Principal Architect - Platforms

Principal Architect - Platforms 7/31/26

About Us

Core42, a leader in AI-powered cloud and digital infrastructure, is driving transformative technology solutions globally. Leveraging advanced resources and partnerships, Core42 empowers clients to harness sovereign AI infrastructure, especially in sectors with stringent regulatory needs. With a mission to redefine digital transformation, we combine sovereign capabilities with scalable, high-performance compute infrastructure, positioning Core42 at the forefront of AI innovation in the Middle East and beyond.

The opportunity

We are seeking a Principal Platform Architect specializing in Kubernetes, OpenShift and cloud platform infrastructure to define and drive the long-term architecture strategy for Core42's container platforms and cloud-native ecosystem.

This is a senior, enterprise-level technical leadership role responsible for shaping the architecture, standards, governance and evolution of Kubernetes and OpenShift platforms across private, hybrid and public cloud environments. You will focus on building scalable, secure, resilient and operationally mature platform capabilities that support enterprise workloads, managed services, AI/ML platforms and customer-facing cloud services.

The ideal candidate will combine deep hands-on technical expertise with strong strategic architecture leadership and act as a key technical authority across platform engineering, infrastructure, security, operations and product teams.

Your Key Responsibilities

Define and drive the long-term architecture vision, standards and roadmap for Kubernetes, OpenShift and cloud-native platform services across private, hybrid and public cloud environments.

Design scalable, secure, resilient and highly available multi-cluster and multi-tenant Kubernetes platform architectures for enterprise and customer-facing workloads.

Lead architecture decisions across Kubernetes platforms, hosted control planes, automation, observability, GitOps, Infrastructure as Code and cloud-native operational models.

Design and govern Kubernetes fleet-management and hosted-control-plane architectures using technologies such as Gardener and Kamaji.

Architect integration patterns between Kubernetes and OpenShift platforms and infrastructure services, including OpenStack, networking, storage, identity and access management, public key infrastructure, DNS, load balancing, observability and security services.

Define platform operating models covering lifecycle management, upgrades, backup, disaster recovery, scaling, resilience and operational readiness.

Establish platform security architecture and governance, including role-based access control, workload isolation, secrets management, encryption, compliance controls and zero-trust principles.

Define observability and monitoring strategies covering metrics, logging, tracing, alerting, dashboards, service-level objectives and incident-management practices.

Evaluate Kubernetes operators, controllers, APIs and platform tooling to ensure scalability, reliability, maintainability and operational maturity.

Lead proof-of-concept initiatives, benchmarking, pilot deployments and production rollout activities.

Act as the senior technical authority for Kubernetes and OpenShift platform architecture across engineering, infrastructure, operations and security teams.

Lead architecture reviews and technical-governance discussions, while providing technical leadership and mentorship to engineering and platform teams.

Communicate architectural strategies, risks, trade-offs and recommendations to technical and executive stakeholders.

Prepare and maintain architecture documentation, reference architectures, standards and Architecture Decision Records.

Support incident analysis, root-cause investigations, capacity planning and continuous platform-improvement initiatives.

What We’re Looking For

• Required skills / qualifications
  
  

Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Software Engineering or a related technology discipline.

More than 12 years of experience across infrastructure, cloud platforms or platform engineering, including extensive experience designing large-scale Kubernetes and OpenShift environments.

Proven experience defining enterprise platform-architecture strategies and leading cloud-native transformation initiatives.

Deep expertise in Kubernetes and OpenShift architecture, including multi-cluster management, cluster lifecycle management, networking, storage, security, observability and operators.

Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes fleet-management and hosted-control-plane technologies such as Gardener and Kamaji.

Strong understanding of cloud-computing models and cloud-native operating patterns, including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, GitOps, CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Ansible or similar tools.

Advanced knowledge of data-centre networking, distributed systems, software-defined networking technologies, OVN, container network interfaces, ingress, service mesh and load balancing.

Experience with service-mesh technologies such as Istio and Kubernetes or OpenShift workload-security models.

Strong understanding of observability platforms and monitoring strategies using Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, ELK, OpenSearch or similar technologies.

Strong Linux systems-administration, automation and scripting skills using Bash, Python or similar technologies.

Strong understanding of platform security, compliance, hardening, identity integration and enterprise operational governance.

Proven ability to lead complex enterprise platform initiatives and influence cross-functional technical teams.

Strong communication, stakeholder-management, documentation and presentation skills.

• Preferred skills / qualifications
  
  

Experience with OpenStack and the integration of virtualization, compute, storage and Kubernetes or OpenShift platforms.

Familiarity with AI and machine-learning platforms such as OpenShift AI, Kubeflow and MLflow, as well as GPU-enabled Kubernetes environments.

Experience with enterprise-architecture methodologies such as TOGAF or Zachman.

Relevant certifications in Kubernetes, OpenShift, cloud computing or enterprise architecture.

What Working At Core42 Offers

With a diverse team of 1,100+ employees from 68 nationalities, we foster an inclusive, innovative and collaborative environment. At Core42, we foster a culture grounded in trust, accountability and high performance. We are united by our values: Grit, where we overcome challenges with resilience and determination, Passion, which drives us to pursue excellence in everything we do, and Impact, as we aim to inspire progress and create meaningful change. Our team members thrive in an environment where each person’s contributions propel us forward, and together, we commit to achieving extraordinary results.

Competitive Salary: We offer an attractive salary package based on your skills and experience

Yearly Bonus: In recognition of your contributions, you will receive a performance-based annual bonus

Exclusive Discount Cards: Access special benefits with Esaad and Fazaa cards, offering discounts across a wide range of services

Premium Family Insurance: We provide comprehensive health coverage, including dental, vision and life insurance, ensuring the well-being of you and your family

Learning & Development: We offer access to top-tier learning platforms to help you grow in your career. Learn at your own pace with unlimited access to premium courses.

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