Senior Kubernetes Engineer – Data Platform
NextWave Consulting
1 day ago
Contract
On-site
London, London, United Kingdom
Data Science
Location: UK
Department: Data Operations
Reporting to: Head of Platform Engineering
Department: Data Operations
Reporting to: Head of Platform Engineering
Role Summary
We are hiring a Senior Kubernetes Engineer to help design and scale a Kubernetes‑native data platform powering large‑scale data ingestion, transformation, and analytics workloads. This role sits at the intersection of cloud‑native platform engineering and big‑data systems, focused on enabling reliable, observable, and cost‑efficient compute at scale.
You’ll work on core platform capabilities—from Kubernetes operators and data processing patterns to storage, metadata, and observability—supporting teams building modern data products.
This is a hands‑on engineering role with strong ownership, technical influence, and real production impact.
What You’ll Do
- Design and build Kubernetes‑centric platform services for distributed data workloads
- Implement scalable data processing patterns integrated with object storage (S3)
- Develop and optimise data ingestion and transformation pipelines (Spark‑based)
- Build and maintain metadata, lineage, and governance capabilities
- Improve platform observability using metrics, logs, and tracing
- Collaborate with platform, data engineering, and infrastructure teams
- Mentor engineers and contribute to best practices across Kubernetes and data platforms
What We’re Looking For
- Strong, hands‑on experience with Kubernetes (including operators, CRDs, or advanced workloads)
- Background in data platforms or big‑data ecosystems
- Experience with Spark and modern table formats (Delta / Iceberg)
- Deep understanding of S3‑based storage patterns
- Familiarity with metadata, data governance, or lineage tooling
- Experience with Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, or similar
- Ability to operate in production environments with reliability and scale in mind
Nice to Have
- Hadoop ecosystem exposure
- Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)
- Infrastructure‑as‑Code experience
- Kubernetes or cloud certifications