Lead Kubernetes Architect (AKS and GKE)

About the role

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Humana is seeking a Lead Kubernetes Architect to lead the architecture, engineering standards, and lifecycle strategy for enterprise Kubernetes platforms, with a primary focus on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). This role is central to advancing Humana’s container platform maturity and enabling secure, scalable, resilient, and highly automated Kubernetes capabilities across cloud environments.

The Lead Kubernetes Architect will partner across Cloud Engineering, Security, Network, Platform, SRE, DevOps, and application teams to define Kubernetes reference architectures, establish platform best practices, guide roadmap execution, and support Day 2 operational excellence. This individual will serve as a technical leader for multi-cluster design, platform resiliency, security controls, automation, observability, AI/ML-enabled operations, and GitOps-driven delivery patterns supporting Humana’s Cloud Platform strategy.

This is a hands-on architecture leadership role for someone who can operate strategically and tactically—shaping standards, solving complex technical issues, mentoring engineers, and driving Kubernetes platform adoption at enterprise scale.

Key Responsibilities

Kubernetes Platform Architecture

Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of enterprise Kubernetes platforms across AKS and GKE , from initial planning through production deployment and ongoing lifecycle management.

Define and maintain Kubernetes reference architectures, design standards, and reusable platform patterns for secure, scalable, and resilient container hosting.

Develop and execute a Kubernetes product maturity roadmap aligned to Humana’s Cloud Platform strategy and business priorities.

Design for multi-cluster, multi-region, and highly available deployment models, including failover and disaster recovery considerations where required.

Engineering and Delivery Leadership

Lead new Kubernetes platform capabilities from concept through design, build, validation, release, and operational support.

Drive adoption of Infrastructure as Code , GitOps , and CI/CD delivery models for Kubernetes platform provisioning and workload enablement.

Partner with cross-functional teams to onboard applications and build platform capabilities that improve developer experience, security, and operational consistency.

Facilitate technical workshops, architecture reviews, roadmap sessions, whiteboarding sessions, and design reviews.

AI/ML, Automation, and Cost Optimization

Identify and implement AI and ML-driven enhancements to improve Kubernetes platform operations, accelerate incident detection and remediation, and drive measurable cost reduction and operational efficiencies .

Evaluate and apply intelligent automation for capacity forecasting, workload placement, anomaly detection, rightsizing recommendations, and platform performance tuning.

Partner with engineering and operations teams to incorporate data-driven insights into platform scaling, utilization management, and service reliability decisions.

Define strategies to improve platform efficiency through predictive analytics, automation, and continuous optimization of cluster and workload resources.

Kubernetes Resource Optimization and Capacity Management

Lead the optimization of Kubernetes resources , including CPU, memory, storage, node pools, autoscaling policies, and workload scheduling to maximize efficiency and platform performance.

Establish and manage capacity planning practices for Kubernetes clusters and supporting network dependencies to ensure adequate performance, scalability, and availability.

Monitor and improve cluster utilization, node health, and workload distribution to reduce waste, prevent resource contention, and maintain service stability.

Partner with network and platform teams to ensure network stability and reliability , including planning for ingress, egress, load balancing, DNS, traffic management, and cluster networking dependencies.

Define proactive thresholds, alerts, and remediation patterns to prevent capacity-related incidents and support reliable growth across AKS and GKE environments.

Security, Reliability, and Governance

Establish and enforce Kubernetes best practices across networking, ingress, load balancing, identity and access management, certificate management, pod security, policy controls, and observability.

Ensure platform designs align with Humana enterprise standards for cloud onboarding, security, automation, and operational readiness.

Drive platform resiliency through auto-scaling, upgrade planning, health monitoring, rollback strategies, and operational guardrails.

Support compliance-aligned architecture decisions, including secure defaults and approved platform integrations.

Operations and Lifecycle Management

Define and evolve a Kubernetes lifecycle support model , including cluster provisioning, upgrades, patching, deprecation strategy, Day 2 operations, support processes, and service ownership boundaries.

Lead troubleshooting and resolution of complex platform issues in real time, including production-impacting incidents and cross-team escalations.

Improve platform observability, logging, alerting, and operational readiness using approved enterprise tooling.

Contribute to cost optimization strategies for Kubernetes environments, including cluster right-sizing, autoscaling, and non-production optimization practices.

Leadership and Collaboration

Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through technical leadership, coaching, and delegation.

