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.