Senior DevOps Engineer (AKS Specialist)

[mike]

Job Title: Senior DevOps Engineer with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Specialization

Location: Chicago, IL

Need 15+ year candidates

Need only 2 strong profiles per vendor.

• WORK ARRANGEMENT:
• Preferred location is on-site in Chicago.
   
• Offshore is not an option.
• 
  
  
  

REQUIRED SKILLS: (Need All)

• Management of AKS clusters in production (cluster provisioning, upgrades, node pool management, scaling, and lifecycle operations [not just deploying applications onto existing clusters]).
• Kubernetes internals (networking [CNI, ingress, service mesh], RBAC, secrets management, resource quotas, and troubleshooting cluster-level issues).
• Infrastructure as Code for provisioning/managing AKS (IaC; Terraform and/or Bicep).
• Python (Automation, tooling, and scripting around cluster operations and CI/CD workflows).
• CI/CD pipeline design and implementation for containerized workloads (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or similar).
• Cluster observability, monitoring, and cost optimization (Azure Monitor, Prometheus/Grafana, Container Insights).
• Azure platform services (AKS integration, networking, Identity/Entra ID, ACR, Key Vault).

SKILLS:

• Helm
• GitOps (Flux/Argo CD)
• Service mesh (Istio/Linkerd)
• Prior roles as a developer (Client has a strong bias to this)
• DevSecOps exposure
• Certifications
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA; Client has strong bias for this)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
• HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate / Terraform Authoring and Operations Professional
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500)
• Microsoft Applied Skills: Deploy containers by using Azure Kubernetes Service
• Prior consulting experience
• Client-facing communication skills
• Regulated environments
• Supply chain solutions

 

DESCRIPTION OF ROLE:

Our consulting client is seeking a senior DevOps engineer with deep, hands-on expertise in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for an end-client they are currently helping in Chicago. The ideal candidate goes beyond deploying workloads to clusters; they must be able to architect, operate, and maintain production-grade Kubernetes environments end-to-end (based on AKS).

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KEYS AMPLIFIED WOULD TARGET IN CANDIDATES: Most recent DevOps roles and/or balance of DevOps work is based on AKS primarily CKA Certification and/or history as a developer before shifting to DevOps DevOps roles lately have been more than the deployment of workloads to clusters (more than operations). Need someone who is comfortable with architecting AKS environments end-to-end. Someone who has owned AKS production environments and has resolved issues in production around AKS Someone who could work onsite in Chicago at times or would relocate for the role. 100% remote could be an option, but the candidate would need to be notably stronger than local/relo options.