Leidos

Principal Kubernetes Engineer

Leidos  •  $154k - $278k/yr  •  United States (Remote)  •  4 days ago
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Job Description

Leidos is seeking a Principal Kubernetes Engineer to support the design, development, and continuous evolution of a secure Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution for the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command. In this role, you will serve as the senior technical lead for one of four Kubernetes platform environments, driving the engineering of secure, scalable, and highly available platform services that enable rapid software delivery across hybrid cloud environments. Working alongside cloud engineers, software developers, cybersecurity professionals, and product managers, you will architect, automate, and optimize enterprise Kubernetes capabilities that improve developer productivity, strengthen platform security, and enhance operational resilience. This is a hands-on technical leadership role ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives on solving complex infrastructure challenges, advancing cloud-native technologies, and building reliable platforms that power mission-critical applications.

**This position requires 25% travel**

Key Responsibilities Include:

  • Design, build, and operate enterprise Kubernetes platforms supporting secure hybrid cloud and on-premises environments.
  • Architect scalable, highly available, and resilient platform services that enable secure software delivery across multiple mission environments.
  • Develop reusable platform capabilities that simplify application deployment, operations, and lifecycle management for software development teams.
  • Implement Infrastructure as Code, automation, and continuous delivery practices that improve platform consistency, reliability, and operational efficiency.
  • Engineer secure Kubernetes services by implementing identity management, policy enforcement, workload isolation, secrets management, and platform hardening.
  • Optimize platform performance, scalability, networking, storage, resource utilization, and overall operational health.
  • Troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues spanning Kubernetes, Linux, networking, storage, and distributed systems.
  • Collaborate with platform engineers, cloud engineers, cybersecurity specialists, and software development teams to design and implement integrated platform solutions.
  • Improve platform observability through metrics, logging, tracing, dashboards, and proactive monitoring.
  • Evaluate emerging platform technologies and recommend improvements that enhance platform capabilities, developer experience, security, and operational excellence.
  • Develop engineering standards, technical documentation, and architectural guidance that promote consistency and long-term maintainability.
  • Provide technical leadership through architecture reviews, design discussions, mentoring, and engineering best practices.

Expected Outcomes:

  • Deliver secure, scalable, and highly available platform capabilities that accelerate software delivery and improve developer productivity.
  • Increase platform reliability and operational efficiency through automation, standardization, and engineering best practices.
  • Improve platform security, resilience, and observability while reducing operational complexity.
  • Enable software development teams to successfully build, deploy, and operate mission applications using standardized platform services.
  • Serve as the organization’s trusted technical authority for Kubernetes and platform engineering.

About the Must Haves

  • Requires Masters with 15+ years of prior relevant experience or Doctorate with 13+ years of prior relevant experience, additional years of experience will be accepted in lieu of a degree.
  • Minimum 8+ years of progressively responsible experience designing, building, and operating production Kubernetes platforms.
  • Strong expertise in Azure Cloud Engineering and Cloud Infrastructure.
  • Demonstrated expertise designing, building, securing, and operating enterprise Kubernetes platforms supporting highly available production workloads.
  • Experience engineering platforms and cloud-native infrastructure across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments.
  • Experience implementing Infrastructure as Code, automation, and continuous integration and continuous delivery practices to provision, manage, and operate platform services.
  • Strong understanding of Linux, networking, container technologies, distributed systems, platform security, and observability required to diagnose and resolve complex production issues.
  • Demonstrated ability to architect platform solutions, drive engineering best practices, and collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
  • Must have an active Secret security clearance.
  • Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
  • Current CompTIA Security+ certification or equivalent Department of Defense approved Information Assurance certification

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

August 5, 2026

For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

Pay Range:

Pay Range $154,050.00 - $278,475.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

Leidos

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500® innovation company rapidly addressing the world’s most vexing challenges in national security and health. The company's global workforce of 48,000 collaborates to create smarter technology solutions for customers in heavily regulated industries. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $15.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2023.

Leidos was cited for the meaningful work employees perform that is challenging, impactful, and aligned with our customers’ missions as reasons professionals want to work and stay at our company. Leidos has also been named to lists including Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity, Forbes’ America’s Best Employers for Women, Military Times Best for Vets Employers, and Ethisphere Institute’s World's Most Ethical Companies®.

Employees enjoy career enrichment opportunities available through mobility and development and experience rewarding relationships with supportive supervisors and talented colleagues and customers. Employees appreciate our flexible work environment, allowing for and encouraging a true work-life balance. Our professionals are also excited about our Employee Resource Groups, like the Collaborative Outreach with Remote and Embedded Employees (CORE), which strives to create an environment where every employee, regardless of location, feels fully engaged as a valued employee of Leidos.

Your most important work is ahead, visit careers.leidos.com for our latest opportunities.

Industry
Aviation & Aerospace
Company Size
10,000+ employees
Headquarters
Reston, Virginia
Year Founded
1969
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