Staff Platform Engineer
Role Overview
We are seeking a Staff Platform Engineer to lead the design, evolution, and adoption of our internal platform ecosystem. This role combines deep technical expertise with strategic leadership to build secure, scalable, and developer-centric cloud platforms.
As a senior technical leader, you will define platform architecture, establish engineering standards, and enable product teams through a world-class Internal Developer Platform (IDP). You will work across teams to improve developer experience, system reliability, security posture, and cloud networking foundations while driving innovation in cloud-native and AI-enabled engineering practices.
Key Responsibilities
Platform Architecture & Strategy
Define and evolve the target architecture for cloud-native platforms on AWS
Architect and govern AWS network topology, including multi-account and multi-region designs
Design scalable, resilient systems leveraging Kubernetes, serverless, and event-driven architectures
Establish and maintain platform standards, patterns, and "golden paths" for engineering teams
Drive adoption of the Internal Developer Platform (IDP) across the organization
Cloud Networking & Infrastructure
Design and implement secure, scalable AWS network architectures (VPCs, subnets, routing, NAT, load balancing)
Define connectivity patterns including Transit Gateway, API gateway, VPC peering, and PrivateLink
Architect hybrid connectivity solutions (VPN, Direct Connect) and private service access
Establish network segmentation and zero-trust principles across environments
Implement and enforce network security controls (security groups, NACLs, traffic inspection)
Optimize network performance, availability, and cost across distributed systems
Architect systems
Data & Database Architecture
Design and govern database architectures across AWS services (e.g., RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, and data streaming platforms)
Define best practices for data modeling, indexing, and query optimization across relational and NoSQL systems
Architect scalable data access patterns for microservices and event-driven systems
Ensure high availability and disaster recovery strategies (multi-AZ, multi-region replication, backup/restore)
Optimize database performance, cost, and storage strategies across workloads
Establish secure data handling practices, including encryption, access controls, and data classification
Collaborate with engineering teams on schema design, data lifecycle management, and migration strategies
Technical Leadership
Act as a technical authority across platform, infrastructure, and networking domains
Lead complex cross-team initiatives and influence architectural decisions at an organizational level
Mentor senior engineers and guide teams on platform engineering, cloud architecture, and DevSecOps best practices
Provide architectural leadership on complex networking challenges, including cross-region and hybrid cloud designs
Developer Experience & Enablement
Build and enhance self-service capabilities, reusable templates, and automation tooling
Improve developer productivity through streamlined workflows, CI/CD, and platform abstractions
Partner with engineering teams to reduce friction and accelerate delivery
Cloud Infrastructure & Automation
Architect and manage AWS environments (EKS, Lambda, API Gateway, IAM, VPC, etc.)
Lead Infrastructure as Code practices (Terraform preferred) for scalable and consistent environments
Design and implement robust CI/CD pipelines with integrated testing and security controls
Security & Governance
Define and enforce security best practices across platform, application, and network layers
Implement DevSecOps practices, including automated security testing and compliance controls
Drive adoption of zero-trust and identity-first security models
Ensure governance across IAM, networking, encryption, and secrets management
Observability & Reliability
Establish observability standards including logging, metrics, tracing, and alerting
Define and implement SLOs, SLIs, and error budgets
Drive reliability engineering practices and continuous improvement of incident response
Cost & Performance Optimization
Promote FinOps practices and cost-aware architecture design
Optimize infrastructure usage, network efficiency, and system performance
Innovation & Emerging Technology
Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies, including AI-native development workflows
Guide safe and scalable use of AI/ML systems (data protection, model access, cost control)
Required Skills & Experience
10+ years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps, SRE, or cloud infrastructure roles
Deep expertise in AWS cloud services and cloud-native architecture
Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration
Deep expertise in AWS networking, including VPC design, IP addressing, routing, and connectivity patterns (Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, peering)
Proven experience designing multi-account and hybrid network architectures in AWS
Strong understanding of cloud network security, segmentation, and zero-trust principles
Proven experience designing and implementing Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs)
Expertise in Infrastructure as Code (Terraform preferred)
Strong understanding of microservices, serverless, and event-driven architectures
Deep knowledge of CI/CD systems and DevSecOps practices
Strong understanding of cloud security, IAM, and governance models
Proficiency in at least one programming language (e.g., Python, Go, or similar)
Desirable Skills
Experience with service mesh technologies and advanced platform networking
Familiarity with compliance frameworks (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, CIS Benchmarks)
Experience modernizing legacy systems (e.g., .NET to cloud-native)
Knowledge of observability platforms (e.g., Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana, etc)
Exposure to multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environments
Leadership & Personal Attributes
Strong systems thinking with deep architectural expertise
Ability to influence and drive alignment across teams and stakeholders
Excellent communication skills, both technical and non-technical
Passion for developer experience and platform usability
Strategic mindset with a focus on scalability, resilience, and long-term impact
Proactive and outcome-driven, with a bias for action and continuous improvement
Summary
This role is ideal for engineers who operate at the intersection of architecture, platform engineering, and technical leadership. As a Staff Platform Engineer, you will define the foundation-including cloud networking and platform architecture-that enables engineering teams to build, deploy, and scale securely and efficiently.