ROLE DESCRIPTION

We are looking to expand our team of Kubernetes Operations engineer. The focus of this role is 3-fold:

Work directly with clients and customers to assist in consulting, setting up and operating Kubernetes clusters. Generally, the Kubernetes clusters will be based on our own Lokomotive full-stack Kubernetes distribution.

Work as a part of the engineering team working to improve Lokomotive, Flatcar Container Linux and our other Kubernetes-related projects, applying your operations experience and direct feedback from customers to help guide the projects.

Be part of the oncall schedule to support our subscription customers.

We are working to build a follow-the-sun team so that support times during the week are during work hours.

In essence this role has elements of both a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) and a Software Engineer.

The ideal candidate has operations experience with Kubernetes but also beyond. It is a person who has the experience of being oncall, and resolving and helping to mitigate issues in production environments. It’s also a person who can clearly communicate to customers about these issues and communicate with the engineering team about the experiences that matter to customers. This role is the interface between the customer and the product engineering teams.  It is this role’s positioning as the feedback loop between customers and the product that makes it so crucial.

To support you, you’ll have at your disposal the renowned Kinvolk engineering team that has completed dozens of challenging projects at every layer of the system. You’ll find that your supporting team can get you then answers you need and help you find short and long-term solutions to issues and help you grow as an engineer.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with customers to assist in consulting, setting up and operating Kubernetes clusters

• Interface with clients and advise on best practices for managing Kubernetes cluster

• Be on call during reasonable hours on a rotating basis (follow-the-sun rotation)

• Provide first-line support to customers

• Work to improve our open-source cloud products

• Be a liaison between customers and product engineering team

• Participate in product engineering

• Review and document changes

• Stay current on the cloud infrastructure technology landscape

• Work closely with the rest of the Kinvolk team; communicating across projects.

• Represent Kinvolk at community events

Multiple openings are available.

REQUIREMENTS

This role requires experience in setting up and operating Kubernetes clusters at a senior level. One is expected to be able to interface directly with customers to provide authoritative responses and advice.

To get the job done, you’re going to need these.

Required

• Experience operating Kubernetes in production

• Deep understanding of how Kubernetes works

• Ability to listen to customers and distill that input into actionable tasks and recommendations

• Good knowledge of distributed systems

• Good knowledge of Linux systems

• Good networking know-how

• Experience in scripting languages

• Ability to interface directly with clients and customers

• Ability to work independently

• Good at communicating technical issues and requirements

• Good written and spoken English

Desired, not-required

If these items apply to you, awesome! If not, expect to add these while at Kinvolk.

• Passed Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam. If not, we will support you in attaining this within 6-months of joining

• Experience with the Go programming languages

• Low-level knowledge of container and process isolation technologies

• Comfortable giving talks at conferences

• If in Berlin, good written and spoken German is a plus

WHY KINVOLK?

• We’re always looking for ways to make Kinvolk a friendly and motivating work environment. Here are some of the things we already offer.

• You would be working on the cutting edge of technology, with a world-class team from whom you will be able to learn - just as we hope to learn from you!

• We offer a competitive salary (reviewed annually), with equity participation (virtual share options) for all employees

• Flexible working hours policy, and generous holiday allowance

• An open, non-hierarchical, multi-cultural environment, with nearly as many nationalities represented in as we have people

• And many others like:

• Work exclusively on Linux technologies

• Work closely with open-source communities

• Lunch paid once/twice weekly (Berlin)

• Assistance with public transport ticket and home Internet bill (Berlin)

• Company mobile phone plan (Germany)

• German language classes 2 times weekly, if needed (Berlin)

• Generous hardware allowance for laptop, monitor, phone and/or tablet of your choice

• Represent Kinvolk at conferences

• Free drinks and snacks if you're working out of the office

• Need a book? We’ll order it for you and add it to our tech bookshelf

HOW TO APPLY

Apply using the button below. If you have other questions, please send those to [email protected]

ABOUT US

Kinvolk is a rapidly growing tech company building Linux & Kubernetes-based open-source software products, and offering related engineering and technical support services. Our customers are amongst the largest and most influential in the space: Microsoft, SAP, CoreOS, and many more.

While founded in Berlin, Kinvolk is quicky expanding and has recently opened an India subsidiary.