Senior Kubernetes Platform Architect - Gov't & Cloud

Peraton; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Peraton is seeking a highly skilled Kubernetes Architect to support a federal government customer, designing and operating enterprise Kubernetes platforms in air-gapped and cloud environments. You will lead platform strategy, security, and automation, guiding engineering and DevSecOps teams.

The role emphasizes hands-on engineering and architectural leadership to deliver scalable, compliant Kubernetes solutions for mission-critical systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent professional experience) preferred.
• 10+ years in infrastructure engineering, cloud architecture, DevOps, or platform engineering roles.
• 5+ years hands-on Kubernetes architecture and administration experience in enterprise or mission-critical environments.
• Deep expertise with Kubernetes, NKP, EKS, Terraform, IaC, and cloud-native technologies.
• Experience designing and supporting Kubernetes platforms in air-gapped and cloud environments.
• Strong AWS networking, IAM/RBAC, VPCs, subnets, routing, and security groups knowledge.
• Experience implementing secure and compliant Kubernetes environments in federal or regulated settings.
• Strong DevSecOps, CI/CD, automation, and container security practices.
• Operationalizing shared enterprise Kubernetes platforms for multi-tenant workloads.
• Excellent troubleshooting, performance optimization, and reliability engineering skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication to convey complex concepts.
• Active TS/SCI or Q/SCI security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and long-term strategy for enterprise Kubernetes platforms across air-gapped and cloud environments.
• Architect and maintain NKP environments on on‑prem and AWS.
• Establish secure foundations: networking, storage, IAM, RBAC, lifecycle management.
• Design cloud-native infrastructure with Terraform and IaC for automated deployment.
• Deploy and manage EKS environments with secure networking and HA resiliency.
• Develop scalable deployment workflows aligned with federal security requirements.
• Oversee platform operations: changes, upgrades, monitoring, security hardening, capacity.
• Provide SME guidance to engineering, DevSecOps, and application teams.
• Create reference architectures, standards, and runbooks for onboarding.

Skills

Kubernetes

NKP

Amazon EKS

Terraform

IaC

Cloud-native

DevSecOps

CI/CD

RBAC

Networking

Storage & PVs

Cluster lifecycle

Troubleshooting

Communication

Security clearance TS/SCI or QSCI

AWS networking

Identity management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/IT/Engineering or related field

Tools

Rancher

Helm

ArgoCD

GitOps

Istio/service mesh

Prometheus/Grafana

ELK/OpenSearch

Job description

Peraton is seeking a highly skilled Kubernetes Architect to support a federal government customer, designing and operating enterprise Kubernetes platforms in air-gapped and cloud environments. You will lead platform strategy, security, and automation, guiding engineering and DevSecOps teams.

The role emphasizes hands-on engineering and architectural leadership to deliver scalable, compliant Kubernetes solutions for mission-critical systems.