Kubernetes consulting services that pay for themselves
Your Kubernetes platform should accelerate your business, not consume your best engineers. Our US-based Kubernetes consultants build, stabilize, and operate production platforms — then transfer the knowledge to your team. Serving enterprises in Texas, California, and nationwide.
Kubernetes is powerful. That's the problem.
The flexibility that makes Kubernetes valuable also makes it complex. Most organizations underestimate what it takes to run Kubernetes in production — until they're already in too deep.
Kubernetes adoption stalled
Your team adopted Kubernetes but it's become a maintenance burden. Deployments are fragile, debugging takes hours, and nobody trusts the platform.
Platform team stretched thin
Every team wants self-service Kubernetes access but your platform engineers are drowning in tickets, firefighting, and manual provisioning.
Multi-cluster sprawl
You have clusters everywhere — dev, staging, prod, multiple clouds — but no consistent governance, security posture, or operational visibility.
Cost visibility is zero
Your Kubernetes bill is a black box. You know it's too high but can't attribute costs to teams, workloads, or even environments.
Security keeps you up at night
You're running production workloads but can't answer basic questions about network policies, RBAC, or what's actually running in your clusters.
Hiring is impossible
Senior Kubernetes engineers cost $200K+ and take 6 months to hire. You need expertise now, not next quarter.
Three phases to a production-ready platform
We don't do 18-month transformations. We deliver value in weeks, not years — with clear milestones and measurable outcomes.
Assess & Stabilize
We audit your current Kubernetes environment — architecture, security posture, operational maturity, and cost structure. You get a prioritized remediation roadmap with quick wins identified.
Deliverables
- Architecture review
- Security audit
- Cost analysis
- Remediation roadmap
Build & Harden
We implement the platform improvements: GitOps workflows, network policies, RBAC, observability stack, and cost controls. Your team works alongside us — this isn't a black box.
Deliverables
- GitOps implementation
- Security hardening
- Observability stack
- Cost controls
Operate & Transfer
Opt-in, not a lock-in. The default is a bounded handover — runbooks, incident-response playbooks, and knowledge transfer so your team owns the platform. If you want continued coverage, we run it under defined SLAs (see the operating model below); either way the goal is to make ourselves optional.
Deliverables
- 24/7 operations
- Runbook library
- Knowledge transfer
- Team enablement
How we operate — and how you exit
Every engagement is a bounded transformation: assess, build, and transfer ownership so your team runs the platform without us. Ongoing operations are opt-in — a retainer for teams that want continued coverage, never a lock-in.
Escalation
A named escalation path into senior engineers and leadership, integrated with your PagerDuty or Opsgenie.
Coverage
Business-hours or 24/7 on-call, sized to your Sev 1 needs — staffed by senior, US-based engineers.
Reporting & exit
Monthly SLA reporting, plus runbooks and knowledge transfer so you can bring operations in-house at any time.
*Targets shown are our standard managed-services SLA; specific tiers, response times, and service credits are set in your MSA / SOW. MSA & certificate of insurance available on request.
A reference Kubernetes platform we've shipped to production
Vendor-neutral, GitOps-driven, secure by default — every layer is yours to own.
Developers → Git
GitHub · GitLab
GitOps CI/CD
ArgoCD · Flux · Kaniko · Harbor
Kubernetes Control Plane
EKS · AKS · GKE · DOKS · OpenShift · RKE2 · bare metal (Rancher)
Apps, Services & GPU/AI
microservices · KServe/Triton · data
Observability
Prometheus · Grafana · Loki
SLOs, tracing, and alerting across every layer.
Security & Policy
OPA/Kyverno · mTLS · Vault
Policy-as-code and ATO-grade controls, enforced in-pipeline.
Kubernetes platforms that deliver
Real outcomes from real engagements. We don't publish vanity metrics — these are measurable results our clients achieved. Outcomes vary by environment; full engagement details and client references are available on request.
Energy & Utilities
Fortune 500 energy company consolidates 47 clusters
47 Kubernetes clusters with zero governance and a $2.2M monthly AWS bill
$850K annual savings, 50x deployment frequency, SOC 2 passed first attempt
HealthTech
Healthcare SaaS achieves HIPAA compliance in 60 days
Azure AKS environment needed zero-trust security for HIPAA certification
HIPAA compliant in 60 days, audit prep reduced from 3 weeks to 2 hours
Defense & Government
Defense contractor deploys IL-5 GovCloud in 90 days
IL-5 compliant Kubernetes on GovCloud with zero downtime migration
90% faster deployments, zero security findings, full IL-5 compliance
We work with your stack, not against it
We're not here to sell you a vendor stack. We optimize what you have — or help you migrate to something better if that's what you need.
