Architect - Kubernetes Cloud Platform Engineering

Architect of Kubernetes, Cloud Platform Engineering

The Architect of Kubernetes, Cloud Platform Engineering will lead engineering delivery and operations to design, deploy, and scale containerized platforms and CI/CD ecosystems. This role defines the Kubernetes platform architecture and acts as a hands-on engineer to turn vision into reality. Supported by a team of engineers, the ideal candidate has led large scale Platform-as-a-Service solutions and excels at setting technical direction while breaking delivery into actionable components. We are transforming the way technology is managed at Marriott. Kubernetes, automation, and GitOps-driven DevSecOps has become the new standard to enable rapid iteration, speed-to-market, and proactive security and operations. With leaders experienced in driving this transformation, we seek engineers passionate about evolving the organization and setting the gold standard for container orchestration and secure automation. We continue to transform how we run Kubernetes in a multi-cloud environment, so thought leadership and the ability to bring others along are key.

Candidate Profile

Required:

• Undergraduate degree in an engineering or computer science discipline and/or equivalent experience/certification
• 8+ years of progressive technology experience with a blend of deep technical knowledge and a customer-focused mindset that includes:
• 5+ years in an engineering role as a strategic thinker that relates technology solutions to customer use cases
• 4+ years' experience with public cloud technology stacks such as AWS, Azure, GCP or Alibaba
• 4+ years' experience with containers – Kubernetes solution design, deployment, management and orchestration across multi-cloud environment
• 5+ years' experience driving highly technical architecture, and driving outcomes with automation and Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and Helm
• 3+ years' experience building and operating CI/CD – build, deploy, release automation through pipelines
• Delivery focused with experience in Kanban

Preferred:

• Ability to design end-to-end architecture that supports 99.99% service availability with performance and cost considerations
• Familiarity with cloud native database technologies (Amazon RDS, Aurora, Keyspaces, DocumentDB, Redis/Elasticache, Azure CosmosDB)
• Familiarity with distributed systems such as Kafka, Couchbase, Cassandra, etc.
• Familiarity with Go, Rust and/or Python
• Exposure to Service Mesh technologies such as Istio, Linkerd, or Consul Connect
• Excellent technical knowledge of current & emerging infrastructure systems & standards
• Strong knowledge of the best available tools, software, applications, and systems for attaining best-in-class technology platforms across the enterprise.
• Ability to create constructive relationships, influence, and communicate (to product team, engineering management, and non-technical staff).

Core Work Activities

• Full ownership of the Kubernetes platform lifecycle – provisioning, automation and modernization.
• Operationally responsible for enterprise Kubernetes platform, serving in oncall rotation and as an escalation point of contact for any platform outages
• Experience designing and deploying Kubernetes clusters (e.g., OpenShift, EKS, AKS, GKE) from scratch using GitOps and automation
• Proficiency in automating cluster provisioning and configuration using Terraform
• Ability to configure control plane components, including networking (CNI), storage classes, RBAC, and pod security policies
• Experience implementing multi-tenancy, namespace isolation, and resource quotas
• Hands-on experience with Helm chart development and Kubernetes Operators
• Familiarity with service mesh technologies (e.g., Istio) for traffic routing, mTLS, and workload observability
• Proven ability to modernize application platforms to support container-based microservices
• Experience building CI/CD pipelines integrated with Kubernetes, including GitOps workflows (e.g., ArgoCD, Flux)
• Ownership of cluster lifecycle management, including upgrades, patching, backup/restore, and disaster recovery
• Integration of monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, OpenTelemetry) at the platform level
• Implementation of platform-level security controls, including policy-as-code (OPA/Gatekeeper), secrets management (Vault), and IAM governance
• Ability to enable developer self-service through platform tooling and automation
• Experience supporting high-availability and fault-tolerant infrastructure for mission-critical workloads
• Serve as technical lead for a team of the Kubernetes engineers, providing technical guidance, mentoring, and fostering a collaborative environment
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, such as software engineers, system administrators, and security teams, to ensure the alignment of security requirements throughout the development process
• Deploy, automate, maintain, and manage cloud infrastructure to ensure security, performance, and availability of production systems
• Code solutions to continuously improve products and solutions to be scalable and highly available
• Review issues logs and metrics to identify trends and solutions that should be implemented
• Maintain in-depth documentation of activities and system configuration
• Perform troubleshooting, resolution, and problem analysis
• Participate in architectural discussions to help Application Teams make the most efficient choices
• Leads the "big picture" of challenges impacting the customer experience, including the technical, functional, and process considerations, and creatively defines the D&O strategy to address those challenges
• Develops and communicates a point of view on complex technical topics. Aligns multiple domains, both technical and non-technical, on this common vision
• Creates and articulates an innovative and compelling value proposition so that MI executives clearly realize the benefits and transformational value of automation
• Interviews talent, provides peer reviews/feedback frequently and fosters a modern engineering culture

Managing Product Priorities

• Functions as a strategic senior technical expert within the department
• Develops specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish work
• Champions leaders' vision for product and service delivery
• Determines priorities, schedules, plans and necessary resources to promote feature completion
• Analyzes information and evaluates results to choose the best solution and solve problems
• Thinks creatively and practically to develop, execute and implement new products, features and enhancements

Providing Technical Support and Consultation

• Provides technical expertise and technical leadership within own and other teams
• Provides and helps implement recommendations to improve the effectiveness of solutions, processes and products
• Demonstrates advanced knowledge of job-relevant issues, products, systems, and processes
• Applies knowledge/judgment to resolve problems and achieve business goals
• Keeps up-to-date technically and applies new knowledge to job
• Performs other reasonable duties as required for this position

At Marriott International, we are dedicated to being an equal opportunity employer, welcoming all and providing access to opportunity. We actively foster an environment where the unique backgrounds of our associates are valued and celebrated. Our greatest strength lies in the rich blend of culture, talent, and experiences of our associates. We are committed to non-discrimination on any protected basis, including disability, veteran status, or other basis protected by applicable law.

All positions offer a 401(k) plan, stock purchase plan, discounts at Marriott properties, commuter benefits, employee assistance plan, and childcare discounts. Benefits are subject to terms and conditions, which may include rules regarding eligibility, enrollment, waiting period, contribution, benefit limits, election changes, benefit exclusions, and others. Click here to learn more.

Full-time positions also offer coverage for medical, dental, vision, health care flexible spending account, dependent care flexible spending account, life insurance, disability insurance, accident insurance, adoption expense reimbursements, paid parental leave and educational assistance.

Washington Applicants Only: Employees will accrue paid sick leave, 0.077 PTO balance for every hour worked and be eligible to receive a minimum of 9 holidays annually. Marriott HQ is committed to a hybrid work environment that enables associates to Be connected. Headquarters-based positions are considered hybrid, for candidates within a commuting distance to Bethesda, MD; candidates outside of commuting distance to Bethesda, MD will be considered for Remote positions.

Marriott International is the world's largest hotel company, with more brands, more hotels and more opportunities for associates to grow and succeed. Be where you can do your best work, begin your purpose, belong to an amazing global team, and become the best version of you