Senior Kubernetes Administrator; AKS​/Azure​/Terraform; Client: Moodys

Senior Kubernetes Administrator (AKS / Azure / Terraform) (Client: Moodys)

Location:

Charlotte, NC

We are seeking a Senior Kubernetes Administrator with deep, hands‑on experience in administering and operating Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters in production environments. The ideal candidate will be responsible for designing, deploying, securing, scaling, and troubleshooting AKS clusters, leveraging Azure-native services and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform). This role requires strong operational ownership, an automation mindset, and close collaboration with Dev Ops, SRE, and application teams.

Candidates with Kubestronaut experience (having passed all CNCF Kubernetes certifications) will receive a pay rate up to $65/hr.

• Strong hands‑on experience administering Kubernetes in production.
• Deep expertise in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Solid experience with Microsoft Azure (compute, networking, security).
• Proven experience with Terraform for infrastructure provisioning.
• Strong troubleshooting skills across Kubernetes, networking, and cloud infrastructure.
• Experience managing Linux‑based systems.

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Azure Dev Ops, Git Hub Actions, Git Lab).
• Knowledge of Helm or Kustomize or similar Kubernetes packaging tools.
• Exposure to SRE practices and reliability engineering.
• Kubernetes certifications (CKA/CKAD) or Azure certifications (AZ-104, AZ-305).
• Experience with multi‑cluster or hybrid Kubernetes environments.

• Kubernetes & AKS Administration
  • Administer, operate, and maintain production‑grade AKS clusters (single and multi‑region).
  • Perform cluster lifecycle management: provisioning, upgrades, patching, scaling, and decommissioning.
  • Configure and manage node pools, autoscaling (HPA/Cluster Autoscaler), taints, tole rations, and resource quotas.
  • Implement and manage Kubernetes networking (Azure CNI, ingress controllers, services, DNS).
  • Troubleshoot cluster‑level and workload‑level issues (pods, nodes, networking, storage, performance).
• Azure Platform Responsibilities
  • Design and manage AKS integrations with Azure services such as Azure Monitor/Log Analytics, Azure Load Balancer/Application Gateway/NGINX Ingress, Azure Key Vault, Azure Storage, Azure Container Registry (ACR).
  • Ensure high availability, resilience, and disaster recovery for Kubernetes workloads.
  • Manage Azure IAM, RBAC, and managed identities for secure access.
• Infrastructure as Code & Automation
  • Use Terraform to provision and manage AKS clusters, networking (VNETs, subnets), and supporting Azure resources.
  • Maintain reusable, modular Terraform code following best practices.
  • Automate cluster operations and maintenance activities wherever possible.
• Security & Compliance
  • Implement Kubernetes security best practices: RBAC, Network Policies, Pod Security Standards.
  • Secrets management via Key Vault integration.
  • Ensure secure container runtime and image practices.
  • Support compliance, audit, and governance requirements.
• Monitoring, Logging & Reliability
  • Set up and manage monitoring, logging, and alerting for AKS and workloads.
  • Perform capacity planning and cost optimization.
  • Participate in incident response, root cause analysis, and preventive actions.
• Collaboration & Leadership
  • Work closely with Dev Ops, SRE, and application teams to support deployments.
  • Provide guidance and mentoring to junior engineers.
  • Contribute to operational documentation, runbooks, and best practices.