Kubernetes Platform Engineer

Xcel Engineering • Oak Ridge, TN

10h • Onsite

About The Position

XCEL Engineering is seeking a qualified applicant for a Kubernetes Platform Engineer. As a Platform Engineer, you will implement, and maintain the infrastructure underpinning our on-premises Kubernetes clusters, with a strong focus on scalability, reliability, and maintainability. You will lead the technical direction of our platform engineering initiatives, evaluate and integrate key technologies, and deliver a robust internal platform that powers development across the organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in computer science or closely related field and a minimum of 8 years as a Platforms engineer.
• At least 5 years of Kubernetes experience.
• An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• The ability to obtain and maintain a Department of Energy "Q" clearance is required.
• This requires US Citizenship.
• Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 6 years and a Master's degree; or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrated experience administering Kubernetes on on-premises infrastructure (K3s, RKE2, or similar bare-metal distributions).
• Experience with cloud-managed Kubernetes (GKE and/or EKS).
• Strong understanding of Linux networking fundamentals: iptables/nftables, routing tables, DNS, TCP/IP stack, network troubleshooting.
• Experience with GitOps methodologies and tools such as ArgoCD or Flux.
• Proficiency in scripting and automation: Bash, Python, Go.
• Cilium CNI or equivalent production experience.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and communicate technical concepts clearly.
• Understanding of Kubernetes security best practices including Pod Security Standards, RBAC, and secrets management.
• GCP (Google Cloud Platform) and/or AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud platform experience.

Nice To Haves

• Go programming experience for operator maintenance and platform tooling development.
• CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator) or CKS (Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist) certification.
• Background in BGP routing protocols and network engineering concepts.
• IPv6 networking experience.
• Infrastructure as Code experience with Terraform or Ansible.
• Experience with internal developer platform (IDP) tools such as Backstage or similar.
• Experience with service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd).
• Excellent understanding of code review and familiarity with GitHub and GitLab workflows.

Responsibilities

• Manage the full lifecycle of Kubernetes clusters (on-premises K3s/RKE2, GKE, and EKS), including upgrades, security patching, scaling, and capacity planning
• Troubleshoot cluster-level issues including control plane problems, node failures, and resource constraints
• Implement and maintain cluster security hardening based on CIS benchmarks and organizational security policies
• Manage etcd cluster health, backup procedures, and disaster recovery capabilities
• Monitor cluster performance and optimize resource utilization across multi-tenant workloads
• Coordinate with datacenter operations team for physical infrastructure changes and maintenance windows
• Implement, configure, and maintain Cilium CNI across on-premises and cloud Kubernetes environments
• Design and enforce network policies to achieve secure multi-tenant isolation
• Troubleshoot complex pod networking issues including DNS resolution, service discovery, and connectivity problems
• Configure and maintain BGP peering with physical network infrastructure for on-premises integration
• Work with network engineering team on firewall rules, VLANs, IPv6 networking, and network architecture

Benefits

• Award-winning small business
• Part of MartinFed company
• Support a leading research facility in the East Tennessee region in recruiting the best and the brightest technical talent.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 1-10 employees