Azure Kubernetes Engineer

Job Description:

George Consulting is seeking an Azure Kubernetes Engineer to design, operate, secure, and modernize containerized workloads across the USMC Enterprise DevSecOps ecosystem. This role blends cloud-native engineering, Kubernetes lifecycle management, DevSecOps automation, platform reliability, and security compliance to ensure the enterprise container platforms remain robust, scalable, and mission-ready. The engineer will support full lifecycle operations from architecture design to GitOps enablement, AKS management, patching, compliance, and continuous innovation.

The Azure Kubernetes Engineer serves as a core contributor to both engineering and operational missions, enabling application teams, maintaining platform health, engineering reusable components, and ensuring all container workloads meet DoD, USMC, and enterprise security requirements.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

Container Platform Operations & Lifecycle Sustainment

• Design, deploy, and maintain Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters for mission applications and enterprise workloads.
• Engineer scalable namespaces, node pools, cluster profiles, network topologies, and upgrade strategies across environments.
• Develop reusable Kubernetes components including Helm charts, operators, manifests, GitOps bundles, and mission-ready deployment baselines.
• Evaluate emerging Kubernetes capabilities, CNIs, storage drivers, autoscaling policies, and service mesh technologies.
• Lead modernization initiatives including refactoring cluster architecture, tuning mesh policies, improving container security posture, and implementing advanced operator workflows.

Container Platform Operations & Lifecycle Sustainment

• Monitor and maintain AKS clusters, workloads, registries (ACR), pod health, ingress controllers, service mesh routing, and node performance.
• Operate daily AKS lifecycle processes including node patching, upgrades, workload migrations, cluster expansions, and resiliency testing.
• Troubleshoot Kubernetes issues spanning pods, deployments, networking, secrets, volumes, and container runtime behavior.
• Ensure capacity planning, scaling policies, resource quotas, and governance controls are implemented and followed.
• Support hybrid integrations with on-prem components, GitHub/ADO pipelines, Key Vault, and enterprise identity services.

DevSecOps Engineering, GitOps, & Pipeline Automation

• Architect and maintain GitOps workflows using Flux, Argo CD, or ADO/GitHub-based declarative deployment pipelines.
• Engineer secure CI/CD patterns for containerized workloads using Azure DevOps, GitHub Advanced Security, CodeQL, and enterprise scanning tools.
• Implement and maintain IaC and CaC (Configuration-as-Code) using Terraform, Bicep, Helm, and YAML standards.
• Support cloud-native app teams by troubleshooting deployment issues and optimizing container architectures for performance and reliability.
• Engineer secure container build pipelines including SBOM generation, SAST/DAST integration, and automated container hardening.

Security Engineering, RMF Compliance & Container Hardening

• Maintain cluster accreditation by applying patches, version upgrades, security controls, and STIG alignment across containers and Kubernetes resources.
• Engineer and operate container security tools including Anchore, Trivy, Twistlock, Invicti, and automated vulnerability scanning.
• Implement Pod Security Policies, Azure Policy for AKS, mTLS configurations, network segmentation, and least-privilege RBAC models.
• Monitor logs, events, and metrics using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Prometheus, and Grafana to detect and resolve security events.
• Support RMF, ATO preparation, and continuous compliance automation efforts.

Customer Onboarding, Support & Cross-Team Collaboration

• Onboard mission application teams into AKS, ensuring proper namespace provisioning, RBAC assignment, GitOps configuration, monitoring setup, and container security validation.
• Provide engineering guidance for teams refactoring apps into microservices, containers, or cloud-native architectures.
• Support break/fix troubleshooting through Remedy or equivalent ticketing systems, performing root cause analysis and stabilizing workloads.
• Collaborate across engineering, operations, cybersecurity, QA, and stakeholder teams within Agile/SAFe ceremonies and sprint cycles.
• Produce documentation including Helm charts, engineering diagrams, deployment runbooks, onboarding guides, and audit artifacts.

Required Qualifications

• Active Secret clearance.
• Bachelor's degree in CS, IT, Engineering, Math, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Security+ (IAT II) or equivalent DoD 8570 certification.
• 6 to 10+ years of experience with Kubernetes, container platforms, cloud-native engineering, and Azure-based operations.
• Deep experience managing AKS clusters, Helm, GitOps, YAML, ingress controllers, service mesh, and cloud-native observability platforms.
• Strong proficiency with Linux system administration.
• Experience with IaC tools (Terraform, Bicep), automation, and scripting (PowerShell, Bash, Azure CLI).
• Hands-on experience with container security, vulnerability scanning, compliance tools, and hardened container baselines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with DoD cloud ecosystems or USMC enterprise environments.
• CKAD, CKA, KCNA, or Azure Kubernetes certifications.
• Experience designing operators, advanced Helm architecture, custom CRDs, or service mesh implementations (Istio/Linkerd).
• Familiarity with Zero Trust architectures, secure supply chain mechanisms, and hardened container deployment patterns.