Responsibilities:
At Principal, our dedication to innovation and excellence sets us apart. As a Senior Consultant - Software Engineering, you'll play a key role in crafting our modern platform solutions. You'll have the opportunity to work with a world-class team, applying your expertise to drive flawless execution and contribute to our ambitious goals. We value collaboration, inclusion, and continuous improvement, ensuring you have the support and resources needed to excel in your role.
Job Responsibilities
EKS Platform & Hybrid Node Management
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Manage daily operations of AWS EKS clusters and hybrid worker node environments (AWS and on-premises)
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Manage Kubernetes cluster services including CoreDNS, Cilium, Trident, ingress controllers, and other platform add-ons
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Standardize and automate cluster provisioning, node onboarding, decommissioning, and lifecycle management workflows
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Lead Kubernetes and EKS control plane upgrades, ensuring compatibility, testing, and successful deployment
Node Lifecycle, Patching & Platform Upgrades
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Compose and manage automated EKS worker node AMI build and deployment processes
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Lead regular patching, vulnerability fixing, and worker node upgrades across cloud and on-premises infrastructure
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Implement safe deployment strategies including node rotation, cordon/drain procedures, rollback mechanisms, and disruption management
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Drive platform compliance through timely remediation of operating system and Kubernetes-related vulnerabilities
Autoscaling & Capacity Optimization
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Develop and maintain Cluster Autoscaler and/or Karpenter solutions
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Define capacity management standards, scaling policies, node placement strategies, and workload optimization practices
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Troubleshoot scheduling, prioritisation, affinity, taints/tolerations, and performance-related issues
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Partner with engineering teams to optimize platform utilization and infrastructure costs
Platform Automation & GitOps or equivalent experience
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Develop and maintain Infrastructure-as-Code solutions using Terraform
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Operate and improve GitOps-based deployment practices using ArgoCD
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Develop reusable automation frameworks, modules, and deployment patterns to enhance platform consistency
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Maintain Helm charts and platform templates to support developer self-service capabilities
Security, Compliance & Governance
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Apply and maintain Kubernetes security protocols including RBAC, IRSA, secrets management, encryption, and network policies
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Establish policy-as-code governance using Kyverno or equivalent technologies
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Support security reviews, compliance audits, and automated evidence collection requirements
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Ensure platform adherence to enterprise security and regulatory standards
Networking & Connectivity
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Manage Kubernetes networking, service discovery, ingress, DNS, and load-balancing configurations
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Integrate Kubernetes platforms with enterprise networking and load-balancing solutions, including environments
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Troubleshoot hybrid connectivity, routing, DNS, application access, and network performance issues
Reliability Engineering & Observability
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Implement and maintain observability solutions for metrics, logs, events, and tracing
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Establish and track platform SLIs, SLOs, and operational health metrics
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Participate in incident response, major incident management, root cause analysis, and continuous service improvement initiatives
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Guide reliability engineering initiatives aimed at boosting platform stability and service availability
Backup, Recovery & Disaster Recovery
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Own backup and restore solutions using Velero and storage snapshot technologies
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Perform disaster recovery testing and validation exercises
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Ensure recovery objectives and business continuity requirements are consistently met
Documentation, Enablement & Leadership
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Develop runbooks, operational procedures, architecture documentation, and technical standards
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Mentor engineers and promote platform engineering guidelines across teams
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Work alongside application, infrastructure, security, and operations teams to support platform adoption and consistent advancement
Qualifications:
Required Skills & Experience
Experience
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12+ years in Platform Engineering, DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Cloud Engineering, or Infrastructure Engineering
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5+ years of hands-on Kubernetes administration and operations experience
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Established background in handling AWS EKS clusters within production settings
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Experience supporting enterprise-scale, highly available platforms with strong operational ownership
Technical Skills
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Deep knowledge of AWS EKS, Kubernetes architecture, cluster operations, and lifecycle management
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Practical experience managing Kubernetes version updates, handling worker node lifecycles, and planning AMI upgrade approaches
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Strong Terraform experience for cloud and Kubernetes infrastructure automation
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Experience with Helm for application and platform deployment management
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Automation and scripting experience using Python, Shell, Ansible, or similar technologies
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Solid understanding of Kubernetes networking, DNS, ingress controllers, load balancing, and service discovery
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Experience implementing observability and monitoring solutions such as Prometheus, CloudWatch, Dynatrace, Grafana, Fluent Bit, or a proficient alternative
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Strong problem-solving, troubleshooting, incident management, and root-cause analysis skills
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Experience with GitOps principles and continuous delivery practices
Security & Compliance
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Knowledge of Kubernetes security guidelines including RBAC, IRSA, secrets management, encryption, and network segmentation
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Experience implementing security, compliance, and governance controls within platform environments
Nice-to-Have Skills & Experience
Platform & Kubernetes Ecosystem
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Experience working with Karpenter in live environments
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Practical knowledge of Cilium, eBPF, and sophisticated Kubernetes networking
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Experience implementing policy-as-code using Kyverno, OPA Gatekeeper, or similar tools
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Experience in Velero backup, recovery, and disaster recovery testing
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Experience handling hybrid Kubernetes environments that integrate cloud and on-premises systems
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Experience with Trident storage integrations and container storage platforms
DevOps & Automation
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Experience with ArgoCD and enterprise GitOps implementations
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Experience with GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Harness, or similar CI/CD platforms
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Experience developing reusable Terraform modules and platform automation frameworks
Networking & Infrastructure
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Knowledge of Gateway API and advanced ingress architectures
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Experience troubleshooting hybrid cloud networking environments
Certifications
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Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), or equivalent
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AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, or equivalent cloud certifications
Additional Proficiencies
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Cost optimization and FinOps experience within Kubernetes environments
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Experience supporting multi-cluster and multi-environment platform standardization initiatives
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Experience mentoring engineers and leading technical initiatives
Additional Information:
Shift Timing: This role requires working in the 1:30 PM to 10:30 PM shift, supporting collaboration with global teams and business stakeholders.
