Platform Engineer
12-Month Fixed-Term Contract
Hybrid - London (2 days per week)
Salary up to £61,000 + Exceptional Pension & Generous Holiday Allowance
We're working with a prestigious organisation seeking an experienced Platform Engineer to help build and operate a modern cloud-native platform that underpins AI, automation and integration services across a large-scale enterprise environment.
This is an opportunity to join a greenfield engineering programme where you'll play a key role in shaping a Kubernetes platform built on Microsoft Azure using modern DevOps and Platform Engineering practices.
We're looking for someone who doesn't simply implement technical designs created by others. Instead, you'll take ownership of technical implementation decisions, help define engineering best practice and work closely with architects and engineering teams to build a secure, scalable and highly reliable platform that supports a major strategic transformation programme.
The Role
You'll be responsible for building, operating and continuously improving a shared Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) platform used by application, AI and integration engineering teams.
As a senior member of the engineering team, you'll take ownership of technical implementation decisions, champion Infrastructure as Code and modern cloud engineering practices, and help other engineering teams adopt Azure platform best practice.
This is a collaborative role requiring excellent communication skills, as you'll regularly work with architects, developers and engineers to influence technical direction and improve engineering capability across the organisation.
What You'll Be Doing
- Build, operate and continually enhance Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
- Take ownership of technical implementation decisions and platform engineering best practice
- Design, build and manage Azure infrastructure using Terraform and Infrastructure as Code
- Develop and maintain GitOps CI/CD pipelines
- Manage Kubernetes networking, service mesh and gateway technologies
- Improve platform observability using Grafana, Prometheus and OpenTelemetry
- Maintain platform security, resilience and automation
- Troubleshoot production platform issues and drive continuous improvement
- Work closely with architects to turn high-level designs into robust technical solutions
- Support and mentor engineering teams in adopting modern Azure and cloud-native engineering practices
What We're Looking For
You'll have strong commercial experience with:
- Microsoft Azure and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) (essential)
- Kubernetes platform engineering within production environments
- Terraform and Infrastructure as Code
- Docker, GitOps and CI/CD pipelines
- Linux and Bash scripting
- Grafana, Prometheus and OpenTelemetry
- Kubernetes networking and service mesh technologies
- Production platform operations, troubleshooting and automation
You'll also be able to demonstrate:
- Experience owning technical implementation decisions rather than simply delivering against architectural designs
- Confidence working independently on complex engineering challenges
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills
- Experience supporting, coaching or influencing engineering teams to adopt modern cloud engineering practices
- A collaborative approach, working alongside architects while retaining ownership of technical delivery
Experience with any of the following would be advantageous:
- Cilium
- Istio
- ArgoCD or Flux
- Kafka or Redpanda
- Helm and Kustomize
- Python automation
- Policy as Code (OPA/Gatekeeper or Kyverno)
What's on Offer
- Salary up to £61,000
- Exceptional pension scheme
- Excellent annual leave entitlement
- Hybrid working (2 days per week in London)
- Opportunity to shape a greenfield cloud-native platform
- Modern Azure and Kubernetes technology stack
- Collaborative, high-performing engineering team
- Long-term strategic programme with excellent career development
Who Will Succeed?
The successful candidate will be an experienced Azure Platform Engineer who enjoys taking ownership, solving complex technical challenges and helping others succeed. You'll combine strong Azure and Kubernetes expertise with excellent communication skills, enabling you to influence technical direction, establish engineering best practice and raise capability across the wider engineering community.
Please note: This role requires demonstrable commercial experience with Microsoft Azure and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). Candidates whose experience is primarily AWS-focused are unlikely to be suitable.
If you're passionate about Azure, Kubernetes and building modern cloud-native platforms-and want to play a key role in shaping both the technology and engineering practices-we'd love to hear from you.
To progress matters, please send your CV to Laura at (url removed).
Services advertised are those of an agency.