Cloud Ops Lead (Kubernetes)

The Cloud Platform Consultant (Kubernetes) is responsible for leading the delivery and continuous improvement of container platform and cloud operations across AIA business units leveraging AIA’s enterprise cloud platform, primarily on Microsoft Azure.

This role drives operational excellence across incident, change, request, and problem management, ensuring platform reliability, scalability, and resilience. It focuses on the design, optimization, and governance of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and container platforms through advanced administration, automation, and performance tuning. The role also contributes to cloud transformation initiatives by promoting best practices, guiding architecture decisions, and enhancing platform capabilities in alignment with enterprise standards. Roles and Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Lead the design, deployment, and optimization of AKS clusters and container platform services for enterprise workloads

• Drive governance, standards, and best practices for Kubernetes, ensuring scalability, security, and operational consistency

• Own and actively lead 24/7 service operations, managing incident, change, request, and problem processes to ensure high availability and service reliability

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, enhancing operational processes, automation, and platform efficiency

• Lead troubleshooting and resolution of complex issues across Kubernetes, containers, cloud infrastructure, and networking layers

• Enable cloud adoption and application modernization, providing guidance to application teams on Kubernetes architecture and deployment practices

• Drive CI/CD, automation, and infrastructure-as-code practices to improve deployment speed and reliability

• Collaborate with architecture, security, and engineering teams to align platform capabilities with enterprise strategy

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to team members, strengthening capability and knowledge across the team Financial and Non-Financial Measures:

Financial Measures:

• Optimize cloud infrastructure costs through efficient resource management and automation.

Non-Financial Measures:

• Achieve high availability and reliability targets for cloud services.

• Ensure timely resolution of cloud infrastructure issues and incidents.

• Maintain compliance with security and regulatory requirements.

Communication Requirements Internal & External

• Communicate effectively with stakeholders, including architecture teams, security teams, other operational teams and senior management.

• Provide regular updates on cloud operations’ performance, issues, and improvements.

• Collaborate with external vendors and service providers to ensure the delivery of high-quality cloud services.

Excellent command of spoken and written English to facilitate clear and concise communication.

Minimum Job Requirements:

Experience:

• 7+ years of experience in Cloud Engineering, Kubernetes/AKS environments, or Platform Operations

• Strong expertise in public cloud (primarily Azure), including AKS architecture, operations, and optimization

• Relevant certifications (Azure, Kubernetes, AWS, ITIL) preferred

• Proven experience in enterprise container platform operations, including automation, monitoring, and reliability engineering

• Strong understanding of IT service management (ITIL), governance, and operating models

• Experience working in complex, global, or decentralized organizations

• Proven ability to manage stakeholders and vendors, ensuring service quality and SLA adherence

• Experience in a top-tier multinational organization is an advantage

Skills:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, particularly in complex environments

• Excellent communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management

• Ability to lead initiatives in fast-paced, 24/7 operational environments

• Proactive mindset with focus on continuous improvement, automation, and platform excellence

Strong hands-on experience in Kubernetes, including but not limited to:

• Lead design and operation of AKS clusters, including scaling, networking, and storage

• Drive container platform engineering (Docker, Kubernetes)

• Lead CI/CD and deployment practices using Git-based workflows (Azure DevOps / GitHub Actions)

• Drive automation using IaC and scripting (Terraform, PowerShell, Azure CLI)

• Implement advanced security practices (RBAC, policies, secrets, workload identity)

• Drive observability strategy (Azure Monitor, Prometheus, logging, alerting).

• Lead troubleshooting across application, Kubernetes, and infrastructure layers

• Ensure high availability, disaster recovery, and cost optimization

• Define and enforce standards, best practices, and runbooks Reporting Structure and Supervisory /