Azure Platform Engineer

We are seeking a highly skilled Azure Platform Engineer for an enterprise-level contract-to-permanent opportunity. In this role, you will take on a premier platform engineering, Kubernetes architecture, and cloud infrastructure capacity, specializing in designing, deploying, and operating production-grade Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters.

As an Azure Platform Engineer, you will serve as the subject-matter expert bridging the gap between application development squads, cybersecurity leads, and cloud operations. Operating in a 100% remote setting, you will own the container platform lifecycle end-to-end—directing private cluster setups, advanced container networking (Azure CNI), security hardening, GitOps deployments, and full-stack observability. This position demands a technical Kubernetes authority with extensive hands-on expertise in Microsoft Azure PaaS services, Terraform infrastructure as code, Helm templating, and automated vulnerability management who can ensure high availability, scalability, and operational reliability across mission-critical systems.

Assignment Type: 100% Remote

Contract Duration: 6-month contract to start (with intention to convert to Full-Time Permanent)

Advantages
100% Remote Flexibility: Work from anywhere with complete remote autonomy.

Contract-to-Perm Path: Structured 6-month contract with a direct intention for full-time permanent conversion.

Cutting-Edge Tech Stack: Hands-on architecture across AKS, Azure CNI, GitOps, Terraform, and the Grafana observability stack.

Platform Ownership: End-to-end SME leadership over enterprise Kubernetes clusters, networking, security, and DR strategy.

Responsibilities
Act as the technical subject-matter expert (SME) for Kubernetes deployments, architectural standards, and production issue resolution across all environments.

Design, build, and deploy production-grade Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters utilizing private cluster configurations, Azure RBAC, and managed identities.

Manage the complete operational lifecycle of AKS clusters, including version upgrades, node pool configurations, autoscaling, and capacity planning.

Configure and maintain advanced Kubernetes networking, including Azure CNI, internal load balancers, and ingress controllers such as NGINX and Traefik.

Integrate AKS with Azure PaaS ecosystems, including Azure Container Registry (ACR), Key Vault via CSI drivers, Azure SQL, Kafka/Event Hubs, Azure Storage, and private endpoints.

Manage containerized deployments using Docker and Helm, establishing reusable chart templates, namespaces, resource quotas, and Azure Policy for Kubernetes.

Harden cluster security through network policies, policy enforcement, container image scanning, and vulnerability remediation workflows.

Develop and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) utilizing Terraform for automated provisioning of Azure platform resources.

Support continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines in Azure DevOps alongside GitOps delivery models using Argo CD or Flux.

Implement and maintain full-stack observability using Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, Tempo, Azure Monitor, and Application Insights, establishing clear SLIs/SLOs.

Partner with application engineering teams to diagnose performance bottlenecks, right-size cluster workloads, and optimize node pool resource utilization.

Contribute to Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning (DR/BCP) procedures, participating in failover drills and validating RTO/RPO targets.

Provide escalation support for critical production incidents, participate in on-call rotations, lead root-cause analyses, and author operational runbooks.

Qualifications
Core Technical & Platform Engineering Requirements
Kubernetes Expertise: Minimum 5+ years of hands-on experience designing, deploying, and managing production Kubernetes clusters.

Kubernetes Internals: Strong understanding of Kubernetes internals, including scheduling, networking, storage classes, controllers, and RBAC.

Azure AKS & Networking: Proven proficiency with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) private cluster configurations and Azure CNI networking.

Azure PaaS Integrations: Hands-on experience integrating AKS with Azure services (ACR, Key Vault, Azure SQL, Kafka/Event Hubs, Managed Identities, and Private Endpoints).

Package Management & IaC: Hands-on experience with Helm for package management and working knowledge of Terraform for Infrastructure as Code.

CI/CD & GitOps: Working knowledge of Azure DevOps (or equivalent CI/CD platforms) and GitOps deployment workflows (Flux or Argo CD).

Security & Vulnerability Management: Practical experience with container image scanning, cluster vulnerability triage, and remediation workflows.

Automation & Scripting: Strong scripting skills in Python and Bash for tooling development and task automation.

Soft Skills & Delivery Attributes
Analytical Problem Solving: Exceptional diagnostic and troubleshooting skills to resolve complex distributed systems and network-layer issues.

Communication & Collaboration: Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to convey technical concepts clearly to both technical and business stakeholders.

Summary
If you're interested in the "Azure Platform Engineer" role based in Toronto, we encourage you to apply online at www.randstad.ca.
Only qualified candidates will be contacted for the next steps. We look forward to hearing from you!

Randstad Canada is committed to fostering a workforce reflective of all peoples of Canada. As a result, we are committed to developing and implementing strategies to increase the equity, diversity and inclusion within the workplace by examining our internal policies, practices, and systems throughout the entire lifecycle of our workforce, including its recruitment, retention and advancement for all employees. In addition to our deep commitment to respecting human rights, we are dedicated to positive actions to affect change to ensure everyone has full participation in the workforce free from any barriers, systemic or otherwise, especially equity-seeking groups who are usually underrepresented in Canada's workforce, including those who identify as women or non-binary/gender non-conforming; Indigenous or Aboriginal Peoples; persons with disabilities (visible or invisible) and; members of visible minorities, racialized groups and the LGBTQ2+ community.

Randstad Canada is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and accessible workplace for all its candidates and employees by supporting their accessibility and accommodation needs throughout the employment lifecycle. We ask that all job applications please identify any accommodation requirements by sending an email to [email protected] to ensure their ability to fully participate in the interview process.

This posting is for existing and upcoming vacancies.