At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead platform engineering, shaping infrastructure and guiding teams to deliver innovative solutions.
- Company: Join Definely, a forward-thinking LegalTech company transforming legal workflows.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, equity options, hybrid work, and generous holiday allowance.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a high-growth environment while mentoring future tech leaders.
- Qualifications: Experience in SaaS platforms, cloud technologies, and strong communication skills required.
- Other info: Be part of a collaborative team recognised in Deloitte's UK Technology Fast50.
The predicted salary is between 78000 - 112000 £ per year.
We’re looking for an exceptional Engineering Manager, Platform, to join Definely during a pivotal stage of growth. This is a player-coach role that combines hands-on engineering with technical leadership, where you’ll shape the infrastructure, APIs, and developer experience that enable product teams to ship quickly, securely, and reliably at scale.
You’ll guide the evolution of our document processing pipelines, data stores, and AI integrations, while championing DevOps/SRE practices, observability, security, and cost efficiency. You’ll influence engineering culture, mentor engineers, and help define architectural direction across the company.
This is an opportunity to build the foundations of a global SaaS platform, making technical and strategic decisions that will define the next phase of Definely’s growth.
What you\’ll do:
- Platform Architecture & Strategy: Own and evolve the technical roadmap for Definely’s platform services. Design scalable, resilient, and cost-efficient cloud-native systems for document and AI workloads. Define and uphold engineering principles and standards across teams. Partner with Product, Security, and Finance to align platform priorities with business goals.
- Infrastructure & Operations: Lead adoption of containers, Kubernetes, and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/CDK). Build and enforce best practices in observability, monitoring, and incident response. Set and maintain SLOs/SLAs for platform reliability and performance. Drive FinOps practices: forecasting, monitoring, and optimizing infrastructure spend. Build internal tooling, templates, and pipelines to accelerate product delivery. Champion CI/CD adoption and empower engineers with self-service deployment capabilities. Improve developer productivity by standardizing environments and streamlining workflows.
- Security & Compliance: Partner closely with the ISO and Security teams to maintain compliance with ISO 27001, SOC 2, and GDPR. Implement identity and access management, secrets management, and network security best practices. Drive a security-first culture across platform and product teams. Act as a technical mentor and coach, fostering growth and ownership within the team. Guide architectural decisions across product areas, balancing speed and long-term scalability. Influence engineering culture, encouraging adoption of DevOps and SRE principles. Collaborate with leadership on vendor evaluation, partner selection, and build-vs-buy decisions.
What you\’ll bring:
- Proven experience leading or building platform teams in a high-growth SaaS environment.
- Expertise with AWS (preferred) / Azure / GCP, Kubernetes, IaC, CI/CD, and observability.
- Strong API and event-driven architecture skills; familiarity with asynchronous pipelines.
- Track record of designing secure, multi-tenant architectures.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders.
- A Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science (or equivalent experience).
We\’ll be lucky if you have:
- Production experience integrating Microsoft Word (Office.js) add-ins with backend services; knowledge of M365 auth patterns.
- Hands-on experience with LLM/AI platformization (RAG, vector search, evals, safety/guardrails).
- Experience with FinOps practices and infrastructure cost management.
- Prior exposure to global scaling challenges (latency, data residency, multi-region deployments).
What we offer:
- Competitive Salary: Starting at £95,000
- Annual bonus: Recognising and rewarding the results you deliver, aligned with overall company success.
- Equity: We want everyone to share in Definely’s success, so you’ll receive stock options as part of your package.
- Hybrid flexibility: We come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the flexibility to work remotely the rest of the week.
- Learning and Development: Annual budget of £750 to spend on your learning, growth, and development
- Time Off: Enjoy 25 days of holiday per year, plus UK bank holidays, to recharge and unwind.
- Private Healthcare: Access to Vitality healthcare, including dental and optical.
- Enhanced Parental Leave: We support working parents with generous parental leave policies that go far beyond statutory requirements
- Workplace Nursery Scheme: Saving working parents lots of money through our salary sacrifice scheme!
- Cycle to Work Scheme: Save on a new bike and accessories while promoting a healthier, more sustainable commute.
About Definely
At Definely, we’re on a mission to simplify the way legal professionals access and understand complex information in legal documents. Trusted by a global community of customers, our LegalTech solutions integrate seamlessly into lawyers\’ daily workflows, making it easier to draft, review and navigate even the most complex contracts.
Our products provide instant access to essential information, enabling legal teams to review clauses and provisions in context, reduce risk and work more efficiently – all without disrupting their flow. At Definely, we’re dedicated to solving real challenges faced by legal professionals.
Joining Definely means becoming part of a forward-thinking, collaborative team that prioritises innovation and people. We create a supportive environment driven by a shared commitment to connection, growth and success.
Recognised in the top 25 of Deloitte\’s prestigious UK Technology Fast50 in 2023 and backed by Microsoft, Google and Octopus Ventures, we’re trusted by leading law firms and in-house legal teams, including A&O Shearman, Dentons, Deloitte, and Barclays, to streamline their workflows and mitigate risks.
Data Privacy Notice
By submitting your application, you agree that Definely may collect, process, and store your personal data as part of our recruitment process. We will use the information you provide to assess your qualifications for the role you are applying for and to communicate with you regarding your application. Your personal data will be stored for up to 12 months, after which it will be securely deleted unless we have another lawful basis to retain it. You have the right to access, correct, or request the deletion of your data at any time. For more details on how we handle your personal data and your rights, please email hr@definely.com and we will send you our privacy policy.
If you have any concerns about how your data is being processed, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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Lead Platform Engineer employer: Definely
Contact Detail:
Definely Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Lead Platform Engineer
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, attend meetups, and engage with online communities. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can refer you directly.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those interviews! Research the company, understand their products, and be ready to discuss how your skills align with their needs. Practise common interview questions and have your own questions ready to show your interest.
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your projects! Whether it's through a portfolio or GitHub, let your work speak for itself. Highlight any relevant experience that aligns with the role, especially around platform engineering and DevOps practices.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining our team at Definely.
We think you need these skills to ace Lead Platform Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter for the Lead Platform Engineer role. Highlight your experience with cloud-native systems, DevOps practices, and any relevant projects that showcase your technical leadership skills.
Showcase Your Achievements: Don’t just list your responsibilities; share specific achievements that demonstrate your impact in previous roles. Use metrics where possible to illustrate how you’ve improved platform reliability or developer productivity.
Be Clear and Concise: Keep your application clear and to the point. Use straightforward language to explain your technical expertise and how it aligns with our goals at Definely. Remember, we want to see your personality shine through too!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it shows you’re keen on joining our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at Definely
✨Know Your Tech Inside Out
Make sure you’re well-versed in the technologies mentioned in the job description, like AWS, Kubernetes, and CI/CD practices. Brush up on your knowledge of cloud-native systems and be ready to discuss how you've implemented these in past roles.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
Since this role is a player-coach position, prepare examples that highlight your experience in mentoring and leading teams. Think about specific instances where you’ve influenced engineering culture or guided architectural decisions.
✨Understand the Business Side
Familiarise yourself with how platform priorities align with business goals. Be prepared to discuss how you can contribute to cost efficiency and FinOps practices, as well as how you would approach vendor evaluations and build-vs-buy decisions.
✨Prepare for Scenario-Based Questions
Expect questions that assess your problem-solving skills in real-world scenarios. Think about challenges you've faced in previous roles, especially around security compliance and incident response, and how you overcame them.