Weekend Kubernetes Engineer Jobs in Illinois (NOW HIRING)

***Hybrid, 3 days onsite, 2 days remote***

***We are unable to sponsor as this is a permanent full-time role***

Responsibilities:

• Design, configure, implement and manage Kubernetes clusters and maintain a fully automated workflow for provisioning and managing a complex, highly available container orchestration environment using infrastructure as code
• Develop and maintain Kubernetes operators, controllers, and custom resources to extend cluster functionality and automate application lifecycle management
• Manage DevOps development activities and complex development tasks that will involve working with tools such as Docker, Kafka, container runtimes, and Kubernetes ecosystem tools
• Lead and participate in Kubernetes cluster build-outs, upgrades, software installation, maintenance and support, including but not limited to, patches, security fixes, end-of-life preparation, and version upgrades
• Implement and manage Kubernetes networking solutions, service mesh architectures, runtime security policies, and RBAC configurations to ensure secure and efficient cluster operations
• Ensure the reliability of Kubernetes platforms and containerized services your area of responsibility provide and manage to both specific and implied SLAs to help the organization achieve both internal and external quality standard excellence for the cloud platform
• Assess and plan for capacity needs within Kubernetes clusters and the underlying cloud platform and forecast accordingly
• Implement and manage initiatives within your assigned area of responsibility with accountability for results and compliance with all controls and security requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree, preferably in a technical discipline (Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, etc.), or equivalent combination of education and experience required
• 7+ years experience in IT systems installation, operations, administration, and maintenance of cloud systems / virtualized servers, with demonstrated significant experience in Kubernetes and container orchestration platforms
• Extensive hands-on experience with Kubernetes cluster creation, maintenance, support, and administration in production environments
• Deep understanding and practical implementation experience with Kubernetes networking (CNI plugins, service types, ingress controllers), runtime security (Pod Security Standards, OPA/Gatekeeper, network policies), and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Experience with architecting, implementing and maintaining highly available mission critical Kubernetes environments for 24/7 availability
• Production-level hands-on experience with AWS cloud services and implementing Kubernetes on AWS (EKS or self-managed clusters)
• Extensive experience with Infrastructure as Code using Terraform for provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure and Kubernetes resources
• Strong hands-on development skills with demonstrable coding experience in Go or Python (Go strongly preferred for Kubernetes operator/controller development). Candidates must be able to provide specific examples of production code they have written.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes ecosystem tools including: Helm, kubectl, container runtimes (containerd, CRI-O), and monitoring/observability tools
• Experience with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions.
• Experience with version control using GitHub or similar platforms
• Experience with configuration management tools such as Ansible, Puppet, or Chef
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes operator/controller development using operator frameworks (Kubebuilder, Operator SDK, or similar). This can be demonstrated through either contributions to open-source Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) projects, OR Development of in-house Kubernetes operators/controllers. Note: If you have contributed to open-source CNCF projects, please include your GitHub profile link or links to notable Pull Requests in your resume.
• Experience with Rancher and RKE2 (Rancher Kubernetes Engine 2) Kubernetes distribution