Orchestration and cluster design
We design cluster topology, workload placement, and multi-environment strategy for teams that need production-grade Kubernetes without years of trial and error.
Service 03
Container orchestration & cloud-native engineering
Container orchestration and cloud-native engineering for teams that need a production-grade platform — not isolated Kubernetes clusters and ad hoc pipelines.
Why this service
Container adoption is easy. Running Kubernetes reliably in production across multiple teams is not.
Most container platform problems show up 12 months after adoption: environment drift between dev and production, deployment processes that differ by team, security controls that exist on paper but not in the cluster. This service replaces ad hoc setups with a real platform model — consistent environments, developer self-service, and security controls that enforce automatically instead of depending on manual review.
Focus areas
What this service covers.
Policy and runtime controls
We embed policy, RBAC, and runtime controls that give security teams visibility without adding friction to every developer workflow.
Developer self-service
We build internal platforms that let product teams provision environments, manage deployments, and inspect observability data without filing platform-team tickets.
Detailed offerings
Service modules for architecture, platform, and execution.
Each module can run independently or as part of a larger modernization program.
Cluster and environment architecture
We design multi-environment Kubernetes architecture with clear workload placement, tenancy boundaries, and lifecycle standards.
- Cluster topology design for dev, staging, production, and regulated workloads
- Namespace and tenancy strategy with guardrails for shared services
- Capacity planning and autoscaling approach across node pools and workloads
Platform baseline and golden paths
We establish reusable patterns so product teams can deploy reliably without platform bottlenecks.
- Standardized service templates for deployment, health, and observability
- Reference CI/CD workflows with progressive delivery controls
- Reusable infrastructure modules for ingress, secrets, and service exposure
Security and policy engineering
We enforce security controls natively in the platform lifecycle using policy-as-code and runtime controls.
- Admission control and policy enforcement for workloads and manifests
- Workload identity, secret distribution, and least-privilege access models
- Image provenance, vulnerability controls, and runtime hardening patterns
Observability and SRE alignment
We implement telemetry and reliability standards so operators can detect, diagnose, and recover quickly.
- Service-level objectives and alert taxonomy by workload tier
- Unified metrics, logs, and traces with incident-ready dashboards
- On-call runbooks and operational response standards
Developer experience and self-service
We reduce platform friction through self-service workflows and platform APIs that remove repetitive tickets.
- Self-service provisioning patterns for environments and preview deployments
- Developer portal and catalog guidance for internal platform consumption
- Release governance that preserves velocity while improving control
Engagement models
Ways we deliver this service.
Choose a delivery format that matches urgency, scope, and internal capacity.
Platform assessment sprint
3 to 5 weeks to evaluate your current cluster architecture, security controls, and operational readiness.
Platform baseline program
6 to 12 weeks to define and implement cloud-native baselines, golden paths, and governance controls.
Embedded platform acceleration
Ongoing support to operationalize standards, train teams, and stabilize platform adoption in production.
What you receive
Concrete deliverables, not generic recommendations.
Every engagement ends with artifacts your teams can execute and maintain.
- Cloud-native platform reference architecture and environment model
- Kubernetes baseline controls for deployment, policy, identity, and observability
- Golden-path CI/CD templates and workload onboarding standards
- Runtime governance model with clear ownership boundaries
- SRE operating playbooks for incident response and reliability management
- 90-day adoption roadmap for product and platform teams
Target outcomes
Business and engineering impact we optimize for.
25-45%
Reduction in platform ticket load
Self-service and standardized deployment patterns remove repetitive handoffs between product and platform teams.
20-35%
Faster production deployment cycles
Golden-path pipelines and policy automation reduce approval friction and late-stage release failures.
30%+
Improvement in runtime reliability
Consistent observability and SLO practices improve incident detection and mean-time-to-recovery.
Common questions
How this engagement works in practice.
Do we need to migrate everything to Kubernetes first?
No. We prioritize workloads based on operational fit and business value, then phase adoption to avoid unnecessary migration risk.
Can this work with our existing cloud provider stack?
Yes. We align the platform model with your current cloud services and architecture constraints rather than forcing a greenfield pattern.
Will product teams need heavy retraining?
We provide role-based enablement and templates so teams can adopt the platform incrementally without disrupting delivery.
Other services
More ways Karman can help.
Ready to engage?
Start with the problem. We'll take it from there.
Platform reviews, architecture consulting, or a scoping conversation — we scope engagements quickly.