Kubernetes is something you can hire for. A couple of linux boxes running all your server code in the most efficient way possible might save you operational costs, but it resigns you to being the one who has to maintain it. I've learned this the hard way - moving things to ECS as we scale up has allowed me give away responsibility for things. I understand that it's more complex, but i don't have to teach people now.
I massively distrust Ops-adjacent people's technical abilities if they don't know Linux. Multiple datapoints at multiple companies of varying scale has shown this to be true.
That said, you're correct, and I absolutely hate it. People want to do managed services for everything, and they stare at you like you're insane if you suggest running something yourself.