Principal Platform Engineer – Kubernetes Reliability, Distributed Systems

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

. Serve as the senior technical authority for Kubernetes platform architecture, reliability, and operational behavior .

Posted 11/10/2026full-timeUnited StatesLead💰 $157,000 - $361,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates extensive expertise in Kubernetes platform architecture, high availability, and operational reliability, with a strong focus on troubleshooting complex production failures and implementing effective disaster recovery strategies. Proven ability to lead cross-functional technical initiatives and mentor engineering teams while enhancing observability and performance metrics.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Kubernetes Platform ArchitectureHigh Availability and Failure RecoveryGo, Python, and Bash ProgrammingObservability and Reliability EngineeringKubernetes Distributions (EKS, AKS, GKE)

ATS Keywords

Tailor your resume

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills

Kubernetes ArchitectureProduction Kubernetes PlatformsTroubleshooting Complex FailuresAutomation and Platform ToolingService-Level Objectives (SLOs)Distributed SystemsCloud InfrastructureChaos EngineeringLinux SystemsNetworking Fundamentals

Soft Skills

Excellent Written CommunicationExcellent Verbal CommunicationLeadership in Technical InitiativesMentoring Senior EngineersIncident Management

Tools & Technologies

GitOpsArgo CDFluxHelmCNI PluginsCSI Storage SystemsService MeshesIngress ControllersContainer-RuntimeDistributed Databases

Certifications & Qualifications

CKACKADRelevant Kubernetes Certifications

Industry Keywords

Operational Best PracticesRoot Cause AnalysisPerformance AnalysisMulti-Cluster EnvironmentsEdge-Oriented Kubernetes

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudDistributed SystemsDNSFluxKubernetesLinuxNode.jsOpenShiftPythonTCP/IPGo

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Serve as the senior technical authority for Kubernetes platform architecture, reliability, and operational behavior
Own investigation and resolution of complex issues involving pod failover, service availability, load balancing, control-plane and node failover, timeouts, resource management, cluster capacity, performance, scaling, and distributed-system recovery
Define and drive improvements to Kubernetes high availability, fault tolerance, and disaster-recovery strategies
Establish technical ownership and operating models for platform capabilities
Lead architecture, design, and implementation of platform improvements across multiple engineering teams
Develop repeatable approaches for diagnosing failures across application, Kubernetes, networking, storage, and infrastructure layers
Improve observability through metrics, logs, traces, alerts, dashboards, and health indicators
Define and monitor service-level objectives and reliability measures
Lead or support major incident response, root-cause analysis, and corrective-action programs
Identify systemic issues and balance incident resolution with long-term architectural improvements
Create technical standards, reference architectures, runbooks, and operational best practices
Mentor senior engineers and raise organizational expertise in Kubernetes and distributed systems
Partner with application, infrastructure, networking, security, and operations teams
Evaluate Kubernetes capabilities and platform technologies
Own cross-team technical problems and make architecture decisions affecting platform and product roadmaps
Drive ambiguous, high-impact issues from symptoms through root cause and permanent resolution
Create reusable platform capabilities and engineering standards
Remain hands-on debugging systems, prototyping solutions, reviewing code, and validating designs

Requirements

What you’ll need

Significant experience designing, building, and operating production Kubernetes platforms
Deep understanding of Kubernetes architecture and core components
Strong knowledge of high-availability and failure-recovery patterns for distributed systems
Demonstrated experience troubleshooting complex production failures involving Kubernetes, networking, infrastructure, and application services
Experience diagnosing Kubernetes failover behavior, service timeouts, partial failures, network partitions, and degraded cluster states
Experience with Kubernetes cluster upgrade process
Strong understanding of Linux systems, networking, DNS, TCP/IP, containers, and storage fundamentals
Experience with cloud or on-premises infrastructure and infrastructure-as-code practices
Proficiency in Go, Python, and Bash programming or scripting language
Experience developing automation, platform tooling, or operational frameworks
Strong observability and reliability engineering experience using metrics, logs, traces, alerting, and performance analysis
Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical initiatives across organizational boundaries
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Ability to operate effectively during high-severity incidents and drive issues through root cause and permanent resolution
Experience contributing to or extending Kubernetes, container-runtime, networking, or infrastructure projects
Experience with Kubernetes distributions such as EKS, AKS, GKE, OpenShift, or upstream Kubernetes
Experience with service meshes, ingress controllers, CNI plugins, CSI storage systems, or cluster-autoscaling technologies
Experience with distributed databases, consensus systems, or control-plane technologies such as etcd
Experience designing multi-cluster, multi-region, or edge-oriented Kubernetes environments
Knowledge of Linux performance analysis, kernel behavior, and container isolation
Experience with chaos engineering, failure injection, load testing, and resilience testing
Experience establishing SLOs, error budgets, production-readiness reviews, and reliability governance
Experience working in an environment with embedded, edge, fleet, or geographically distributed systems
Familiarity with GitOps and deployment technologies such as Argo CD, Flux, Helm, or similar tools
Relevant Kubernetes or cloud certifications, such as CKA, CKAD, or equivalent practical experience

Benefits

Comp & perks

Comprehensive benefits supporting physical, financial, and emotional wellbeing
Personal and professional development programs
Career development opportunities
Flexible work and personal needs management
Inclusive and accessible workplace
Reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process