Provide architectural guidance to application teams, product teams, and cloud engineers deploying containerized workloads.

Build strong partnerships with internal stakeholders, vendors, and engineering teams to drive platform adoption and long-term success.

Lead technical demonstrations and communicate architecture decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Use your skills to make an impact

Required Qualifications

5+ years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, cloud engineering, or infrastructure engineering.

Demonstrated enterprise experience architecting, implementing, and supporting Kubernetes platforms, including AKS , GKE , and/or EKS .

Hands-on experience building and deploying cloud infrastructure through CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code in Azure , GCP , or AWS .

Experience developing and operationalizing a Kubernetes lifecycle support model , including upgrades, support, reliability, and Day 2 operations.

Strong experience with Kubernetes architecture fundamentals, including:Cluster design and provisioningNetworking and ingressLoad balancingRBAC and identity integrationPod security and policy enforcementCertificate and secret managementMonitoring, logging, and troubleshooting

Experience optimizing Kubernetes resource utilization, scaling strategies, and cluster capacity management in enterprise environments.

Experience leading engineering initiatives in Agile delivery environments and managing work through tools such as Azure DevOps .

Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to resolve complex technical challenges in fast-paced environments.

Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and stakeholder communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.

Advanced hands-on experience with AKS and GKE in large-scale enterprise environments.

Experience supporting Day 2 operations for Kubernetes clusters in production.

Experience applying AI/ML, predictive analytics, or intelligent automation to cloud operations, cost optimization, observability, or capacity planning.

Experience with GitHub , Terraform , and GitOps delivery models such as ArgoCD .

Experience with enterprise platform tooling such as: DynatracePrisma Cloud / TwistlockHashiCorp VaultSplunkJFrog ArtifactoryApigee

Familiarity with service mesh, backup/recovery tooling, policy enforcement, and cluster security controls.

Experience with container technologies such as Docker .

Working knowledge of application and data platform dependencies, including APIs and relational databases such as SQL .

Cloud certifications in Azure , Google Cloud , or AWS .

Kubernetes certifications such as CKA , CKAD , or CKS .

Work at Home Requirements: To ensure Home or Hybrid Home/Office employees’ ability to work effectively, the self-provided internet service of Home or Hybrid Home/Office employees must meet the following criteria: At minimum, a download speed of 25 Mbps and an upload speed of 10 Mbps is required; wireless, wired cable or DSL connection is suggested. In certain roles, the minimum recommended internet speed required by Humana may not be sufficient for business needs. Humana reserves the right to require associates to upgrade their internet service if necessary. Work from a dedicated space lacking ongoing interruptions to protect member PHI / HIPAA information.

Travel: While this is a remote position, occasional travel to Humana's offices for training or meetings may be required.

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Pay Range

The compensation range below reflects a good faith estimate of starting base pay for full time (40 hours per week) employment at the time of posting. The pay range may be higher or lower based on geographic location and individual pay will vary based on demonstrated job related skills, knowledge, experience, education, certifications, etc.

$142,300 - $195,700 per year

This job is eligible for a bonus incentive plan. This incentive opportunity is based upon company and/or individual performance.

Description of Benefits

Humana, Inc. and its affiliated subsidiaries (collectively, “Humana”) offers competitive benefits that support whole-person well-being. Associate benefits are designed to encourage personal wellness and smart healthcare decisions for you and your family while also knowing your life extends outside of work. Among our benefits, Humana provides medical, dental and vision benefits, 401(k) retirement savings plan, time off (including paid time off, company and personal holidays, paid parental and caregiver leave), short-term and long-term disability, life insurance and many other opportunities.

Application Deadline: 11-05-2026

About us

About Humana: Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is a leading U.S. healthcare company. Through our Humana insurance services and our CenterWell healthcare services, we make it easier for the millions of people we serve to achieve their best health – delivering the care and service they need, when they need it. These efforts are leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare and Medicaid, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities at large. Learn more about what we offer at Humana.com and at CenterWell.com.

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Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the policy of Humana not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status. It is also the policy of Humana to take affirmative action, in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and VEVRAA, to employ and to advance in employment individuals with disability or protected veteran status, and to base all employment decisions only on valid job requirements. This policy shall apply to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, upgrading, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, recall, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation and selection for training, including apprenticeship, at all levels of employment.

Posting text as published by Humana.

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Remote Nationwide, United States of America

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