Principal Platform Engineer

The Infrastructure team is responsible for the platform, tools, and infrastructure supporting Avant's customer-facing products. As a team member, you will be developing tools to create and maintain cloud infrastructure, automate the management of complex service-oriented applications, and develop frameworks to ensure the Avant platform's stability and scalability.
 

What you’ll do at Avant:

• Design and implement production-grade Kubernetes platforms on AWS, incorporating EKS using Terraform.

• Develop automated infrastructure provisioning systems using workflows with Terraform, Helm, and ArgoCD for declarative configuration management

• Architect and maintain cloud-native platform services including service meshes, API gateways, and identity management systems

• Build developer self-service platforms with custom operators, platform APIs, and internal developer portals using tools developed internally.

• Implement comprehensive observability solutions with Datadog and Sentry, enabling automated alerting, distributed tracing, and performance optimization

• Design and maintain secure multi-tenant environments with robust network policies, pod security standards, and least-privilege access controls

• Create and maintain infrastructure scaling solutions using Karpenter, Cluster Autoscaler, and KEDA for optimized resource utilization

• Implement robust disaster recovery and business continuity strategies including multi-region deployments and automated failover systems

• Establish platform security practices including supply chain security, image scanning, and runtime threat detection

• Lead the migration of traditional workloads to containerized environments with minimal disruption and maximum automation

• Continuously improve platform reliability through chaos engineering, failure testing, and SLO/SLI measurements

• Research and evaluate emerging cloud-native technologies, providing technical leadership on adoption strategies
   

Why you're a fit at Avant:

• Strong development experience with infrastructure-as-code languages and tooling: Terraform, HCL, Python, Go, and Bash

• Expert knowledge of Kubernetes ecosystem including custom controllers, operators, CRDs, and advanced scheduling with Karpenter and KEDA

• Proven experience designing and implementing scalable platform solutions that empower developer self-service and accelerate delivery cycles

• Experience architecting and managing multi-tenant Kubernetes clusters with proper resource isolation, security controls, and GitOps workflows

• Deep expertise with containerization technologies including Docker, containerd, and OCI-compliant runtimes

• Experience building robust CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, and FluxCD for both infrastructure and application delivery

• Demonstrated ability to implement and manage cloud-native service meshes (Istio, Linkerd) and ingress solutions (NGINX, Contour)

• Expertise with AWS cloud services, particularly EKS, ECR, VPC networking, IAM, and integration patterns with Kubernetes

• Experience implementing HashiCorp stack (Vault, Consul, Terraform) for secrets management, service discovery, and infrastructure provisioning

• Proficiency with observability platforms including Datadog, Prometheus, and OpenTelemetry for comprehensive platform monitoring

• Experience managing stateful services in Kubernetes including databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB), message brokers (Kafka, RabbitMQ), and caching layers (Redis, Memcached)

• Experience implementing policy enforcement using OPA/Gatekeeper and secure supply chain practices with Cosign/Notary

• Expertise with infrastructure automation using Spacelift, Atlantis, or similar IaC workflow tools

• Experience integrating data platforms like Databricks and workflow engines like Airflow into Kubernetes environments

• Strong troubleshooting skills across the entire platform stack from networking to application runtime issues

This role is based on our downtown Chicago Office, located in the Merchandise Mart. We highly value collaboration and our hybrid schedule (M, T, Th in-office) enables flexibility to balance work and individual priorities.

Compensation Range:

The base salary range for this job is USD $130,000 - USD $190,000 / Year

Employees new to Avant typically come in below the midpoint of the pay range. The compensation range is based on the level outlined in the job posting, and compensation decisions are dependent on each applicant's experience, skills and abilities. 

[If an outstanding applicant's experience and skill level is above or below the qualifications outlined in the job posting, we reserve the right to make an offer at a different level than the one listed in this job posting, which may have a different compensation range.]

This role is eligible for additional incentives, including an annual bonus. These rewards are allocated based on level, impact and performance in the role.

Our benefits include:

• Choice of great Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance Plan options

• 401(k) match

• Flexible Time Off

• Flexible Work Environment - (i.e. Mon/Tues/Thurs in-person)

• Generous Paid Parental Leave, Adoption Assistance and Post-parental leave ramp-up program 

• Lunch Allowance (Fooda) and In-office Snacks

• Summer Fridays 

• Fun In-Office and Virtual Social Events

• And who doesn’t love the swag

Check out our Avant Blog!

We believe that a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences helps us create the most innovative solutions for our customers. We invite you to apply to our positions even if you do not meet 100% of the qualifications listed in the description. If you’re passionate about our mission and aligned to our values, we hope you’ll come contribute to our awesome culture.

Why Avant is the place for you:

At Avant, we believe our values make a difference:

Authenticity. We show up to work as our whole selves and make sure others can too.

Collaboration. We can only succeed when we do so as a team.

Problem-Solving. The harder the problem, the more satisfying the solution.

Customer. We are all owners of the customer experience.

Initiative. Plan. Adapt. Get Sh!t Done.

We believe that great ideas come from anyone and anywhere, that everyone is an owner who drives change, and that we have more fun when we work together. We're problem solvers who love collaborating with intelligent and highly-motivated people to reshape the face of digital banking. Avant offers terrific perks and benefits, fun social events with employees who actually like hanging out together, and a flexible growth environment where trying your hand at new projects and being the active owner of your career path is encouraged and supported.