Lead Platform Infrastructure Engineer

The Lead Platform & Infrastructure Engineer owns how the Navanta platform is built, shipped, and operated — on-premises or as a dedicated single-tenant deployment inside each bank’s environment. Working under the SVP of Technology and Commercial AI and in close collaboration with security, data, and AI/ML teams, this role is the deployment moat: the person who makes it possible to ship the identical Navanta platform inside a regulated institution’s own infrastructure, cleanly and repeatably, at a cost that scales. Key Responsibilities · Design and own the Infrastructure-as-Code baseline that enables dedicated single-tenant or on-premises deployment with minimal per-customer effort · Stand up and operate Docker and Kubernetes (and K3s for small or in-bank installs), ingress, load balancing, and the CI/CD pipeline · Build and maintain the secrets and certificate story and the observability stack · Define environment promotion, release automation, and rollback procedures — making deployments boring and repeatable · Partner with Security on encryption, network isolation, and exam-ready hardening aligned to regulatory guidance · Right-size and operate GPU and inference infrastructure as the AI workload grows · Establish on-call, SLOs, and capacity planning practices ahead of beta scale-up · Document deployment architecture and operating procedures to support customer due diligence and audit readiness Core Competencies · Infrastructure-as-Code discipline — modules, state, idempotency, and reproducible images · Security-first design: encryption, network isolation, and least-privilege access aligned to NIST CSF 2.0 and NIST SP 800-53 principles · Operational ownership — on-call, SLOs, observability, and incident response · Cross-functional collaboration with security, data, and AI/ML engineering teams Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) · Deployment repeatability: new bank environments stood up within defined time and effort targets · Platform availability and SLO attainment across all production deployments · Security and hardening posture — zero critical findings in customer security reviews · CI/CD pipeline reliability and mean time to recovery for infrastructure incidents · GPU and compute cost per inference request as AI workloads scale Qualifications To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. · 8–12+ years building and operating production infrastructure, with 2+ years leading or setting direction for a platform or infrastructure function · Demonstrated experience shipping and operating software in customer-managed or on-premises environments — deploying and operating inside environments you do not control · Deep, hands-on Docker and Kubernetes in production (deployments, networking, storage, upgrades), plus strong Linux and networking fundamentals · Fluency with IaC and configuration management as a discipline — modules, state, idempotency, and reproducible images · A track record of making infrastructure reliable, secure, and automated rather than hand-tuned Core Technologies · Containers & orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes, K3s, Helm · IaC & config: Terraform, Packer, Ansible · CI/CD: Gitea Actions (or GitHub Actions / GitLab CI) · Secrets & certs: HashiCorp Vault, SOPS; PKI / mTLS (or equivalent) · Networking & ingress: Caddy or NGINX, MetalLB · Storage: S3 and MinIO (object storage) · Observability: Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, Loki (or equivalent) · On-prem / bare-metal: strong familiarity required; cloud (AWS) experience useful for tooling and CI/CD pipelines Nice to Have · Prior experience deploying software into regulated or air-gapped customer environments (banking, healthcare, or government) · Experience with Kubernetes network policy, namespace isolation, and multi-environment rollout strategies · GPU scheduling and cost optimization for model inference Education and/or Experience · Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or a related technical field, or equivalent hands-on experience · Experience in the financial services industry or a regulated technology environment strongly preferred Work Structure & Expectations · Full-time role combining ongoing platform operations with initiative-based build-out of deployment tooling and automation · Close collaboration with engineering, security, and client success teams; on-call rotation as deployments reach production Physical Demands The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands to finger, handle, or touch objects, tools, or controls. The employee frequently is required to talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, usually waist high, up to 50 feet away. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus. Work Environment The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. • Typical office environment • Up to 20% travel time may be required Who is Navanta? Navanta is the trusted technology and services partner for community financial institutions, unifying critical systems, security, cloud infrastructure, and support into one seamless, purpose built experience. With more than 35 years of banking expertise — from Managed IT to Core Banking, CRM, and Advisory Services — Navanta helps institutions simplify complexity, reduce risk, and strengthen daily operations. Navanta empowers community bankers and their people to thrive together. Go Bankers, Go.™