DevOps Engineer - Cloud-Native/On-Premises

Role Overview : Are you a DevOps Engineer who thrives under the hood of true on-premises architecture and bare-metal environments? Do you prefer building production-grade, 100% open-source platforms over managing managed public cloud services?We are looking for a skilled DevOps Engineer (Cloud-Native | On-Premises) to own and scale our completely self-hosted infrastructure. In this role, you will build and maintain bare-metal Kubernetes clusters, implement GitOps pipelines, manage OpenStack environments, and drive production-grade reliability without relying on AWS or Azure managed services.Key Responsibilities : 1. Infrastructure & Kubernetes (Bare-Metal / OpenStack) : - Deploy, manage, and scale self-hosted Kubernetes clusters on bare metal and OpenStack.- Build, maintain, and optimize custom Helm charts for platform services.- Configure CNI plugins, network policies, and manage multi-cluster upgrades and lifecycle management.2. CI/CD, Automation & GitOps : - Design and maintain robust CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and modern GitOps workflows.- Manage self-hosted runners and internal artifact repositories (Nexus / Artifactory).- Integrate automated testing, Trivy container security scans, and SonarQube quality gates into pipelines.- Execute progressive deployment strategies including Canary and Blue-Green rollouts.3. Observability & Operations : - Deploy and tune Prometheus monitoring and custom Grafana dashboards.- Maintain centralized logging using EFK (Elasticsearch, Fluentd, Kibana) or Loki stacks.- Set up distributed tracing with Jaeger and configure production alert routing via AlertManager.4. Networking & Platform Services : - Configure Ingress controllers (NGINX / Traefik) and bare-metal load balancers (MetalLB).- Manage DNS, service discovery, and automated TLS/SSL certificate lifecycles via cert-manager.5. Security, Compliance & Governance : - Implement strict Kubernetes RBAC rules and Pod Security Standards.- Conduct automated security audits using tools like kube-bench and kube-hunter.- Manage secrets securely using HashiCorp Vault or Sealed Secrets.Core Requirements : - Mandatory Technical Focus : Strong hands-on experience in Private Cloud / On-Premises infrastructure (OpenStack, bare-metal Kubernetes). Note : Candidates exclusively experienced in public cloud managed services (AWS, Azure, GCP) will not be considered.- Container Orchestration : Deep understanding of on-prem Kubernetes architecture, CNI, storage, and networking fundamentals.- CI/CD & Code Control : Hands-on experience building Jenkins pipelines and developing Helm charts.- Linux Systems : Advanced Linux administration skills and shell/automation scripting expertise.- Work Logistics : Comfortable working a Hybrid schedule (4 days in-office, 1 day remote).- Aligned with Kenya shift hours.- Willingness to travel to Kenya periodically as required by projects.Nice to Have : - Hands-on experience with multi-cluster management tools (e.g., Rancher).- Automated backup and disaster recovery mechanisms (e.g., Velero).- Policy-as-code frameworks (e.g., OPA / Kyverno).- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Application Developer (CKAD). (ref:hirist.tech)