Lead, Kubernetes Platform Engineer

Mastercard•O'fallon, MO

1d•$122,000 - $207,000•Onsite

About The Position

Mastercard's Kubernetes Platform Engineering team is seeking a highly skilled Lead Kubernetes Platform Engineer to drive the strategy, architecture, and evolution of our enterprise container platform. This role is responsible for designing, building, and operating cloud-native platform capabilities across Amazon EKS and Azure AKS while enabling secure, scalable, and resilient application delivery at global scale. As a technical leader, you will serve as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert for Kubernetes, GitOps, platform automation, service mesh, and cloud-native engineering practices. You will lead complex initiatives, guide architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and partner with Architecture, Security, SRE, and Product teams to accelerate adoption of modern platform capabilities across Mastercard.

Requirements

Proven experience designing, building, and operating large-scale Kubernetes platforms in enterprise environments.
Deep expertise with Kubernetes, Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, container orchestration, networking, and cloud-native architectures.
Strong hands-on experience with Argo CD, GitOps methodologies, ApplicationSets, and multi-cluster management.
Advanced knowledge of Kubernetes networking, ingress architectures, Gateway API, and traffic management.
Expertise with Infrastructure-as-Code and automation technologies including CDK, Bicecp, Helm, and CI/CD tooling.
Experience implementing progressive delivery strategies utilizing Argo Rollouts, Flagger, or similar technologies.
Strong understanding of observability, policy management, security controls, and Kubernetes ecosystem tooling.
Demonstrated ability to lead large, complex engineering initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and teams.
Recognized technical leader with a track record of influencing architecture and engineering standards.
Experience mentoring engineers and elevating team technical capabilities.
Proven ability to balance strategic vision with hands-on technical execution.
Strong problem-solving skills and experience resolving complex platform and infrastructure challenges.
Strong understanding of system ownership, platform lifecycle management, and long-term technical health.
Ability to make sound technical trade-offs that balance scalability, security, reliability, and business value.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Passion for continuous improvement, automation, operational excellence, and customer-centric platform delivery.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of enterprise Kubernetes platform capabilities across AWS and Azure.
Define and evolve platform standards for cluster lifecycle management, networking, workload identity, security, observability, and resiliency.
Drive the long-term technical vision and roadmap for Mastercard's multi-cloud Kubernetes ecosystem.
Champion cloud-native design patterns and engineering best practices across the organization.
Own the enterprise GitOps strategy leveraging Argo CD, ApplicationSets, and multi-cluster fleet management.
Design and implement reusable platform services, automation frameworks, and Infrastructure-as-Code solutions using CDK and Bicep.
Improve developer experience through self-service platform capabilities and standardized deployment workflows.
Lead adoption of progressive delivery practices including canary, blue/green, and traffic-managed deployments.
Serve as a lead technical authority for Kubernetes and platform engineering initiatives.
Lead architecture reviews, design discussions, and engineering best-practice adoption.
Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance to help develop next-generation platform talent.
Influence technical direction across multiple teams and partner organizations.
Drive operational excellence through automation, monitoring, observability, and continuous improvement.
Lead troubleshooting and resolution of complex distributed systems issues across multi-cloud environments.
Ensure platform solutions meet reliability, compliance, security, and scalability requirements.
Establish operational standards, runbooks, and engineering practices that improve platform health and sustainability.
Partner with Architecture, Security, Infrastructure, and application teams to align platform capabilities with business objectives.
Communicate technical strategy and recommendations to engineering leadership and stakeholders.
Build consensus across teams to accelerate enterprise cloud-native transformation initiatives.

Benefits

insurance (including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, disability, life insurance)
flexible spending account and health savings account
16 weeks of new parent leave
up to 20 days of bereavement leave
80 hours of Paid Sick and Safe Time
25 days of vacation time
5 personal days
10 annual paid U.S. observed holidays
401k with a best-in-class company match
deferred compensation for eligible roles
fitness reimbursement or on-site fitness facilities
eligibility for tuition reimbursement