Hiring Kubernetes Engineers: The Complete Guide

What Kubernetes Engineers Actually Do

Kubernetes engineers work across multiple layers of the K8s ecosystem.

Cluster Administration

Managing K8s infrastructure:

• Cluster setup — Designing and provisioning clusters
• Upgrades — Managing Kubernetes version upgrades
• Scaling — Cluster autoscaling, node management
• Security — RBAC, network policies, secrets management
• Monitoring — Observability stack, alerting

Platform Engineering

Building on Kubernetes:

• CI/CD — GitOps, ArgoCD, deployment pipelines
• Developer experience — Self-service deployments, tooling
• Operators — Custom controllers for automation
• Service mesh — Istio, Linkerd integration
• Multi-tenancy — Namespace isolation, resource quotas

Application Support

Helping teams use K8s:

• Containerization — Helping teams containerize applications
• Deployment strategies — Blue-green, canary, rolling updates
• Troubleshooting — Debugging pod issues, networking
• Cost optimization — Resource requests, spot instances
• Migration — Moving workloads to Kubernetes

Kubernetes Knowledge Levels

Basic K8s User

• Deploys using kubectl and manifests
• Understands pods, services, deployments
• Can read logs and basic troubleshooting
• Follows existing patterns

Intermediate K8s Engineer

• Designs K8s architectures
• Manages cluster operations
• Implements RBAC and security
• Troubleshoots complex issues
• Uses Helm and Kustomize effectively

Advanced K8s Engineer

• Writes custom operators
• Deep understanding of K8s internals
• Designs multi-cluster strategies
• Contributes to K8s ecosystem
• Leads platform initiatives

Interview Focus Areas

K8s Architecture

Understanding the system:

• "Explain the K8s control plane components"
• "How does a pod get scheduled?"
• "What happens when you run kubectl apply?"
• "Explain the difference between a Deployment and a StatefulSet"

Operations

Day-to-day management:

• "How do you troubleshoot a pod that won't start?"
• "Walk me through a cluster upgrade process"
• "How do you handle node failures?"
• "Explain your monitoring and alerting approach"

Security

Securing K8s:

• "How do you implement RBAC?"
• "Explain network policies"
• "How do you manage secrets?"
• "What security scanning do you use?"

Advanced Topics

For senior roles:

• "When would you write a custom operator?"
• "Explain CRDs and how they work"
• "How do you handle multi-cluster deployments?"
• "Describe your GitOps workflow"

Common Hiring Mistakes

Accepting Surface-Level Experience

"I've used kubectl" is not Kubernetes expertise. Many engineers have deployed to K8s without understanding it. Test for depth—can they explain how things work, not just how to use them?

Ignoring Cloud Provider Integration

In practice, K8s runs on cloud providers (EKS, GKE, AKS). Pure K8s knowledge without cloud integration skills has gaps. Evaluate cloud-specific experience alongside K8s fundamentals.

Expecting Pure Operations

Modern K8s work includes development—operators, automation, platform building. Pure sysadmin backgrounds may struggle with the development aspects. Look for coding ability.

Over-Specifying Tooling

K8s ecosystem tools change rapidly. Requiring specific tools (ArgoCD vs Flux, Istio vs Linkerd) matters less than understanding concepts. Strong engineers learn new tools quickly.

Where to Find K8s Engineers

High-Signal Sources

• CNCF community — KubeCon speakers, contributors
• K8s contributors — GitHub activity on K8s or related projects
• CKA/CKAD certified — Shows investment in learning
• Cloud-native companies — Engineers from K8s-heavy organizations
• daily.dev — Kubernetes-focused developers

Top Kubernetes talent often comes from companies running K8s at scale like Spotify, Airbnb, and major cloud providers. The CNCF Slack workspace, local Kubernetes meetups, and cloud-native conferences like KubeCon are excellent sourcing channels. Platform engineering teams at fast-growing startups also produce strong candidates.

Recruiter's Cheat Sheet

Resume Green Flags

• Cluster administration experience
• Operator development
• GitOps implementation
• Cloud provider K8s experience (EKS, GKE, AKS)
• Security implementation (RBAC, policies)
• Monitoring and observability
• CKA/CKAD certification

Resume Yellow Flags

• Only deployment experience (no cluster management)
• No cloud provider experience
• Only tutorials or learning projects
• Cannot explain K8s architecture

Technical Terms to Know