[Remote] Platform Engineering Consultant (Remote/Anywhere)

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Collabora is a company focused on building and operating infrastructure for open source software at scale. They are seeking a Platform Engineering Consultant to design, deploy, and maintain production platforms, working closely with client engineering teams to solve operational challenges.ResponsibilitiesDesign, deploy and maintain production infrastructure for client workloads: Kubernetes is a key part of our toolkit and you will use it regularly, but you will also work across the broader platform stack including networking, storage, observability and CI/CDOwn the operational health of client platforms: you are comfortable with incident response, post-mortems and building systems that fail gracefullyFavour open source tooling that is well-maintained and community-aligned. You do not need to be an active upstream contributor, but you should understand the ecosystems you are working in and be able to evaluate tools criticallyTreat infrastructure configuration as software: version controlled, reviewed and repeatable. This is a mindset as much as a skill set and it shapes how you approach every engagementTranslate client operational needs into technical solutions. You will help clients understand the trade-offs between convenience and long-term maintainabilityBalance technical excellence with real-world pressures: customer deadlines, legacy infrastructure, budget limitations, all while keeping quality highExplain complex infrastructure decisions to product and engineering teams, provide honest timelines and build trust through transparent communicationAs you develop in the role, you will take on more responsibility for shaping how Collabora delivers infrastructure consultancy - mentoring colleagues and leading client engagementsSkillsSolid Kubernetes experience. You are comfortable operating clusters in production, troubleshooting workload failures, managing networking and storage and navigating unfamiliar configurations independently. You do not need to have seen everything, but you should know how to find your wayBroader infrastructure competence. Kubernetes is not the whole job. You are comfortable working across the platform stack: networking, storage, Linux systems, CI/CD pipelines and observability toolingInfrastructure as Code mindset. You treat infrastructure configuration as software: version controlled, peer reviewed and repeatable. You are uncomfortable with manual changes to production systems and you can articulate why. Experience with Ansible, Terraform or equivalent tooling is expectedSRE or customer-facing support background. You are comfortable diagnosing and resolving issues reported by clients, often from vague descriptions and limited reproduction steps. You understand that good incident response is as much about communication as it is about technical skillConsultancy or client-facing technical background. You know how to balance technical excellence with business constraints, manage expectations across multiple projects and advocate for the right solution while respecting customer timelinesStrong English communication skills, both spoken and written, for documentation, incident reports and client discussionsSelf-directed work style. You thrive in a remote, asynchronous environment and take ownership of your work without needing close supervisionHelm familiarity is useful. We use it regularly on client engagements and you will pick it up quickly if you have not worked with it deeply yetCloud provider experience: AWS, GCP or Azure experience informs good infrastructure decisions; understanding the primitives mattersCI/CD pipeline experience: GitLab CI, GitHub Actions or equivalentObservability tooling: Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, OpenTelemetry or similarSecurity and compliance awareness: network policy, RBAC, pod security standards or supply chain security toolingScripting and automation: Python, Bash or Go for operational toolingRust: increasingly relevant for infrastructure utilities and systems-level tooling; not a primary requirement but a genuine advantageOpen source contribution history. We know not every employer makes this easy. Active community participation at any level is valued and we will support you in building that profile as part of the roleBenefitsCompetitive salary based on experience and locationOffice setup budgetSabbatical/Retention of Services - after five years continuous serviceCo-working policy - support for working outside homeWellness assessments - biannual wellbeing assessments with a trained mental health specialistConference attendance -we cover expenses and encourage speaking opportunitiesOpen source time - contribute to projects you care aboutFully remote - work where you’re most productiveGlobal team - engineers across Europe, Americas and AsiaNo on-call rotations - this isn't support workSustainable pace - we're here for the marathon, not the sprintFlexible hours - manage your own scheduleUpstream contributions - your work shapes Linux, not just client productsTechnical leadership track - path to principal engineer, subsystem expertise or technical architecture rolesConsulting track - develop deeper client relationships, lead customer engagements or shape service offeringsMentorship opportunities - both receiving and providing guidanceConference speaking - we support presentation submissions and provide coachingRecognition - your contributions are public, building your professional reputationCompany OverviewCollabora is a global consultancy specialising in delivering the benefits of open source software to the commercial world. It was founded in 2005, and is headquartered in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, GBR, with a workforce of 51-200 employees. Its website is https://www.collabora.com.