Principal Kubernetes Infrastructure Engineer - Remote

Role : Principal Kubernetes Infrastructure Engineer

Duration : 6 months

Work Mode : Remote

Budget : 1.5 L PM

Scope :

SRE principles

Core Responsibilities:

Platform & Infrastructure Engineering Design, deploy, and maintain Rancher-managed Kubernetes clusters (RKE2/K3s) at enterprise scale.

Architect highly available clusters integrated with on-prem infrastructure: UCS, VxLAN, storage, DNS, and load balancers.

Lead Rancher Fleet implementations for GitOps-driven cluster and workload management.

bare-metal hardware

Align cluster scheduling and resource profiles with physical infrastructure topologies (NUMA, NICs, etc.).

Optimize CNI, kubelet, and scheduler settings for low-latency, high-throughput applications.

Security & Compliance Implement security-first Kubernetes patterns: RBAC, Pod Security Standards, network policies, and image validation.

PCI, FIPS, and CIS

Lead infrastructure risk reviews and implement guardrails for regulated environments.

Terraform, Helm, and Argo CD.

Python or Go

SRE best practices

Prometheus, Grafana, and ELK/EFK

Drive actionable alerting, automated recovery mechanisms, and clear operational documentation.

Lead postmortems and drive systemic improvements to reduce MTTR and prevent recurrence.

Required Skills

·        7+ years in infrastructure, platform, or SRE roles

Rancher (RKE2/K3s)

Terraform, Helm, Argo CD, Python, and/or Go

bare-metal Kubernetes

·        Expert in Linux systems (systemd, networking, kernel tuning), Kubernetes internals, and container runtimes

SRE principles

Prometheus, Grafana, and Elasticsearch/Fluentd/Kibana (ELK/EFK)

Preferred Qualifications

OpenStack and Magnum

·        Knowledge of Rancher add-ons: Fleet, Longhorn, CIS Scanning

·        Familiarity with compliance-driven infrastructure (PCI, FedRAMP, SOC2)

CKA, CKS, or Rancher Kubernetes Administrator

·        Strategic thinker with strong technical judgment and execution ability

·        Calm and clear communicator, especially during incidents or reviews

·        Mentorship-oriented; supports team learning and cross-functional collaboration

·        Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and thrives in a fast-moving, ownership-driven culture