***We are unable to sponsor as this is a permanent full time role***
***Hybrid, 4 days onsite, 1 day remote***
An established financial firm in Chicago is looking for a Sr. Platform Engineer (Linux, Kubernetes). This engineer will focus on Linux system administration and must possess heavy experience with deploying & maintaining on premises Kubernetes clusters.
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 architectures, tools, and operational processes to support long-term maintainability.
Qualifications:
· 5+ 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).
· Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or Google Cloud Platform) in production environments.
· 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.
