About the Role

We are seeking a hands-on, operationally focused Cloud / Platform Operations Manager to lead the day-to-day management of our AWS and Kubernetes environments. This leader will bring deep technical expertise in operating, troubleshooting, and optimizing production Kubernetes platforms while ensuring the reliability, security, and governance of our cloud infrastructure.

This role is responsible for ensuring platform stability, enforcing cloud governance and guardrails, and delivering responsive, high-quality support to internal users. The ideal candidate is comfortable rolling up their sleeves to resolve complex Kubernetes and AWS operational issues while also leading and developing a high-performing operations team.

Unlike traditional platform engineering roles focused on feature development, this position is centered on operations, service delivery, and execution. The team supports a high volume of incoming requests and operational needs, and this leader will prioritize responsiveness, reliability, and consistency over agile delivery.

This role also requires a strong people leader who can manage escalations, support team development, and act as a first line of leadership for operational issues before they reach senior leadership.

Responsibilities

Operational Leadership & Service Delivery

• Own the day-to-day operations of AWS and Kubernetes environments, ensuring reliability, availability, and performance.
• Provide technical leadership and hands-on support for complex Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure issues.
• Lead a ticket-driven support model, prioritizing and ensuring timely fulfillment of internal user requests.
• Establish and enforce SLAs/SLOs for platform support and operational responsiveness.
• Drive a culture of execution, accountability, and customer service within the team.

AWS Governance, Guardrails & Policy Enforcement

• Define, implement, and enforce AWS guardrails, IAM policies, and governance frameworks.
• Ensure proper account structure, access controls, cost controls, and compliance standards.
• Partner with security teams to enforce best practices and reduce risk across the platform.
• Continuously audit and improve cloud policy adherence.

Kubernetes Operations & Stability

• Own the operational health and lifecycle management of production Kubernetes clusters.
• Maintain and troubleshoot Kubernetes control planes, worker nodes, networking, storage, ingress, and containerized workloads.
• Perform hands-on cluster administration, upgrades, patching, capacity planning, and performance tuning.
• Ensure robust monitoring, logging, alerting, and incident response for Kubernetes environments.
• Drive operational best practices for cluster reliability, security, and resiliency.
• Partner with application teams to troubleshoot deployment, scaling, networking, and workload issues.

Incident & Escalation Management

• Participate in a rotating after-hours on-call schedule to provide operational support for critical production incidents, ensuring timely response, issue resolution, and service continuity.
• Act as the primary escalation point for AWS and Kubernetes operational issues.
• Lead technical troubleshooting during production incidents and guide the team through resolution.
• Handle and resolve escalations effectively before they reach senior leadership.
• Lead incident response, root cause analysis, and post-incident improvements.
• Build strong communication channels with stakeholders during incidents.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of cloud/platform engineers with a strong operational mindset.
• Mentor engineers on Kubernetes operations, AWS best practices, and operational excellence.
• Set clear expectations around ownership, responsiveness, and execution.
• Manage performance, provide feedback, and address gaps in delivery or behavior.
• Foster a culture of accountability, urgency, and continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional Support

• Partner with engineering, product, and business teams to support platform needs and unblock users.
• Balance operational workload with longer-term improvements without compromising service delivery.
• Act as a bridge between users and platform capabilities, ensuring needs are met efficiently.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure or platform operations, with at least 2 years in a leadership role.
• Strong hands-on experience administering and supporting production Kubernetes environments, including cluster operations, troubleshooting, upgrades, networking, storage, ingress, and workload management.
• Demonstrated ability to independently diagnose and resolve complex Kubernetes platform issues in production.
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS, including IAM, networking, account structure, and governance controls.
• Proven experience managing AWS guardrails, policies, and access controls at scale.
• Experience with Kubernetes observability and operational tooling (such as Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch, Fluent Bit, or similar).
• Deep operational experience running and supporting Kubernetes environments in production.
• Experience leading ticket-based support or operations teams with high request volume.
• Strong incident management and escalation handling experience.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams focused on execution, reliability, and service delivery while remaining technically engaged.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Compensation:

Expected Annual Base Salary $180k-$210k

Actual base salary will be determined by a wide range of factors including but not limited to role, function, level, experience, qualifications and geographic location. In addition to a competitive base salary, this position may be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus based upon factors such as individual impact, team and firm performance. Bain Capital offers a competitive benefits package designed to support employees' health, financial security, family needs, and overall well-being.