DevOps Kubernetes Systems Engineer

Job Title: DevOps Kubernetes Systems Engineer (AKS Specialist)

Location: Remote

Employment Type: Contract

Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled DevOps Kubernetes Systems Engineer with a minimum of 5 years of hands-on experience managing production-grade Kubernetes environments—specifically within Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in DevOps automation, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), CI/CD pipeline management, and cloud-native architecture to help design, build, and maintain scalable, secure, and resilient systems.

This role involves end-to-end ownership of the DevOps lifecycle—from infrastructure provisioning and application deployment to monitoring, optimization, and governance in enterprise-scale environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters to support production workloads.
• Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or GitLab CI.
• Automate infrastructure provisioning and configuration management using Terraform, Ansible, or Pulumi.
• Manage containerization and image lifecycle management with Docker, Azure Container Registry (ACR), and related security controls.
• Implement observability solutions leveraging Prometheus, Grafana, Azure Monitor, and ELK/EFK stacks.
• Ensure environment scalability, availability, and cost optimization across multiple Kubernetes clusters.
• Integrate DevSecOps practices into pipelines (image scanning, dependency checks, and secret management).
• Collaborate with developers, architects, and system administrators to align infrastructure with business and project goals.
• Troubleshoot production issues, analyze root causes, and implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Drive continuous improvement through automation, standardization, and adoption of cloud-native patterns.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years of experience managing Kubernetes environments in production, with at least 2+ years focused on AKS.
• Strong experience with Azure DevOps and cloud-native DevOps practices.
• Deep knowledge of Docker, container orchestration, and microservices deployment.
• Proficiency in Terraform, Ansible, or similar IaC tools.
• Solid understanding of Linux system administration and network fundamentals (DNS, SSL/TLS, load balancing).
• Proven experience implementing monitoring, alerting, and logging frameworks.
• Familiarity with Azure networking, RBAC, Managed Identities, and Azure security controls.
• Experience integrating CI/CD, GitOps, and policy-as-code models for Kubernetes environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) certification.
• Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert or Azure Solutions Architect Expert.
• Experience deploying and managing Helm charts, ArgoCD, or FluxCD for declarative deployments.
• Familiarity with Service Mesh solutions (e.g., Istio, Linkerd) and API gateway configurations.
• Experience supporting multi-region AKS deployments and hybrid integrations with on-prem systems.
• Knowledge of SRE best practices, SLIs/SLOs, and system reliability engineering principles.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across technical and business teams.
• Analytical thinker with a focus on scalability, reliability, and continuous improvement.
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and adaptable to fast-paced delivery environments.

Job Type: Fixed term contract

Contract length: 6 months

Pay: $70.00-$100.00 per hour

Application question(s):

• Do you have min 5 years in Canada to acquire Security Clearance?

Experience:

• AKS (*MUST*): 5 years (required)
• DevOps: 3 years (required)

Work Location: Remote