Distributions
GitOps
Networking
Security
Observability
Cost
Kubernetes consulting services across Texas, California, and nationwide
Unlike offshore consultancies or product vendors pushing their own platforms, THNKBIG provides vendor-agnostic Kubernetes consulting services from a US-based team. We work with AWS EKS, AKS, GKE, OpenShift, Rancher, and vanilla Kubernetes — recommending what fits your environment, not what earns us a commission.
Our Kubernetes consultants have deployed production platforms for enterprises across Texas, California, and nationwide — from defense contractors requiring IL-5 compliance on AWS GovCloud to healthcare SaaS companies achieving HIPAA certification in 60 days. Whether you're in Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Francisco, or anywhere in the US, you get the same senior engineers who've scaled platforms to billions of requests.
We're not a body shop. We're Kubernetes experts who deliver outcomes: 40-60% cost reduction, 99.99% uptime, and platform teams that actually ship.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to see results?
Most clients see measurable improvements within the first 30 days. Our Phase 1 assessment delivers actionable insights in 2-4 weeks. Quick wins — like right-sizing requests/limits or implementing pod disruption budgets — often yield 10-20% cost savings immediately.
What if we're already using a managed Kubernetes service?
Managed services like EKS, AKS, and GKE handle the control plane but leave the hard parts to you: networking, security, cost optimization, and operational maturity. We help you build the platform layer on top of your managed service — the part that makes Kubernetes actually usable for your development teams.
Do you replace our existing platform team?
No. We augment your team, not replace them. Our goal is to make your platform engineers more effective by handling the complex, time-consuming work while they focus on building the capabilities your developers need. We measure success by how self-sufficient your team becomes.
What does 'production-ready' actually mean?
A production-ready Kubernetes platform has: automated deployments via GitOps, network policies enforcing zero-trust, RBAC aligned to your org structure, comprehensive observability (metrics, logs, traces), disaster recovery tested and documented, cost visibility and controls, and runbooks for common incidents. If you're missing any of these, your platform isn't ready.
How do you handle compliance requirements?
We've built Kubernetes platforms for HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI-DSS, FedRAMP, and IL-5 environments. Compliance isn't bolted on at the end — it's architected from day one. We implement policy-as-code, audit logging, encryption at rest and in transit, and automated compliance scanning.
What's your pricing model?
We offer three engagement models: fixed-scope assessments (2-4 weeks, fixed price), project-based delivery (4-12 weeks, time and materials or fixed bid), and ongoing operations (monthly retainer with defined SLAs). We'll recommend the model that fits your situation after an initial discovery call.
Can you work with our existing tools and processes?
Yes. We meet you where you are. If you're using Jenkins and want to keep it, we'll optimize it. If you want to move to ArgoCD, we'll migrate you. We're not here to sell you a stack — we're here to make your stack work.
Technology Partners
Related Reading
Kubernetes Networking Explained
CNI plugins, network policies, and service mesh fundamentals for production clusters.
Understanding Kubernetes Architecture
Core concepts, components, and design patterns for enterprise Kubernetes platforms.
Exploring Kubernetes 1.29
New features, deprecations, and upgrade considerations for the latest Kubernetes release.
Expert Kubernetes Consulting Services for Enterprise Teams
THNKBIG delivers specialized Kubernetes consulting services to enterprises across the United States. Our Kubernetes consultants hold Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS), and cloud provider certifications from AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Whether your organization needs a one-time Kubernetes assessment or ongoing managed Kubernetes support, our consulting team brings production-grade expertise to every engagement.
Our Kubernetes consulting services cover cluster architecture design, security hardening, multi-cluster federation, cost optimization, and platform engineering. As a Kubernetes consulting company with clients in regulated industries — healthcare, financial services, federal government, and aerospace — we understand the compliance requirements that shape production Kubernetes deployments. We've helped organizations achieve FedRAMP authorization, HIPAA compliance, and PCI-DSS alignment on Kubernetes, translating regulatory controls into concrete cluster configurations.
What distinguishes THNKBIG as a Kubernetes consulting firm is our focus on knowledge transfer. We don't create dependency — we build your team's internal Kubernetes expertise alongside every implementation. Our Kubernetes consultants work alongside your engineers, explaining architectural decisions, documenting configurations, and ensuring your team can operate the platform independently after the engagement ends. This approach has made us the preferred Kubernetes consulting partner for organizations investing in long-term cloud native capabilities.
Backed by senior, US-based platform engineers — no offshoring, no junior bench. Leadership stays constant from assessment through delivery, and every engagement transfers ownership to your team. Meet the team.
Ready to make AI operational?
Whether you're planning GPU infrastructure, stabilizing Kubernetes, or moving AI workloads into production — we'll assess where you are and what it takes to get there.
US-based team · All US citizens · Continental United States only