Lead Kubernetes Engineer

Job Category:

Academic Staff

Regular

Dev Ops Engineer III

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), Department of Information Technology, is seeking a Kubernetes Engineer to architect and operate the container orchestration platform underpinning a wide range of strategic SMPH initiatives.

This role will design Kubernetes clusters supporting use cases that include web application hosting, the SMPH research analytics platform, LLMs-as-a-service, and AI‑specific orchestration components. The Kubernetes Engineer will work closely with security, infrastructure, research computing, and application teams to ensure clusters meet HIPAA, NIST 800‑53, and NIST 800‑171 control requirements while delivering a developer‑friendly platform that accelerates delivery of new services.

The position may require some work to be performed in‑person, onsite at a designated campus work location. Some work may be performed remotely at an offsite, non‑campus work location.

• Manages, maintains, selects, and develops automation tools and infrastructure, including security configurations
• Performs integration, migration, configuration, and security of existing applications and services into automated infrastructures
• Serves as a subject matter expert to internal stakeholders, providing guidance and training to staff
• Serves as technical lead for one or more aspects of the system
• Analyzes requirements and communicates and coordinates with staff and internal stakeholders related to the system and/or project
• Develops, programs, and/or deploys automation workflows for deployment, configuration, and/or monitoring of systems/services

School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Information Technology, Infrastructure

The starting salary wage for the position is $115,000 annually; it is negotiable based on experience and qualifications.

Employees can expect benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave; competitive insurances and savings accounts; and retirement benefits.

• At least three (3) years of hands‑on production experience designing, operating, and securing Kubernetes clusters
• Demonstrated experience with Ansible for configuration management and automation
• Demonstrated cybersecurity experience, including applying security controls to platform infrastructure

• Kubernetes‑related certification (e.g., CKA, CKAD, CKS)
• Cybersecurity certification (e.g., CISSP, Security+, GIAC certifications)
• Contributions to open‑source cloud‑native community projects (CNCF or related)
• Experience with Terraform and infrastructure‑as‑code in a regulated environment (HIPAA, NIST 800‑53, NIST 800‑171)
• Experience with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) or other managed Kubernetes platforms
• Experience supporting research computing, AI/ML workloads, or LLM‑serving infrastructure

Bachelor's degree preferred; focus in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Technology or related field preferred

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW‑Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin‑Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background – people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin‑Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies.

Employment may require a criminal background check.