• Strong knowledge of Linux (RHEL/UNIX) and networking fundamentals.
• Experience developing and maintaining automation, configuration-management, or deployment tooling using Bash and one or more languages (Python/Go).
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code and GitOps practices (Puppet, Ansible, GitLab CI, Argo CD).
• Strong communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Architect and manage the lifecycle of on-premises Kubernetes clusters (RKE2).
• Evaluate, select, integrate, and standardize core platform components for networking, CI/CD, OS management, service mesh, and Kubernetes operators.
• Build and maintain test environments to evaluate candidate technologies for performance and reliability.
• Lead cluster upgrade strategy, security hardening, and scalability planning; integrate with monitoring/observability services.
• Develop automation patterns and IaC workflows; promote reusable practices across clusters.
• Mentor 8–12 engineers; provide design guidance, code reviews, and onboarding support.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity, SRE, and development teams on security/compliance needs.

Skills

Kubernetes

Linux basics

Networking

Python

Go

Bash

CI/CD

GitOps

Leadership

Communication

Education

BS in Computer Science

Tools

RKE2

Helm

GitLab CI

Argo CD

Puppet

Ansible

Go

Job description

UT-Battelle is seeking a Kubernetes Platform Principal Engineer/Architect to design, implement, and lead on-premises Kubernetes clusters (RKE2) across our HPC platforms. You will drive architecture, automation, and tooling to ensure scalable, secure, and reliable infrastructure powering ORNL’s world-class supercomputing systems.

You will mentor a team of engineers, collaborate with cybersecurity and SRE teams, and guide platform enhancements from development to operations, balancing security,