Senior Software Engineer / Platform Engineer (Golang & Kubernetes)

Job Title: Senior Software Engineer / Platform Engineer (Golang & Kubernetes)

Location: Urbandale, IA 50322 (Hybrid split schedule between remote & onsite work at the Intelligent Solutions Group campus.)

Contract Duration: 14 Months Contract with possibility of Extension

Shift Structure: First Shift | Type 1 Shift, Monday through Friday

Pay Rate: $71- $75/hr on W2

Portfolio Requirement: N/A

Assessment Requirement: Mandatory Glider technical assessment required prior to interview (testing Golang coding and Kubernetes/cloud infrastructure concepts).

Relocation Policy: Only Local Candidates

Visa Sponsorship: Standard onshore onboarding requirements apply.

Job Description: Our client, John Deere, a global leader in precision technology and advanced machinery, is seeking a high-performing Senior Software Engineer to join their Platform Engineering team in Urbandale, IA. In this core platform engineering role, you will bridge the gap between software development and cloud infrastructure. Working in a highly collaborative paired programming environment, you will write greenfield backend code primarily in Go (Golang - 70%), build custom Kubernetes operators and internal developer platform tooling, manage multi-region AWS EKS clusters, and build robust observability systems using OpenTelemetry.

Key Responsibilities:

• Golang Platform Development (70%): Write, test, and maintain high-performance, greenfield backend services, custom Kubernetes operators, and developer platform utilities primarily in Go (Golang), with secondary support in Java, Rust, and Python.
• Kubernetes & Cloud Infrastructure: Deploy, configure, and manage scalable Kubernetes / AWS EKS clusters and multi-region cloud infrastructure.
• Observability & Distributed Tracing: Implement and maintain end-to-end telemetry, distributed tracing, and monitoring pipelines using OpenTelemetry, Datadog, and Grafana.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Automate and manage multi-region AWS cloud resources and provisioning workflows using Terraform.
• Paired Programming & Agile Collaboration: Actively participate in daily paired programming sessions, lead technical design reviews, and mentor junior engineers across aligned product squads.

Required Qualifications & Skills:

• Software Engineering Core: 4 to 7+ years of total software engineering experience, with 3 to 6+ years of strong, hands-on programming expertise centered around Go (Golang - 70%) alongside Java, Rust, or Python.
• Container Orchestration: 3+ years of experience deploying, managing, and automating Kubernetes / AWS EKS clusters.
• Cloud & Infrastructure as Code: 3+ years of experience hosting microservices in AWS and automating infrastructure via Terraform.
• Observability & Tracing: Hands-on experience with OpenTelemetry, distributed tracing pipelines, and metrics aggregation.
• Paired Programming & Communication: Proven comfort working in a paired programming environment with strong self-drive, initiative, and excellent communication skills.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or an equivalent technical discipline.

Stand-Out Skills (Preferred):

• Practical experience writing custom Kubernetes operators or Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) in Go.
• Advanced experience with Datadog and Grafana dashboarding and proactive alerting architectures.
• Secondary proficiency in Rust or Java.

Actual Skills Required:

1. Core Backend Software Engineering in Go (Golang)
2. Kubernetes Cluster Deployment & Operator Development (AWS EKS)
3. Cloud-Native Observability & Distributed Tracing (OpenTelemetry)
4. Infrastructure as Code Automation (Terraform & AWS)
5. Paired Programming & Agile Technical Design