At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and maintain cloud infrastructure, develop IaC, and support CI/CD workflows.
- Company: Cogna is revolutionising productivity with an AI-powered platform to tackle complex organisational challenges.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, share options, 25 days leave, private healthcare, and flexible hybrid working.
- Why this job: Join a world-class team on a transformative mission to enhance productivity and drive social impact.
- Qualifications: Production-grade coding experience in Python/Go, strong software engineering skills, and a security-first mindset.
- Other info: Collaborate with top talent from Google, Microsoft, and Palantir in a dynamic, innovative environment.
The predicted salary is between 36000 - 60000 £ per year.
At Cogna, we are working hard to solve the productivity crisis. Lagging productivity is the biggest barrier to economic growth and a major obstacle to addressing our most important issues, such as climate change, healthcare, and social equality. But it’s not a single problem that can be tackled with a silver-bullet solution; it’s the accumulation of millions of highly specific, context-driven challenges across every facet of every organisation that have to be addressed on their own terms. Cogna is on a mission to solve this very complex problem. We’re creating an AI-powered platform to understand these inefficiencies within customers’ operating models, to define the requirements, and develop the software itself in a fully automated way. The result is high-quality, precision software at scale. Since our launch in May 2023, we’ve already seen significant traction and customer revenue that outpaces most companies at our stage. We’re backed by top VCs, including Notion Capital and Hoxton Ventures, and we’re growing our world-class team - ex Google, Microsoft, Palantir - to take us to the next level on our mission. This is more than a job; it’s an opportunity to be part of something genuinely transformative. Are you up for the challenge?
Overview
We’re hiring a Platform Engineer to help design, build, and maintain the foundation our teams rely on every day. You’ll join our Platform team, which supports security, core infrastructure, and DevX across Cogna. Your focus will be enabling scalability, reliability, and automation of our Azure-based environments—so other teams can move faster, safer, and with greater autonomy. This role is ideal for someone who thrives on solving platform-wide challenges, enjoys working cross-functionally, and is passionate about clean, resilient cloud infrastructure.
What you’ll do
- Design and maintain cloud infrastructure in Microsoft Azure to support internal platforms and product delivery.
- Work within and contribute to our Python/Go codebase.
- Develop and evolve infrastructure-as-code (IaC) using tools such as Terraform.
- Own CI/CD pipelines and DevX workflows in collaboration with the dev teams.
- Implement and monitor security controls, identity management (Entra ID), and network configurations.
- Support container orchestration, and workload deployment using Kubernetes and AKS.
- Improve observability by implementing logging, monitoring, and alerting systems (e.g. Azure Monitor, Datadog, etc.).
- Partner with internal teams to improve resilience, automate toil, and reduce lead time to deployment.
- Drive root cause analysis and reliability improvements from incidents.
What we’re looking for
- Production-grade coding experience: Proficient in writing maintainable, testable, and scalable code in real-world, production environments. Language fluency in Python and/or Go is a plus, but strong engineers with deep experience in comparable languages are welcome.
- Strong foundational software engineering skills: Solid grasp of computer science fundamentals such as data structures, concurrency, time/space complexity, performance and systems design.
- Systems-level thinking: Comfortable reasoning about how things work under the hood—networks, operating systems, compilers, storage systems, or distributed services.
- Infrastructure as Code and automation: Experience with tools like Terraform, Pulumi, or equivalent for managing cloud-native infrastructure declaratively and repeatably.
- Stack Familiarity: We use Azure, Bazel, GRPC, Temporal, Postgres and Kubernetes (AKS). Prior experience or expertise with these is a plus.
- Security-first mindset: Deep appreciation for secure-by-default design. Familiar with principles like least privilege, secrets management, threat modeling, and how to embed security controls into infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines.
- Cross-functional collaboration: Comfortable partnering with other engineers, product managers, sales, marketing, IT and support to define and implement platform capabilities that meet shared goals.
- Strong interest in AI.
What we offer
- Competitive salary and share option plan.
- 25 days annual leave, plus public holidays.
- Excellent pension scheme, company contribution fixed at 7.5%.
- Private healthcare, including family cover and pre-existing conditions.
- Flexible hybrid working with 2 days per fortnight in our Chancery Lane office.
- Regular social events and offsites.
- Access to a gym and fitness classes in our office building.
Platform Engineer employer: Cogna
Contact Detail:
Cogna Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Platform Engineer
✨Tip Number 1
Familiarise yourself with Azure and the specific tools mentioned in the job description, like Terraform and Kubernetes. Having hands-on experience or projects showcasing your skills with these technologies can set you apart from other candidates.
✨Tip Number 2
Showcase your problem-solving abilities by preparing examples of past experiences where you've tackled platform-wide challenges. Be ready to discuss how you approached these issues and the impact of your solutions during interviews.
✨Tip Number 3
Highlight your collaborative skills by discussing any cross-functional projects you've been involved in. Emphasising your ability to work with diverse teams will resonate well with Cogna's focus on collaboration across departments.
✨Tip Number 4
Express your passion for AI and how it relates to platform engineering. Research current trends in AI and be prepared to discuss how you see AI impacting cloud infrastructure and software development in the future.
We think you need these skills to ace Platform Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Understand the Role: Before applying, make sure you fully understand the responsibilities and requirements of the Platform Engineer position at Cogna. Familiarise yourself with their mission and how your skills can contribute to solving productivity challenges.
Tailor Your CV: Customise your CV to highlight relevant experience in cloud infrastructure, coding in Python or Go, and any familiarity with Azure or Kubernetes. Use specific examples that demonstrate your problem-solving skills and ability to work cross-functionally.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Write a cover letter that not only outlines your qualifications but also expresses your passion for AI and the mission of Cogna. Mention how your background aligns with their goals and how you can help improve their platform.
Showcase Your Projects: If you have worked on relevant projects, especially those involving Infrastructure as Code or automation, be sure to include them in your application. Provide links to your GitHub or portfolio to give them a clear view of your capabilities.
How to prepare for a job interview at Cogna
✨Showcase Your Coding Skills
Be prepared to demonstrate your coding abilities, especially in Python and Go. Bring examples of your previous work that highlight your experience in writing maintainable and scalable code in production environments.
✨Understand the Tech Stack
Familiarise yourself with the technologies mentioned in the job description, such as Azure, Kubernetes, and Terraform. Being able to discuss how you've used these tools in past projects will show your readiness for the role.
✨Emphasise Collaboration
Since the role involves cross-functional collaboration, be ready to share experiences where you've successfully worked with other teams. Highlight your communication skills and how you’ve contributed to shared goals.
✨Demonstrate a Security Mindset
Discuss your understanding of security principles and how you've implemented secure practices in your previous roles. This could include examples of how you've managed secrets or designed systems with security in mind.