IT Ops Specialist / Kubernetes Operational Support - Remote Eligible

Kubernetes Operational Support Specialist

In this role, you'll join a team to provide 24/7 operational support of our Kubernetes (GKE/AKS/Kubernetes) environment, focusing on operational support and optimizing its health and performance. Your expertise in Kubernetes (GKE/AKS) will be crucial, as you'll oversee the management and security of our containerized applications. This includes ensuring efficient resource allocation and adherence to best practices for container deployments. Additionally, your secondary responsibilities include supporting the availability and performance of the entire GCP (Google Cloud Platform) Cloud environment at a platform level, proactively identifying and resolving any potential issues.

Professional certifications related to Kubernetes are beneficial (Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS), etc. Other certifications related to GCP platform are beneficial, along with Certified Terraform Associate.

The role requires familiarity with ITIL processes (incident, change, and problem management) and availability for off-hours support.

Drive root cause analysis on repeatable incidents to help prevent issues in the future.

Provide operational consultancy for future-state technologies.

Stay up to date with emerging security threats and industry best practices related to container security and cloud-native technologies.

Responsible for DEV to PROD GCP Cloud Containers/PaaS/IaaS/etc. support and processes. This is to ensure quality, performance, and availability of Public Cloud services (GCP).

Critical thinker with strong research and analytics skills.

Mandatory technical skills include:

• 3+ years of experience supporting container technologies such as Kubernetes, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Docker, Podman. Strong to expert knowledge of providing operational support related to Kubernetes workloads (GKE/AKS/etc.)
• Experience implementing Kubernetes technologies such as network policies, service mesh, certificate manager, ingress controllers, etc..
• Strong understanding of Kubernetes resource types (i.e. cluster roles, services, deployments etc.).
• Experience developing Helm Charts.
• Familiarity with Cloud PaaS services such as Google Cloud Run, Google GKE Autopilot, and Anthos Service Mesh.
• Experience using IaC (Infrastructure-as-Code) tools such as Terraform, ARM, Bicep.
• Understanding of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), managing public key and private key certificates in Cloud environment for PaaS services and applications.
• Strong fundamental knowledge of Operating Systems (RHEL, Ubuntu).
• Knowledge of monitoring tools such as Dynatrace, Datadog, etc..

GCP (Google Cloud Platform) Cloud Environment Specifics:

• Experience supporting GCP services such as GKE, GCS, Dataflow, BigQuery, Cloud SQL (SQL/PostgreSQL), REDIS, Cassandra, BigTable, Cloud Filestore, Persistent Storage, Apigee, Kafka, etc..
• Knowledge with OS technologies (RedHat Linux, Windows).
• Experience developing CI/CD pipelines using technologies such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins, etc..
• Experience developing compliance policies/scripts using tools such as Google Org Policy, Aquasec, Wiz.
• Strong understanding of network security principles, encryption protocols and identity management concepts.
• Knowledge of scripting languages and tools such as Python, JavaScript, PowerShell, Bash.
• Experience and knowledge supporting an Azure Public Cloud environment (while not necessary) would be valuable.

Experience & Education:

• Undergraduate degree or Technical Certificate
• Graduate degree, preferred
• 7+ years relevant experience

Employee / Team:

• Work effectively as a team, supporting other members of the team in resolving critical service issues
• Prioritize and manage own workload in order to deliver quality results and meet timelines
• Support a positive work environment that promotes service to the business, quality, innovation and teamwork and ensure timely communication of issues/ points of interest.
• Participate in knowledge transfer within the team and business units
• Identify and recommend opportunities to enhance productivity, effectiveness and operational efficiency of the business unit and/or team