Staff Software Engineer - Kubernetes Operations

As Marqeta’s Staff Software Engineer - Kubernetes Operations, you'll be instrumental in scaling our platform to meet the demands of our rapidly growing business and help architect solutions that power millions of transactions daily.

We work Flexible First. This role can be performed remotely in the United States, only in one of our National locations, which you can review here.

The Impact You’ll Have

• Design, build, and maintain highly available Kubernetes infrastructure at scale
• Lead architecture decisions for container orchestration and cloud-native services
• Mentor engineers on Kubernetes best practices, container security, and cloud infrastructure
• Develop automation tools and improve CI/CD pipelines for containerized applications
• Collaborate with platform and application teams to optimize workload performance
• Drive initiatives to improve system reliability, observability, and disaster recovery
• Participate in on-call rotation and incident response
• Contribute to the technical roadmap and infrastructure strategy

Who You Are

• 8+ years of software engineering experience
• 3+ years of hands-on production experience with Kubernetes
• Strong understanding of container technologies (Docker, containerd)
• Experience with infrastructure as code (Terraform, Helm, or similar)
• Proficiency in at least one programming language (Go, Python, Java)
• Deep knowledge of networking, security, and distributed systems
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Strong communication and collaboration skills

Nice-To-Haves

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
• Experience with service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd)
• Knowledge of observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog)
• Experience in fintech or payments industry
• Contributions to open-source Kubernetes ecosystem

Typical Process

• Application Submission
• Recruiter phone call
• Hiring manager video call
• Virtual “Onsite” consisting of 4-5, 45 - 60 min calls
• Offer!

At this point, we hope you're feeling excited about the role. You're encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. Your skills and passion will stand out—and set you apart—especially if your career has taken some extraordinary twists and turns. We know the confidence gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates, so again, don’t hesitate to apply — we’d love to hear from you.

Compensation and Benefits

We work Flexible First. This role can be performed remotely in the United States, only in one of our National locations, which you can review here.

• National: A baseline tier that applies to most of the geographic territory of the United States.

When determining salaries, we consider several factors including, but not limited to, skills, prior experience, and work location. The new-hire base salary range for this position is:

• National: $174,700 - $218,400

We also believe in recognizing the contributions of our people. That's why we award annual bonuses to eligible employees, rewarding both individual performance and the success of the entire company.

Along with monetary compensation, Marqeta offers

• Multiple health insurance options
• Flexible time off – take what you need
• Retirement savings program with company contribution and after tax contributions
• Equity in a publicly-traded company and an Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Family-forming benefits, fertility support, and up to 20 weeks of Parental Leave
• Free therapy sessions, financial and professional coaching, and legal advice
• Monthly stipend to support our remote work model
• Annual “development dollars” to support our people growth and development
• Through Flex First, the freedom to live and work wherever you and your family thrive