Principal, Linux Platform Engineer

Principal, Linux Platform Engineer

Salary: open + bonus

Location: Kansas City, MO / Chicago, IL / Overland Park, KS / New York, NY

Hybrid: 2 days onsite, 3 days remote

*This role is not open to sponsorship candidates*

Qualifications

·        10+ years of experience in Linux systems administration and infrastructure/platform engineering.

·        Production experience managing Kubernetes, preferably in bare-metal or on-premises environments (e.g., with kubeadm, RKE, or OpenShift).

·        Strong scripting and automation skills in Python and Bash.

·        In-depth knowledge of Linux internals, kernel tuning, and performance diagnostics.

·        Hands-on experience with SaltStack (preferred), Puppet, or Ansible for configuration management.

·        Familiarity with observability tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, or Loki.

·        Solid understanding of core infrastructure protocols and services (TCP/IP, DNS, NTP/PTP, DHCP, etc.).

·        Experience managing CI/CD pipelines with tools such as Jenkins, GitLab, or similar

·        Experience of highly regulated environments

·        Related certifications is a plus

Responsibilities

·        Managing and improving our Linux-based infrastructure with a focus on performance, reliability, and scalability.

·        Designing, deploying, and maintaining on-premises Kubernetes clusters and containerized workloads.

·        Developing and maintaining system-level software, middleware, and APIs to support internal platforms and services.

·        Automating system workflows and infrastructure tasks using Python, Bash, and configuration management tools like SaltStack.

·        Building and maintaining RPM packages and internal software repositories.

·        Collaborating with Application Support (SRE), Development, and Security teams to ensure secure, automated CI/CD and platform integration.

·        Diagnosing and resolving complex system-level issues involving the OS, network, or container runtime.

·        Implementing hardened security configurations, including system hardening, secure communications, and identity/access integration.

·        Participating in an on-call rotation to support critical infrastructure services.

·        Documenting architecture, tools, and operational processes to support long-term maintainability.