Principal Platform Engineer (Education)

We're looking for an AI-first Principal Platform Engineer to act as the technical and architectural lead for our Education platform ecosystem.

You'll move beyond traditional DevOps, shaping strategy, defining standards, and building automated "Golden Paths" that enable five global product tribes and 150+ engineers to deliver faster, safer and smarter.

What you'll be responsible for

• Defining the platform architecture roadmap across cloud, CI/CD and observability
• Leading Azure-heavy, multi-cloud environments (Azure essential, AWS, VMware)
• Standardising Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform and Bicep
• Embedding security and compliance by default (zero-trust, audit, resilience)
• Driving self-service infrastructure and eliminating manual bottlenecks
• Leading major cloud migrations and platform modernisation initiatives
• Partnering closely with Engineering, Product and Security leadership

The tech environment

• Azure, AWS, VMware / AVS
• Terraform, Bicep
• AKS / Kubernetes
• Azure DevOps, Octopus Deploy, TeamCity
• Datadog, Azure Monitor
• MSSQL, MySQL

• Deep hands-on experience in platform engineering at scale
• Proven leadership of complex cloud migrations and SaaS platforms
• Strong background in cloud security, compliance and resilience
• Experience building Internal Developer Platforms or "Golden Path" workflows
• A strategic mindset with the ability to mentor and influence senior engineers
• Passion for automation, AI-driven tooling and developer experience

Why join IRIS?

• Work on platforms used by thousands of schools and millions of families
• Influence architecture across a large, complex, real-world SaaS estate
• Genuine autonomy and visibility at senior technical level
• A business investing heavily in modern cloud, AI and engineering excellence