Principal Platform Engineer

Role OverviewWe are looking for a senior-level Platform Engineer to help shape and scale the next phase of our engineering and platform capability. This role is focused on building a secure, reliable, developer-friendly platform function that enables engineering teams to deliver quickly and safely. The successful candidate will initially operate as a hands-on senior technical contributor while helping define the foundations of a future platform engineering capability within the organisation. Over time, this role is expected to evolve into a broader platform leadership position (Head of Platform) as the company and engineering organisation scales. This is not a traditional "ops support" role. The focus is on platform enablement, automation, operational maturity, resilience, and improving developer experience across engineering delivery. The role will contribute directly to the scalability and operational maturity of both internal systems and customer-facing products by building reusable platform capabilities, operational patterns, and shared engineering infrastructure. Key Responsibilities Platform Engineering & InfrastructureDesign, build, and maintain scalable cloud infrastructure and platform toolingImprove reliability, observability, deployment automation, and operational resilienceDevelop and maintain CI/CD pipelines and engineering workflowsSupport infrastructure-as-code and automation-first operational practicesStandardise and improve engineering environments and deployment processesBuild scalable operational foundations for distributed and cloud-native systems Product & Platform EnablementContribute directly to the scalability and operational maturity of core products and servicesBuild reusable platform capabilities and shared operational primitives for engineering teamsSupport event streaming and messaging infrastructure patternsDevelop scalable storage and provisioning patterns (e.g. object storage / S3-based workflows)Implement repeatable deployment and environment orchestration approachesSupport secrets management and configuration management patternsImprove authentication, auditability, logging, and observability foundationsBuild secure-by-default operational patterns and reusable platform abstractionsReduce repeated operational complexity across engineering teams Developer EnablementImprove developer experience and reduce operational friction for engineering teamsBuild self-service capabilities and reusable platform patterns where appropriateSupport engineering teams with operational tooling, environment management, and deployment workflowsHelp establish platform standards and golden paths for delivery teamsReduce cognitive load and operational dependency for engineering teams Security & Governance CollaborationWork closely with security and engineering leadership to operationalise security controls and governance requirementsSupport RBAC implementation, access governance, auditability, and break-glass proceduresEnsure platform implementations align with security and compliance expectationsContribute to operational resilience and continuity planningEmbed governance and security guardrails into platform workflows and automation Operational Support & ReliabilitySupport incident response and operational troubleshooting where requiredImprove monitoring, alerting, and observability across environmentsHelp establish operational SLAs and support workflowsReduce key-person dependency and operational risk across platform systemsContribute to scalable operational support and reliability practices Platform Capability DevelopmentContribute to the evolution of the platform engineering functionHelp define operational processes, standards, and tooling strategyMentor engineers on platform and operational best practicesContribute to long-term platform architecture and operational maturityHelp shape the future internal developer platform and engineering enablement strategy, Over time, the successful candidate is expected to:Help build and shape the platform engineering functionDefine platform operational standards and processesTake increasing ownership of platform strategy and operational governanceBuild scalable internal platform capabilities and engineering enablement toolingPotentially grow into a Head of Platform leadership role As the company matures, the future platform organisation may include:Platform engineeringDevOps/SRE capabilityInfrastructure operationsInternal developer platform toolingOperational reliability and observabilityAccess and operational governance implementationPlatform enablement and engineering productivity functions Reporting StructureInitially reporting to:CTO Working closely with:Engineering leadershipSecurity/platform architecture functionsData engineering teamsTechnical leads across delivery pods The role is expected to become a key leadership function within the future engineering and platform organisation.

Technical ExperienceStrong experience in platform engineering, DevOps, SRE, or cloud infrastructure rolesDeep experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)Strong infrastructure-as-code experience (Terraform, Pulumi, CloudFormation, etc.)Experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelinesStrong Linux/containerisation/Kubernetes experienceExperience with observability, monitoring, and operational toolingExperience with distributed systems, event-driven architectures, or streaming platformsExperience implementing scalable deployment and platform patternsStrong automation and scripting capabilities Security & Governance AwarenessGood understanding of RBAC, IAM, secrets management, and operational security practicesExperience working within secure or regulated environmentsUnderstanding of auditability, operational governance, and least-privilege principlesAbility to operationalise security controlsFamiliarity with secure-by-default infrastructure and platform design principles Engineering & Delivery MindsetStrong collaboration skills with engineering teamsFocus on enablementDelivery-oriented mindsetAbility to balance speed, reliability, security, and operational simplicityComfortable operating in a scaling growth-stage environmentStrong systems thinking and platform-oriented problem solving Key CompetenciesSystems thinkingAutomation-first mindsetOperational ownership and accountabilityStrong communication and collaboration skillsCalmness under operational pressureAbility to reduce complexity and improve engineering flowStrong platform and enablement mindset Success MeasuresImproved engineering delivery velocityReduced operational bottlenecksReduced infrastructure and access-related frictionIncreased platform reliability and resilienceReduction in manual operational processesImproved auditability and operational governanceIncreased reuse of shared platform capabilities and operational patternsReduced key-person dependency across platform systemsPositive engineering feedback on platform enablement and developer experienceImproved scalability and operational consistency across products and environments