Senior AKS Consultant

job summary:

We are seeking an experienced Senior Kubernetes Consultant (Azure AKS) to assist in designing, scaling, and operationalizing our enterprise-grade Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) infrastructure. In this role, you will act as a subject matter expert partnering closely with platform engineering, security, and application teams to deliver resilient, multi-region container platforms supporting critical financial workloads.

The ideal consultant brings deep production expertise in private AKS architectures, GitOps deployment models (ArgoCD), automated infrastructure management via modular Terraform, and modern cloud-native networking and service mesh tooling (Linkerd).

location: Charlotte, North Carolina
job type: Contract
salary: $73 - 83 per hour
work hours: 8am to 5pm
education: Bachelors
responsibilities:

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise AKS Architecture & Lifecycle Management

• Design, build, and maintain production-ready, multi-region AKS clusters adhering to strict high-availability and disaster recovery requirements.
• Implement private AKS cluster topologies leveraging Azure Private Endpoints, dedicated API server VNet integration, and custom DNS.
• Manage full cluster lifecycle operations, including zero-downtime blue/green upgrades, automated node pool scaling, and OS image updates.
• Implement multi-cluster orchestration patterns using AKS Fleet Manager and explore emerging capabilities such as AKS Automatic and AKS Managed Namespaces for workload isolation and multi-tenancy.
• Drive capacity planning, bin-packing, and cost optimization initiatives across cluster compute and storage resources.

Cloud Security, Identity & Governance

• Implement least-privilege security models across clusters by coupling Kubernetes RBAC with Azure RBAC and Workload Identity (OIDC federated credentials).
• Configure secrets management pipelines via the Azure Key Vault Secrets Store CSI Driver.
• Secure persistent data using Customer-Managed Keys (CMK) across managed disks and storage classes.
• Enforce compliance and guardrails at runtime and deployment stages using Azure Policy for Kubernetes and Pod Security Standards.
• Secure inter-service and ingress/egress network paths using fine-grained Kubernetes Network Policies.

Service Mesh & Advanced Networking

• Deploy, configure, and maintain the Linkerd service mesh to enforce mutual TLS (mTLS) with automated certificate rotation across microservices.
• Design traffic management configurations, including traffic splitting, dynamic routing, and canary deployments.
• Instrument observability pipelines by routing Linkerd metrics and telemetry into Azure Monitor and Log Analytics workspaces.
• Troubleshoot complex Layer 4/Layer 7 networking, latency, and service connectivity issues.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) & GitOps Delivery

• Author, maintain, and version enterprise-grade, reusable Terraform modules for AKS, VNets, Private Endpoints, and associated Azure PaaS integrations.
• Implement declarative GitOps workflows using ArgoCD to manage cluster state and deploy foundational platform services.
• Design and maintain continuous integration and deployment pipelines using GitHub Actions, integrating automated linting, security scanning, and policy validation.
• Manage and secure Azure Container Registry (ACR) instances, configuring geo-replication and automated container vulnerability triage.

Operational Excellence & Observability

• Build centralized dashboards, workbook monitors, and actionable alerting rules in Azure Monitor and Log Analytics.
• Participate in platform tier-3 escalation support and incident post-mortems, identifying systemic root causes and building preventive automation.
• Deliver architectural diagrams, runbooks, and knowledge-transfer sessions for engineering and operations teams.

qualifications:

Required Experience & Technical Skills

- Kubernetes Expertise: 5+ years of hands-on production Kubernetes administration, with at least 2+ years dedicated to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) in enterprise environments.

- Azure Networking & Security: Proven track record deploying private AKS clusters, Azure Private Link, VNet peering, NSGs, user-assigned managed identities, and Azure Key Vault CSI integrations.

- Infrastructure as Code: Advanced proficiency in Terraform (writing clean, modular, reusable code following DRY principles and strict state management).

- GitOps & Automation: Practical experience configuring and managing ArgoCD for Kubernetes state synchronization alongside GitHub Actions for CI/CD workflows.

- Tooling & OS: Strong working knowledge of kubectl, helm, kustomize, Azure CLI/PowerShell, container runtimes (containerd), and Linux systems engineering/debugging (Bash/Python).

- Communication & Delivery: Strong problem-solving capabilities, structured technical documentation habits, and the ability to articulate architectural decisions to cross-functional teams.

Preferred Experience & Certifications

- Certifications: Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS), or Azure certifications (AZ-305, AZ-500, AZ-104).

- Service Mesh: Production deployment and operational experience with Linkerd (or comparable meshes such as Istio).

- Advanced AKS Ecosystem: Practical exposure to AKS Fleet Manager, custom Kubernetes Operators/CRDs, and advanced CNI plugins (Azure CNI Powered by Cilium, Calico).

- Platform & FinOps: Experience with Policy-as-Code (Kyverno / OPA Gatekeeper), chaos engineering/resiliency testing, and container cost optimization tools.

skills:

Azure AKS,Azure Kubernetes Service,Kubernetes,Linkerd,Terraform,resilient,infrastructure,infrastructure management,financial,platform engineering,security

Equal Opportunity Employer: Race, Color, Religion, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, National Origin, Age, Genetic Information, Disability, Protected Veteran Status, or any other legally protected group status.
At Randstad Digital, we welcome people of all abilities and want to ensure that our hiring and interview process meets the needs of all applicants. If you require a reasonable accommodation to make your application or interview experience a great one, please contact
Pay offered to a successful candidate will be based on several factors including the candidate's education, work experience, work location, specific job duties, certifications, etc. In addition, Randstad Digital offers a comprehensive benefits package, including: medical, prescription, dental, vision, AD&D, and life insurance offerings, short-term disability, and a 401K plan (all benefits are based on eligibility).
This posting is open for thirty (30) days.