Sr. Kubernetes Engineer

Zelis•Morristown, TN

4h•$139,000 - $186,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Sr Kubernetes Engineer is a hands-on technical role responsible for designing, building, and operating Zelis’ Kubernetes platform(s). This role is central to our cloud modernization efforts and requires deep experience running Kubernetes in production. You will act as the technical authority for Kubernetes, directly contributing to platform architecture, security, reliability, developer experience, and cost optimization. The role is expected to be highly hands-on, including implementation and operational support. The position also offers a future path into people management for those who are interested, though it may remain a primarily technical role. You will partner closely with engineering, security, and infrastructure teams to deliver a secure, scalable, and reliable Kubernetes platform.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in cloud-native infrastructure, with deep expertise in Kubernetes (e.g., Native, Amazon EKS and Amazon ECS).
Proven track record of designing and operating production-grade Kubernetes platforms in multi-account AWS environments.
Strong proficiency in infrastructure-as-code (CDK with Python), AWS DevOps native CI/CD tooling, and observability stacks (e.g. CloudWatch).
Experience implementing security controls, RBAC, and compliance frameworks (e.g., CIS Benchmarks).
Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams and domains.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with GitOps workflows, and container security.
Exposure to platform engineering and internal developer platforms.
Experience with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Container Apps, Azure Container Instances (ACI), and Azure App Service for Containers is a plus.
Experience in regulated industries (e.g., healthcare, finance) is a plus.

Responsibilities

Platform Ownership & Strategy Architect and operationalize a Kubernetes platform(s) on AWS supporting multi-account, multi-region deployments aligned with AWS Well-Architected principles.
Define platform capabilities including compute autoscaling, pod networking, network policies, load balancing, and storage drivers.
Define paved path container standards and support consumption of those standards.
Lead platform roadmap development and cross-functional alignment with architecture, security, FinOps, and product engineering.
Operating System, Kubelet, CRI & AMI Configuration : Define and own lifecycle management, patching, and performance tuning of worker nodes.
Worker Node Scaling : Design and manage autoscaling groups, node pools, and lifecycle automation.
VPC Configuration : Architect secure and scalable VPCs, subnets, route tables, NAT gateways, and security groups.
EKS Cluster Configuration : Manage cluster-level settings including version upgrades, endpoint access, audit logging, and control plane integrations.
Add-ons Management : Deploy and maintain cluster add-ons such as CoreDNS, kube-proxy, metrics server, and custom controllers.
Policies & Governance : Define and enforce RBAC, network policies, pod security standards, and IAM roles for service accounts.
Quotas & Budgets : Implement resource quotas, tagging strategies, and budget controls to support chargeback models and cost transparency.
Drive standardization in tooling, automation, patching, and observability across Kubernetes clusters.
Own SLAs, SLOs, incident response playbooks, and platform reliability engineering practices.
Develop templates and automation to empower developers to build and run Kubernetes platform(s).
Build and maintain reusable service catalog products, CDK with Python, and CI/CD pipelines to support self-service infrastructure provisioning.
Champion developer experience through clear interfaces, documentation, and onboarding support.
Partner with architecture, security, FinOps, DevOps, and product teams to align platform capabilities with business outcomes.
Influence enterprise-wide infrastructure strategy through technical leadership and thought partnership.

Benefits

Zelis’ full-time associates are eligible for a highly competitive benefits package as well, which demonstrates our commitment to our employees’ health, well-being, and financial protection.
The US-based benefits include a 401k plan with employer match, flexible paid time off, holidays, parental leaves, life and disability insurance, and health benefits including medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.

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