Senior DevOps Engineer (EKS/Kubernetes)

Job Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and maintain Linux infrastructure in on-premises and cloud environments.
• Automate infrastructure provisioning and configuration using tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation.
• Manage and optimize AWS environments with a focus on performance, scalability, security, and cost efficiency.
• Implement and maintain monitoring, logging, and alerting solutions (e.g., Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, CloudWatch).
• Architect, deploy, and operate production Kubernetes/AWS EKS clusters, including node group strategy, cluster upgrades, multi-tenant workload isolation, and cross-region disaster recovery (DR) architecture and build outs.
• Define and lead cluster upgrade, security hardening, and disaster recovery strategies for production Kubernetes/AWS EKS environments at scale, while serving as a senior technical resource for complex production incidents.
• Manage Kubernetes networking, including VPC CNI configuration and ingress controllers (ALB/NGINX/Traefik).
• Implement IAM Roles for pod security standards, and network policies to secure EKS workloads.
• Configure and tune cluster autoscaling (Cluster Autoscaler or Karpenter) and workload autoscaling (HPA/VPA) to optimize performance and cost.
• Build and maintain Helm charts and GitOps-based deployment pipelines (e.g., ArgoCD, Flux) for Kubernetes workloads.
• Manage Docker container builds and registries in support of EKS-based application deployment.
• Deploy, scale, and maintain GitLab Runners (including Kubernetes executor runners on EKS) to support CI/CD pipeline throughput and reliability.
• Support and help operate database platforms on AWS RDS (MySQL, PostgreSQL), collaborating with data owners on performance and reliability.
• Ensure systems meet security and compliance requirements, including SOX and SOC 2 initiatives.
• Execute and maintain Linux patching strategies, addressing security updates and CVEs in a timely manner.
• Support and help operate incident response, root cause analysis, and recovery efforts.
• Collaborate with development, QA, and cross-functional teams to improve reliability, release processes, and operational standards.
• Participate in on-call rotations and provide after-hours support as required.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in Linux Systems Administration, DevOps, or Site Reliability Engineering roles.
• 5+ years of experience with AWS services, including EC2, VPC, IAM, RDS, S3, and CloudWatch.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience designing and operating production workloads on Kubernetes/AWS EKS, including cluster upgrades, networking, and autoscaling.
• Proficiency in scripting and automation using Python and Bash.
• Strong hands-on experience with Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, and with CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI/CD), including running CI/CD workloads on Kubernetes/EKS.
• Proficiency with Docker, Helm, and Kubernetes troubleshooting in a production environment.
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals and cloud security best practices.
• CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator) certification expected or actively in progress.

Preferred Qualifications

• CKAD and AWS certifications (e.g., AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, Solutions Architect) a plus.
• Experience with Karpenter, Kyverno, OPA/Gatekeeper, Falco, and multi-cluster/multitenant EKS environments.
• Experience using AI and automation tools including Claude, Cursor, and OpenAI to streamline DevOps workflows through AI-assisted CI/CD, self-healing operations, and automated incident response.
• Experience with microservices, serverless architectures, and DevSecOps practices.