Geared toward candidates with deep on-premises Kubernetes expertise and a strong background in enterprise Linux administration, comfortable with air-gapped environments and security hardening. The role emphasizes a short-term commitment and requires U.S. citizenship with specific security clearances.
Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.
Original posting from North Point Technology via Greenhouse
North Point Technology is looking to hire a Senior Platform Engineer with deep expertise in on-premises Kubernetes infrastructure to support a mission-critical enterprise container platform operating in a fully air-gapped, non-cloud environment. This is a short-term contract assignment of approximately seven months. An active Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility is required upon hire, and the selected candidate must be willing and able to obtain a polygraph within the customer's timeline.
Responsibilities:
The Senior Platform Engineer will design, deploy, and maintain enterprise-scale Kubernetes clusters built entirely from bare metal in secure, air-gapped data centers. Responsibilities span the full infrastructure stack: advanced Linux administration including systemd, kernel tuning, and SSH key architecture; manual installation and configuration of container runtimes (containerd, CRI-O); OS-level security hardening with AppArmor and SELinux; and management of cgroups v2 and container isolation mechanisms. The engineer will design and implement software-defined storage solutions, build distributed storage clusters from raw drives, deploy Container Storage Interface (CSI) drivers for dynamic volume provisioning, and monitor storage performance and capacity. Cluster lifecycle duties include bootstrapping production Kubernetes clusters from scratch using kubeadm or Kubespray, designing multi-master high-availability control plane architectures, configuring internal load balancers for API server redundancy, and managing etcd operations including backups, snapshots, restoration, and defragmentation. Security responsibilities include implementing RBAC policies, network policies, pod security standards, admission controllers, API server auditing, certificate lifecycle management, and vulnerability remediation. The role also involves developing Ansible playbooks and Bash/Python scripts for cluster provisioning, implementing GitOps workflows with ArgoCD, maintaining infrastructure-as-code repositories, building CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure validation, managing Kaniko-based container image builds in air-gapped environments, and troubleshooting cluster components using k9s, kubectl, and crictl.
Required Skills/Experience:
On-premises Kubernetes cluster deployment and management in production environments (non-cloud, air-gapped)Bootstrapping Kubernetes clusters using Kubespray, kubeadm, or equivalent toolsEnterprise Linux system administration including systemd service management and kernel tuningContainer runtime installation and configuration: containerd and CRI-Ocgroups v2, Linux namespaces, and container isolation management at the OS levelOS-level security hardening with AppArmor and SELinuxSoftware-defined storage design and implementation; CSI driver deployment for dynamic persistent volume provisioningHigh-availability Kubernetes control plane architecture with multi-master nodes and internal load balancersetcd cluster operations: backups, snapshots, restoration, and defragmentationKubernetes security: RBAC, network policies, pod security standards, admission controllers, and API server auditingCertificate lifecycle management for Kubernetes cluster components and service meshAnsible automation and Ansible playbook development for infrastructure provisioningGitOps workflows and ArgoCD for declarative, continuous deploymentInfrastructure-as-code repository management for repeatable deploymentsCI/CD pipeline construction for infrastructure testing and validationAir-gapped and offline deployment strategies including Kaniko-based container image buildsCluster administration and debugging using k9s, kubectl, and crictlTroubleshooting static pods: etcd, kube-apiserver, kube-controller-manager, kube-schedulerScripting in Bash and/or Python for cluster automationPreferred Skills/Experience:
Identity and authorization standards: X.509, SAML, OAuth2, OIDC, LDAPICAM solution architecture using Oracle or other enterprise-grade identity platformsQualifications:
Bachelor's degree in a STEM fieldMaster's degree in a STEM field (preferred)Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) certificationActive Top Secret security clearanceSCI eligibilityWillingness and ability to obtain a CI polygraph within the customer's timelineU.S. citizenship requiredNorth Point Technology is THE BEST place to work for curious-minded engineers motivated to support our country’s most crucial missions! We focus on long term projects, leveraging the latest technology in support of innovative solutions to solve our customer’s most difficult problems.
At North Point Technology, EMPLOYEES come first! We value our employees by providing excellent compensation, benefits, and a flexible work-life balance. We strive for a close-knit and open atmosphere where the owners are always directly available to our team members.
Come join us! Apply with North Point Technology today!
For positions requiring a federal security clearance, your clearance level must be clearly identified on your resume.