CONTRACT - Sr Engineer, Kubernetes (NTD)

We are looking for a senior-level candidate with a software engineering background and hands-on experience with managing production Kubernetes environments. Experience: 7+ years of professional experience in software development, with at least 5 years of hands-on experience building and managing production-level Kubernetes infrastructure. Kubernetes Expertise: Deep understanding of Kubernetes architecture, including core concepts like Pods, Deployments, Services, RBAC and the API server. On-Premise & Cloud Cluster Management: Experience with using and managing Kubernetes clusters hosted on on-premise hardware and in cloud environments such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Experience provisioning and managing infrastructure with tools like Terraform, specifically for Kubernetes clusters. Configuration Management: Proficiency with Helm (especially advanced usage) or Kustomize. GitOps: Experience with managing Kubernetes application & service deployment with tools such as ArgoCD, FluxCD, Spinnaker, Kargo, GitLab CI/CD, or GitHub Actions. Containerization: Expertise with Docker and other container runtimes like containerd. Advanced Kubernetes Networking: Hands-on production experience with Cilium (or closely transferable CNIs such as Calico or Canal, with demonstrated ability to ramp on Cilium/eBPF). Working knowledge of Linux networking fundamentals (iptables/nftables, conntrack, MTU, BGP) and Kubernetes traffic paths (kube-proxy or eBPF replacement, CoreDNS, ingress controllers, Gateway API). Service Mesh: Production experience with at least one service mesh — Istio (sidecar and/or ambient) preferred, Linkerd or Cilium Service Mesh acceptable — including mTLS, traffic policy, and Envoy-level troubleshooting (listeners, clusters, xDS, access logs). Experience with programming languages such as Go, Python, or C#. Knowledge of Linux & Windows systems, as well as scripting functionality for both Direct experience with Terraform, kubeadm, and kubespray for cluster provisioning and management preferred. Applicants must be legally eligible to work in the United States to be considered. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role. This position is onsite in Redmond, WA, and not open to remote status at this time. This contract position includes the base pay range listed below and is eligible for benefits through the employing agency. Agency benefits include eligibility for medical insurance, employee assistance program, and paid sick leave. All benefits are subject to elections, eligibility requirements, plan and program terms. Benefits offerings will be confirmed at the time of offer by the employing agency, and may differ depending on the employing agency partner. Pay range: $69.78 — $125.57 USD