The Platform Engineer is responsible for designing, building, and maintaining a secure, scalable, and cost-efficient cloud platform on Microsoft Azure. This role partners closely with software engineering, security, and operations teams to automate infrastructure, improve deployment pipelines, and ensure reliable, compliant production environments.

The Platform Engineer drives platform standardisation, cloud optimisation, and operational maturity, enabling development teams to deliver software faster, safer, and more reliably through well-defined golden paths and self-service capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

Azure Platform Engineering

• Design, implement, and maintain Azure cloud infrastructure aligned to best practices and organisational standards.
• Remediate unused, misconfigured, or non-compliant Azure resources to improve security, reliability, and maintainability.
• Provide architectural guidance to improve scalability, availability, and operational resilience.

Cloud FinOps & Cost Optimisation

• Monitor and optimise Azure cloud spend through right-sizing, budgeting, and cost governance.
• Identify and eliminate waste while ensuring required performance and availability.
• Implement tools and controls to balance financial accountability with operational needs.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

• Build and manage infrastructure using ARM templates, Terraform, and Bicep.
• Ensure infrastructure consistency, repeatability, security, and scalability across environments.
• Enforce version control and review practices for infrastructure changes.

Configuration & Secrets Management

• Centralise and manage environment-specific configuration, feature flags, and operational parameters.
• Securely store and manage secrets (connection strings, API keys, certificates) using Azure Key Vault.
• Ensure secrets are never embedded in source code or deployment artefacts.

Containerisation & Orchestration

• Deploy, manage, and operate containerised workloads using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Configure and maintain Kubernetes clusters, including scaling, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• Support container security, performance, and availability best practices.

CI/CD & Platform Automation

• Design, build, and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins.
• Automate build, test, and deployment processes to improve speed, reliability, and repeatability.
• Partner with development teams to improve DevOps practices and operational excellence.

Security & Compliance

• Implement cloud and container security best practices across Azure and Kubernetes environments.
• Maintain compliance with organisational and industry standards.
• Work with tools such as SonarQube, NeuVector, and Ansible to enforce security and compliance controls.

Secure Base Images & Code Quality

• Build and maintain minimal, hardened base container images.
• Ensure images are regularly patched, scanned, and promoted through controlled pipelines.
• Perform static code analysis in collaboration with development teams to address security and quality risks.

Linux & Systems Engineering

• Manage and support Ubuntu Linux-based systems.
• Troubleshoot system, infrastructure, and deployment issues to minimise downtime.
• Support networking, security, and operational troubleshooting as required.

Collaboration, Leadership & Enablement

• Work closely with software engineering teams to understand platform requirements.
• Build developer golden paths for provisioning, deploying, and monitoring infrastructure and services.
• Mentor and coach DevOps and software engineers to raise overall operational maturity.

Documentation

• Create and maintain clear, accurate documentation for infrastructure, pipelines, standards, and best practices.
• Ensure documentation supports onboarding, support, and operational continuity.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Proven experience as a Platform Engineer or DevOps Engineer in Azure-based environments.
• Strong hands-on experience with:
• Microsoft Azure
• Kubernetes and Docker
• Terraform, ARM templates, and Bicep
• CI/CD pipelines
• Ubuntu Linux

Certifications (Advantageous)

• AZ-104: Azure Administrator
• AZ-305: Azure Solutions Architect
• AZ-400: DevOps Engineer Expert
• GitHub Certifications (GH-100 to GH-300)
• Terraform Associate (004)
• Kubernetes or Ansible certifications

Systems & Technical Proficiency

• Containerisation and orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, Bicep, ARM
• CI/CD: Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins
• Configuration management: Ansible
• Static code analysis tools
• Scripting and automation: PowerShell, Bash, Python, YAML
• Version control: Git
• Networking and cloud security fundamentals
• Azure resource management and governance
• Ubuntu Linux systems administration

Skills & Competencies

• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills
• Clear written and verbal communication
• Ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, security, and operations teams
• Mentorship and knowledge-sharing mindset
• High attention to detail with a strong security and reliability focus