Sr. Solutions Architect – Kubernetes Platform

Gravity IT Resources; Plantation (FL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Referral bonus

Job summary

Gravity IT Resources is seeking a seasoned Senior Solutions Architect to lead an internal Kubernetes Platform Team supporting mission-critical financial trading systems. This role blends hands-on technical leadership with people management to design, build, and operate scalable Kubernetes infrastructure in a modern cloud environment.

You will drive multi-region strategies, mentor engineers, and ensure performance, security, and compliance while partnering with enterprise architecture,

Qualifications

• Deep Kubernetes knowledge with multi-region operations.
• Strong AWS experience (EKS, VPC, IAM) and IaC with Terraform.
• Hands-on GitOps, service mesh, policy engines like OPA/Gatekeeper.
• Programming skills in Python or Go for automation.
• Experience with CI/CD platforms (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD).
• Observability stacks: Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana.
• Familiarity with Backstage platform and developer portals.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools.
• Excellent communication and leadership abilities.
• Proven track record mentoring engineers.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and grow Kubernetes platform engineering team.
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to set the platform roadmap.
• Architect multi-region deployments, DR and hybrid clouds.
• Develop core platform services: service mesh, GitOps, observability, security controls.
• Create templates, operators, and self-service tooling for developers.
• Enforce IaC standards with Terraform; evaluate build-vs-buy.
• Ensure 99.99% uptime during market hours and define runbooks.
• Design incident response and disaster recovery playbooks.
• Integrate AI-assisted tooling into CI/CD pipelines.

Skills

Kubernetes leadership

AWS EKS

GitOps Argo CD

Service mesh Cilium

Python/Go

CI/CD pipelines

Observability Datadog

AI tooling

Communication skills

Mentoring leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Terraform

Argo CD

Cilium

Datadog

Prometheus

Grafana

Backstage

OPA/Gatekeeper

GitHub Actions

Job description

Job: Senior Solutions Architect – Kubernetes Platform

Location: Remote (EST)

Job Type: Full-Time

Referral Bonus: $4,000 +/-

Candidate Must reside in: FL, TX, IL, NY, NJ, AL, AZ, AR, CO, CT, DE, GA, IN, KS, MA, MO, NC, TN, UT, or WI

Overview

We are seeking a seasoned Senior Solutions Architect to lead an internal Kubernetes Platform Team supporting mission?critical, high?availability financial trading systems. This role blends hands‑on technical expertise with people leadership, responsible for guiding a small but high?impact team of platform engineers who design, build, and operate the Kubernetes infrastructure that underpins enterprise?scale trading applications.

The ideal candidate has deep Kubernetes and AWS expertise, a strong architectural mindset, and the ability to operate at multiple levels—from defining multiregion cluster strategies to mentoring engineers and troubleshooting complex container networking issues. This role partners closely with enterprise architecture, application engineering, and infrastructure teams to remove friction, establish standards, and accelerate delivery while maintaining strict performance, security, and compliance requirements.

This organization operates in an AI?First culture, leveraging AI responsibly as a core part of daily workflows to improve development speed, operational efficiency, and system reliability.

Key Respondsibilites

Team Leadership & Management

• Lead, manage, and mentor the Kubernetes platform engineering team, including hiring, performance management, and career development
• Foster a collaborative, high?performance culture through architecture reviews, code reviews, and technical mentorship
• Coordinate with cross?functional stakeholders to prioritize the platform roadmap and communicate progress and outcomes

Platform Architecture & Engineering

• Architect and evolve the Kubernetes platform strategy, including multi?region deployments, disaster recovery, and hybrid cloud architectures
• Design and implement core platform services such as service mesh (Cilium), GitOps workflows (Argo CD), observability (Datadog), and security controls
• Build reusable templates, operators, and self?service tooling that accelerate development teams while enforcing compliance guardrails
• Drive infrastructure?as?code standards using Terraform and lead build?vs?buy evaluations for platform capabilities

Operational Excellence

• Ensure platform reliability meets strict financial services SLAs, including 99.99% uptime during market hours
• Define runbooks, incident response processes, and disaster recovery playbooks
• Proactively identify and mitigate architectural, operational, and scalability risks
• Integrate AI?assisted development and operational tooling into CI/CD pipelines and platform workflows

Skills & Qualifications

• Expert?level Kubernetes knowledge, including control plane internals, scheduler behavior, CRDs, CNI (Cilium), and multi?cluster/multi?region operations
• Deep AWS experience (EKS, VPC, IAM) with strong infrastructure?as?code proficiency using Terraform
• Hands?on experience with GitOps (Argo CD), service mesh technologies, and policy engines (OPA / Gatekeeper)
• Strong programming skills in Python, Go, or similar languages for automation and platform tooling
• Experience with CI/CD platforms (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD)
• Experience with observability stacks including Datadog, Prometheus, and Grafana
• Familiarity with platform engineering practices and developer portals (e.g., Backstage)
• Experience using AI?assisted development tools and workflows
• Strong communication skills, capable of explaining complex technical concepts to diverse audiences
• Demonstrated leadership experience mentoring engineers or leading complex technical initiatives

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent work experience
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in software engineering, DevOps, or platform engineering
• 5+ years of hands?on Kubernetes experience in production environments
• 5+ years of experience working with AWS or other major cloud providers
• 3+ years in a progressive technical leadership role (team lead, tech lead, or similar)

Desired Qualifications

• Experience supporting financial services or trading systems
• Experience with on?prem Kubernetes and hybrid cloud architectures
• Prior experience building or managing platform or infrastructure teams
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate or Professional)

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
Gravity IT Resources is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs.