Manager of Kubernetes Operations

Join KAYAK, the leading travel search engine, as the Manager of Kubernetes Operations. In this role, you will lead a team of platform engineers, shape the strategy for our container orchestration platform, and ensure its reliability, scalability, and security. You will collaborate closely with engineering, security, and infrastructure teams, and drive the adoption of infrastructure-as-code and GitOps practices. This position offers flexible work options, team-wide time off, and opportunities for career growth.

• Own the technical roadmap and operational strategy for the Kubernetes platform, ensuring cluster reliability, scalability, and security across production and non-production environments.
• Lead a team of container platform engineers, taking full responsibility for hiring, performance management, and career development to build a high-performing, inclusive team.
• Drive the adoption of infrastructure-as-code and GitOps practices for cluster configuration and application deployment, reducing manual toil and improving consistency across environments.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate a clear technical vision and work effectively with cross-functional engineering, security, and product teams
• Proficiency in at least one scripting or automation language (Python, Go, or Bash) to support infrastructure-as-code workflows and reduce operational toil
• A proven track record of operating large-scale, 24/7 production Kubernetes environments, including cluster lifecycle management (upgrades, node provisioning, capacity planning) and workload migration from legacy container orchestration platforms
• Solid experience with modern observability tooling — such as Prometheus, Grafana, or equivalent — including alerting, dashboarding, and incident-driven tuning
• Deep, hands-on expertise with Kubernetes — including RBAC design, network policy, cluster hardening, and multi-environment operations spanning on-premises and cloud infrastructure
• 8+ years of experience in SRE, DevOps, or platform/infrastructure engineering, with at least 3 years in an engineering leadership or management role
• A strong technical foundation in both on premise and cloud infrastructure (GCP and/or AWS) and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform and Ansible
• A degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• Experience as a people manager with a demonstrated ability to hire, develop, and retain engineering talent, and a commitment to building inclusive, high-performing teams