Principal Systems Engineer - Containers (Remote)

This is a remote role open for multiple markets across the United States.

We are seeking a highly experienced Principal OpenShift Engineer to lead the architecture, administration, automation, security, and operational excellence of enterprise Red Hat OpenShift platforms. This role is responsible for designing and managing highly available, scalable, and secure Kubernetes/OpenShift environments supporting mission-critical applications across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures.

The ideal candidate will serve as a technical leader, driving platform strategy, establishing best practices, leading engineering teams, and partnering with architects, security teams, developers, and business stakeholders to deliver a world-class container platform.

Platform Architecture & Administration

• Design, implement, upgrade, and maintain enterprise OpenShift clusters across on-premises and cloud environments.
• Develop platform roadmaps and technical strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Architect highly available, fault-tolerant, and scalable OpenShift environments.
• Manage OpenShift cluster lifecycle activities including installation, upgrades, patching, backups, and disaster recovery.
• Define standards for cluster provisioning, capacity planning, and workload optimization.

Kubernetes & Container Platform Engineering

• Serve as the subject matter expert (SME) for Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift technologies.
• Administer cluster components including:
  • Control Plane, Worker Nodes, Operators, Ingress Controllers, Routes, Registries, Storage Classes, Service Mesh
• Optimize cluster performance and resource utilization.
• Troubleshoot complex container, networking, storage, and orchestration issues.

Infrastructure Automation

• Build Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using:
  • Terraform, Ansible, Helm, ArgoCD, GitOps
• Automate cluster deployments, configuration management, and operational tasks.
• Develop reusable automation frameworks to improve platform reliability and consistency.

DevOps and CI/CD Enablement

• Collaborate with development teams to onboard applications into OpenShift.
• Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines using:
  • GitLab CI/CD, ArgoCD
• Champion GitOps and cloud-native operational practices.
• Improve deployment automation and developer self-service capabilities.

Qualifications:

Bachelor's Degree and 10 years of experience in Technical Hands-On Leader of System Engineering Teams OR High School Diploma or GED and 14 years of experience in Technical Hands-On Leader of System Engineering Teams

Preferred Experience

• 10+ years of infrastructure engineering, systems administration, or platform engineering experience.
• 7+ years of Kubernetes/OpenShift administration experience.
• Experience managing large-scale production OpenShift environments.
• Proven experience supporting highly regulated, mission-critical applications.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise platform initiatives.

Technical Skills

OpenShift & Kubernetes

• Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP), Kubernetes Administration, OpenShift Operators, OpenShift Service Mesh, OpenShift Pipelines, OpenShift GitOps, OpenShift Data Foundation (ODF)

Operating Systems

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Linux Administration, System Performance Tuning

Automation & DevOps

• Terraform, Ansible, Helm, ArgoCD

Networking

• DNS, Load Balancers, TCP/IP, Ingress/Egress, VPN, Service Mesh, Istio

Storage Technologies

• Ceph, NFS, SAN/NAS, Persistent Volumes, CSI Drivers

Monitoring & Logging

• Prometheus, Grafana, Dynatrace/App Dynamics, Splunk, Open Telemetry

Preferred Certifications

• Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration
• Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA)
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect
• Azure Administrator Associate
• Azure Solutions Architect Expert

This job posting is expected to remain active for 14 days from the initial posting date listed above. If it is necessary to extend this deadline, the posting will remain active as appropriate. Job postings may come down early due to business need or a high volume of applicants.

The base pay for this position is generally between $170,000 and $199,000. Actual starting base pay will be determined based on skills, experience, location, and other non-discriminatory factors permitted by law. For some roles, total compensation may also include variable incentives, bonuses, benefits, and/or other awards as outlined in the offer of employment.

Benefits are an integral part of total rewards and First Citizens Bank is committed to providing a competitive, thoughtfully designed and quality benefits program to meet the needs of our associates. More information can be found at https://jobs.firstcitizens.com/benefits.