Need Senior Kubernetes Platform Engineer at Peoria, IL(Locals Only)

IT Software Engineer 5 – Senior Kubernetes Platform Engineer

Location: Peoria, IL
Work Arrangement: Onsite – 5 Days a Week
Duration: 12 Months
Interview Process: One Virtual/Phone Panel Interview with the hiring manger's Team

Position Overview

Caterpillar is seeking a Senior Kubernetes Platform Engineer to design, build, operate, and continuously improve an enterprise Kubernetes platform supporting shared AI capabilities aligned with Accenture AI Refinery.

This role will establish and maintain a secure, scalable, highly available Kubernetes foundation across cloud and on-premises environments. The engineer will focus on platform architecture, automation, GitOps, security, reliability, and operational excellence to enable enterprise AI workloads.

Key Responsibilities

· Design, deploy, and manage highly available Kubernetes platforms across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.

· Establish secure, multi-tenant Kubernetes architecture, including workload isolation, governance, and resource management.

· Implement GitOps-driven platform operations using tools such as Argo CD or Flux.

· Automate infrastructure provisioning, configuration, upgrades, patching, scaling, and lifecycle management.

· Develop and maintain infrastructure automation using Terraform and Helm.

· Implement Kubernetes security controls, including RBAC, network policies, secrets management, identity, and policy enforcement.

· Strengthen cluster security through production hardening, workload protection, and admission controls.

· Establish platform standards for deployment, observability, monitoring, and operational readiness.

· Troubleshoot complex Kubernetes infrastructure issues involving Linux, networking, storage, and container runtime layers.

· Define and improve platform reliability objectives, incident response, disaster recovery, and production support practices.

· Collaborate with AI Center of Excellence (AI COE), application development, infrastructure, and security teams.

· Drive continuous improvements in platform performance, automation, scalability, and cost efficiency.

· Support globally distributed engineering teams and enterprise platform adoption.

Required Qualifications

· Bachelor's degree with 10+ years of relevant professional experience in platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, or related roles.

· Extensive hands-on experience designing, building, and operating production-grade Kubernetes platforms.

· Strong experience managing Kubernetes across cloud, on-premises, or hybrid environments.

· Deep technical knowledge of Linux, Kubernetes networking, and storage architecture.

· Hands-on experience with Terraform, Helm, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).

· Production experience implementing GitOps using Argo CD or Flux.

· Strong Kubernetes security expertise, including:

o Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

o Network policies and workload isolation

o Secrets and key management

o Admission controls and policy enforcement

o Cluster hardening and workload protection

· Experience managing Kubernetes reliability, scalability, security, and platform lifecycle operations.

· Experience with at least one major cloud platform, preferably AWS or Microsoft Azure.

Core Technical Skills

Kubernetes & Container Platforms: Kubernetes administration, cluster operations, lifecycle management, Helm.

Infrastructure Automation: Terraform, Infrastructure as Code, automation, platform provisioning.

GitOps & Deployment: Argo CD, Flux, configuration management, automated releases.

Cloud & Hybrid Infrastructure: AWS, Azure, enterprise cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments.

Security & Governance: RBAC, network policies, secrets management, policy enforcement, container security, workload protection.

Linux & Infrastructure: Linux administration, cluster networking, storage architecture, troubleshooting.

Observability & Reliability: Monitoring, logging, operational readiness, incident management, platform reliability.

Preferred Qualifications

· Experience with enterprise Kubernetes distributions and managed services such as:

o Amazon EKS

o Azure AKS

o Google GKE

o Red Hat OpenShift

o Rancher

· Familiarity with service mesh technologies for traffic management, security, and platform resilience.

· Experience with OpenTelemetry and modern observability frameworks.

· Knowledge of container image security, vulnerability scanning, and software supply chain security.

· Experience supporting enterprise AI platforms or Accenture AI Refinery.

· Relevant Kubernetes certifications, such as CKA, CKAD, or CKS.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a senior-level Kubernetes platform engineer with 10+ years of infrastructure or platform engineering experience and deep hands-on expertise building and operating enterprise Kubernetes environments. The candidate should bring strong capabilities in Terraform, Helm, GitOps, Linux, cloud infrastructure, and Kubernetes security, along with experience establishing reliable and scalable platforms for production workloads.

Important Candidate Requirements

· Must be available to work onsite five days per week in Peoria, IL, with no exceptions.

· Local candidates are strongly preferred.

· Candidates requiring relocation must be willing to relocate at their own expense and report onsite from Day 1. Clearly indicate relocation commitment and Day 1 onsite availability on the resume.

· Stable employment history is important. Candidates with frequent job changes or consistently short tenures may not be considered.

· Must be comfortable working in an enterprise environment supporting security, reliability, and production operations.