Lead Container Platform Engineer

Candidate Profile

The Lead Container Platform Engineer drives the architecture, delivery, and lifecycle management of an enterprise Kubernetes service supporting internal engineering teams across regulated environments.

This role combines deep technical platform expertise with service ownership responsibilities. The Lead Engineer defines platform standards, guides cluster lifecycle strategy, supports complex production incidents, and mentors engineers contributing to the container platform service.

The role focuses on delivering reusable platform capabilities that improve developer productivity, strengthen operational reliability, and ensure compliance with enterprise governance standards.

Typical responsibilities include:

• Leading the design and operation of Kubernetes clusters in enterprise environments
• Supporting large-scale bare-metal cluster deployments
• Defining and governing GitOps-based platform configuration workflows
• Extending Kubernetes through validated platform add-ons and integrations
• Providing escalation-level (L4) platform support for internal consumers
• Driving automation for infrastructure and service lifecycle operations
• Monitoring upstream Kubernetes ecosystem roadmaps and assessing service impact
• Collaborating with security, architecture, and infrastructure teams in regulated environments
• Mentoring engineers and contributing to platform engineering standards and best practices

Role Description

• Lead the design and implementation of an enterprise Kubernetes service offering
• Define architecture standards across multi-cluster platform environments
• Oversee deployment and operation of Kubernetes clusters across bare-metal infrastructure
• Drive adoption of GitOps-based configuration management workflows
• Provide L4 escalation support for platform consumers and complex production issues
• Standardize cluster lifecycle automation and platform add-on delivery
• Align platform capabilities with enterprise security and compliance requirements
• Monitor upstream Kubernetes product roadmaps and anticipate service evolution needs
• Contribute to platform reliability strategy and operational maturity improvements

Skills

Required

• Deep experience deploying and operating Kubernetes clusters in enterprise environments
• Strong Linux platform engineering and administration expertise
• Experience implementing declarative infrastructure and GitOps delivery models
• Experience supporting multi-cluster Kubernetes environments at scale

Nice to Have

• Rancher / RKE
• OpenShift
• ArgoCD / Flux
• CoreOS
• RHEL / Fedora
• Bare-metal cluster operations
• CSI / CNI integration experience
• Cluster lifecycle automation tooling

Communication & Leadership Skills

• Convey complex platform architecture concepts clearly and concisely
• Adapt communication to technical and non-technical audiences
• Operate autonomously while influencing cross-team platform direction
• Mentor engineers and contribute to capability development within the team
• Collaborate effectively with architecture, infrastructure, and security stakeholders

Qualifications

• Typically 812+ years of experience in platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, or container platform operations roles
• Including at least 3–5 years of hands-on Kubernetes experience in production enterprise environments
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• Master’s degree preferred but not required

Relevant certifications (nice to have)

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• Red Hat OpenShift Certification
• Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)
• Cloud provider Kubernetes certifications (EKS / AKS / GKE)