Principal Platform Architect Kubernetes Kafka

***Position is bonus eligible***Prestigious Financial Institution is currently seeking a Principal Platform Architect with strong Kubernetes and Kafka experience. Candidate will help define the technical direction for core platform capabilities — owning how we build, deploy, operate, and evolve the infrastructure layer across both legacy and cloud-native environments. This is a hands-on architecture role with enterprise-wide impact that will lead POC efforts, drive platform standards adoption, and serve as the senior technical voice on platform concerns across programs including the transformation.Responsibilities:Define and Own Platform ArchitectureLead architecture design and decision-making for the core platform capabilities: container orchestration, streaming infrastructure, cloud architecture, CI/CD and GitOps pipelines, and observabilityDevelop and maintain target-state platform architectures with clear transition plans from current stateOwn reference architectures for Kubernetes-based workloads, Kafka streaming topologies, Flink stream processing, and AWS infrastructure patternsEstablish platform architecture standards and guardrails that application teams can build against reliablyEnsure non-functional requirements — availability, latency, throughput, recoverability — are addressed at the platform level, not delegated to individual application teamsDrive Platform ModernizationArchitect and guide migration of workloads to cloud-native patterns on AWS, including compute, networking, storage, and security servicesDefine GitOps model — infrastructure-as-code practices, pipeline standards, environment promotion, and configuration management at scaleEvaluate and recommend platform technologies and tooling; lead proof-of-concept efforts to validate architectural decisions before commitmentIdentify and reduce platform risk across the portfolio — single points of failure, unsupported dependencies, capacity constraints, and operational gapsCollaborate and InfluencePartner with Application Architecture to ensure platform capabilities match application design requirements — particularly for high-throughput, low-latency clearing workloadsEngage Engineering and operations teams to ensure platform designs are buildable, operable, and supportable — not just theoretically soundFacilitate architecture working sessions with technical leads and business stakeholders; communicate platform decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiencesQualifications:10+ years of experience in infrastructure, platform, or systems architecture roles with demonstrated ownership of enterprise-scale platform decisionsDeep, hands-on expertise with Kubernetes — cluster architecture, workload design, networking, security, and operational patterns at scaleHands-on experience architecting Apache Kafka deployments — topic design, partitioning strategy, consumer group patterns, schema management, and operational concernsPractical experience with Apache Flink or equivalent stream processing frameworks — job design, state management, and deployment on KubernetesStrong AWS architecture experience — VPCs, EC2, EKS, MSK, S3, IAM, KMS, networking, and security servicesDemonstrated experience designing and implementing GitOps pipelines — infrastructure-as-code, environment promotion, secrets management, and release automation using tools such as Flux, ArgoCD, Terraform, or HelmExperience with brownfield/legacy environments alongside cloud-native programsKubernetes (EKS or self-managed), Kafka, Apache FlinkAWS foundational services: EC2, EKS, MSK, S3, VPC, IAM, KMS, CloudWatchGitOps tooling: ArgoCD, Flux, Terraform, HelmCI/CD pipelines: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or equivalentObservability: OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, or equivalentUnix/Linux environments; container and image management (Docker, NexArtifactory)BS degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, or a similar technical field, or equivalent practical experience.10+ years of relevant work experience.Preferred Skills:Experience in financial services, particularly regulated environments (SIFMU, clearinghouse, exchange, or bank)Familiarity with Regulation SCI, CPMI-IOSCO resilience requirements, or equivalent financial market infrastructure regulatory frameworksExperience with observability tooling at scale — OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, or equivalentFamiliarity with high-performance and low-latency computing patterns relevant to risk and clearing workloadsExperience with enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAFAWS Solutions Architect — Associate or Professional (preferred)