Platform Engineer - Kubernetes / Azure

About This Role

We are looking for an experienced contractor to support the design, delivery, and operation of enterprise cloud-native services. The role will focus on Kubernetes-based platforms running on Microsoft Azure, including service mesh, application deployment, observability, security, and production support.

Key responsibilities:

* Build, configure, and support Kubernetes environments on Azure, including AKS.

* Deploy and manage Spring Boot applications in containerized environments.

* Work with Istio or similar service mesh technologies for traffic management, security, and observability.

* Support CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code practices.

* Troubleshoot platform, networking, deployment, and application runtime issues.

* Collaborate with enterprise architecture, security, and operations teams to meet governance and compliance requirements.

* Contribute to documentation, operational runbooks, and knowledge transfer.

Required experience:

* Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes and Azure cloud services.

* Experience with Istio, ingress, service discovery, and cloud-native networking.

* Good understanding of Spring Boot application deployment and runtime considerations.

* Familiarity with enterprise IT environments, including change control, security standards, incident management, and stakeholder governance.

* Experience with CI/CD tooling, container registries, monitoring, logging, and secrets management.

* Ability to work independently and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Desirable experience:

* Terraform, Helm, GitOps, Azure DevOps, or GitHub Actions.

* Observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, or Azure Monitor.

* Financial services or other regulated enterprise environments