Lead Chef Automation Engineer

Lead Chef Automation Engineer

Overview The Lead Chef Automation Engineer is a hands-on technical leader responsible for designing and building scalable automation solutions for large, hybrid infrastructure environments. This role focuses on creating reusable automation frameworks using Chef, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and Dev Ops practices to deliver secure, consistent, and self-service infrastructure capabilities. The ideal candidate is a strong Dev Ops or platform engineer with deep hands-on Chef experience who enjoys building automation solutions at scale rather than performing manual infrastructure operations.

• Design, develop, and maintain Chef cookbooks, recipes, Policy files, and automation frameworks across cloud and on-premises environments.
• Build and maintain Chef Automate capabilities for configuration management, compliance, reporting, and fleet management.
• Develop reusable automation libraries, templates, and patterns that standardize infrastructure configuration and provisioning.
• Integrate automation with CI/CD pipelines, secrets management, artifact repositories, APIs, and governance controls.
• Build automated testing and validation using Test Kitchen, InSpec, Chef Spec, and related tools.
• Partner with cloud, platform, security, and SRE teams to establish configuration baselines, security standards, and compliance policies.
• Develop and support Infrastructure as Code using technologies such as Terraform, Cloud Formation, and ARM/Bicep.
• Troubleshoot complex automation and configuration issues across hybrid environments.
• Contribute to broader platform engineering capabilities, including self-service infrastructure, Git Ops, and automated remediation.
• Help establish engineering standards, reusable automation patterns, and platform architecture.

• Strong experience in Dev Ops, platform engineering, infrastructure automation, or configuration management.
• Deep hands-on experience with Chef Infra, including cookbook development, Policy files, Test Kitchen, and InSpec.
• Experience supporting large-scale configuration management environments using Chef Server, Chef Automate, or similar technologies.
• Strong understanding of Linux, operating system configuration, hardening, and lifecycle management.
• Experience working across cloud and on-premises infrastructure, including AWS, Azure, GCP, VMware, or Hyper-V.
• Strong scripting or programming skills with Ruby, Python, Bash, or Power Shell, with Ruby particularly relevant to Chef.
• Experience integrating automation into CI/CD environments such as Git Hub Actions, Git Lab, Jenkins, or Azure Dev Ops.
• Strong understanding of Git-based development, testing, code review, and version-control practices.
• Ability to diagnose and resolve complex infrastructure and automation problems.

• Experience with Chef Habitat and/or Chef Automate.
• Experience with Terraform or other Infrastructure as Code platforms.
• Familiarity with policy-as-code technologies such as OPA, Conftest, or Sentinel.
• Experience with security hardening, compliance automation, or CIS benchmarks.
• Exposure to Kubernetes, Helm, and container platforms.
• Familiarity with observability technologies such as Prometheus, Datadog, Splunk, or ELK.
• Experience integrating infrastructure through APIs or network automation.

Chef & Configuration Management:
Chef Infra, Chef Automate, InSpec, Test Kitchen, Policy files, Ruby Infrastructure as Code:
Terraform, Cloud Formation, ARM/Bicep Dev Ops & CI/CD:
Git, Git Hub Actions, Git Lab, Jenkins, Azure Dev Ops Automation & Scripting:
Ruby, Python, Bash, Power Shell, APIs Infrastructure:
Linux, AWS, Azure, GCP, VMware, Hyper-V Platform Engineering:
Self-service automation, configuration compliance, secrets management, observability, Git Ops

Mastercard is a merit-based, inclusive, equal opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We hire the most qualified candidate for the role.

In the US or Canada, if you require accommodations or assistance to complete the online application process or during the recruitment process, please contact reasonable and identify the type of accommodation or assistance you are requesting. Do not include any medical or health information in this email. The Reasonable Accommodations team will respond to your email promptly.