Platform & DevOps Engineer (AKS + Observability)

Job Summary

Synechron is seeking a technical specialist to join our team as a Platform & DevOps Engineer focused on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and observability solutions. This role is vital for building, deploying, and maintaining scalable, resilient, and secure cloud-native platforms, ensuring optimal performance, cost-efficiency, and operational visibility. The successful candidate will play a key part in enhancing our cloud infrastructure and monitoring capabilities, contributing to the organization’s focus on innovative, reliable, and efficient technology deployment aligned with business objectives.

Software Requirements

Required Skills:

• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): Extensive experience managing and scaling clusters, with focus on health and performance tuning.
• Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA), KEDA: Proven ability to implement and manage autoscaling solutions tied to application metrics and event triggers.
• GitHub Actions / Azure DevOps: Experience in CI/CD pipeline automation, continuous integration, and deployment strategies.
• OpenTelemetry & Azure Monitor / Grafana: Deep understanding of observability frameworks, configuring telemetry, and visualizing metrics and logs.
• NGINX / Application Gateway Ingress Controller (AGIC): Configuration and management for traffic routing, load balancing, and TLS termination.
• Azure Key Vault: Secrets management, identity, and access control integration.
• TLS and Network Policies: Implementation of secure communications, isolation, and network segmentation in AKS environments.
• Cost and Performance Optimization: Techniques for resource tuning, monitoring, and efficient infrastructure utilization.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with advanced rollout strategies like Argo Rollouts, blue-green deployments.
• Knowledge of container security best practices and network architecture design.
• Familiarity with other cloud platforms or hybrid cloud architectures.

Overall Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, and manage Kubernetes-based container platforms within Azure, ensuring scalability and high availability.
• Implement and optimize autoscaling solutions using HPA and KEDA to meet fluctuating application demands.
• Automate CI/CD pipelines utilizing GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps to streamline deployment processes.
• Configure and optimize observability solutions with OpenTelemetry, Azure Monitor, and Grafana for comprehensive system visibility.
• Manage ingress and security configurations using NGINX and AGIC, including TLS setup and network policies.
• Monitor and analyze infrastructure performance and costs, recommending and executing improvements.
• Collaborate with development teams to integrate platform services seamlessly into application deployments.
• Maintain compliance with security and operational best practices, including secrets management and network segmentation.
• Participate in planning and executing blue-green, canary, or Argo Rollouts deployment strategies.
• Provide ongoing platform support, troubleshooting, and performance tuning to ensure stability and efficiency.

Technical Skills (By Category)

Cloud Technologies:

• Required: Azure AKS, Azure Monitor, Azure Key Vault (Azure SDKs and tools)
• Preferred: Experience with hybrid or multi-cloud architectures

Container Orchestration & Deployment:

• Required: AKS management, HPA, KEDA, NGINX ingress, AGIC, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps pipelines

Observability & Monitoring:

• Required: OpenTelemetry, Azure Monitor, Grafana setup and customization

Networking & Security:

• Required: TLS configuration, Network Policies, ingress controllers, secrets management with Key Vault

Cost & Performance Tuning:

• Techniques for resource scaling, cluster optimization, and monitoring utilization trends

Development & Automation:

• Required: Scripting knowledge (Bash, PowerShell), CI/CD automation, infrastructure as code practices

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with advanced deployment strategies such as Argo Rollouts, blue-green deployments, canary releases

Experience Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in cloud platform engineering, DevOps, or infrastructure management, specifically with AKS or Kubernetes-based environments.
• Proven track record in managing and optimizing cloud infrastructure, especially in Azure.
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing observability solutions in production environments.
• Understanding of container security best practices and network architecture design.
• Prior experience working with deployment automation, CI/CD pipelines, and performance/cost tuning in cloud-native environments.
• Domain experience in enterprise-scale environments, with exposure to high-availability systems and disaster recovery strategies preferred.

Day-to-Day Activities

• Building, configuring, and maintaining AKS clusters with optimized autoscaling (HPA/KEDA).
• Developing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps.
• Configuring observability tools, setting alerts, dashboards, and logs using OpenTelemetry, Azure Monitor, and Grafana.
• Managing ingress controllers, TLS certificates, and network policies to ensure secure communications.
• Conducting performance assessments, cost analysis, and optimizing resource utilization.
• Collaborating with development, security, and operations teams to implement best practices and streamline workflows.
• Responding to incidents, troubleshooting platform issues, and refining configurations for better resilience.
• Participating in planning sessions for new features, rollouts, or infrastructure upgrades.
• Conducting regular reviews of security configurations, secrets management, and compliance requirements.

Qualifications

• Educational: Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline. Equivalent practical experience is also acceptable.
• Certifications: Relevant Azure certifications (e.g., Azure Administrator Associate, Azure DevOps Engineer) are advantageous.
• Training & Development: Commitment to staying updated with latest cloud-native and DevOps practices through courses, webinars, or industry certifications.

Professional Competencies

• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills for complex cloud and infrastructure issues.
• Ability to design scalable, secure, and efficient platform solutions.
• Excellent communication skills for collaborating across technical teams and stakeholders.
• Strong organizational skills for managing multiple tasks, priorities, and projects.
• Continuous learning attitude, with adaptability to evolving cloud technologies and methodologies.
• Creative problem-solving capabilities for optimizing operational costs and system performance