OPA Policy Engine
Open Policy Agent (OPA) is a policy engine that decouples policy from application code. Used in Kubernetes (admission control), CI/CD (compliance), and API gateways (authorization). Policies are written in Rego, a purpose-built language. Salary: mid 150-170k. Learn in 6-8 weeks. Complements Kubernetes, security, and DevOps.
What is OPA Policy Engine
Open Policy Agent (OPA) is a general-purpose policy engine that decouples policy decisions from application logic. You write policies in Rego (a declarative query language), and OPA evaluates them against structured data (JSON). Common uses: Kubernetes admission control (allow/deny/mutate pod specs), CI/CD compliance (enforce standards), API gateway authorization (allow/deny API calls), and infrastructure-as-code policy (Terraform, Helm linting).
📋 Before you start
💰 Salary by region
| Region | Junior | Mid | Senior |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | $95k | $160k | $225k |
| UK | $58k | $102k | $160k |
| EU | $63k | $107k | $170k |
| CANADA | $90k | $150k | $210k |
🎓 Certifications
🎯 Careers using OPA Policy Engine
❓ FAQ
Why not use Kubernetes RBAC?
What's Rego?
Can OPA prevent pod deployments?
Is OPA only for Kubernetes?
What's the learning curve?
Not sure this skill is for you?
Take a 10-min Career Match — we'll suggest the right tracks.
Find my best-fit skills →Find your ideal career path
Skill-based matching across 2,536 careers. Free, ~10 minutes.
Take Career Match — free →