At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and deliver complex infrastructure solutions while mentoring engineers and optimising platforms.
- Company: Join a forward-thinking tech company that values innovation and collaboration.
- Benefits: Enjoy 25 days annual leave, enhanced parental packages, and personal training allowances.
- Other info: Flexible hybrid working and opportunities for career progression await you.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a hands-on leadership role with cutting-edge technology.
- Qualifications: Proven experience in cloud-native environments and strong skills in Infrastructure-as-Code.
The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.
The Senior Platform Engineer is a senior technical contributor and leader within the platform engineering team, responsible for driving the delivery of complex, high-impact infrastructure and platform initiatives within the vision and strategy set by the Head of Platform. You will take ownership of technical delivery across projects, mentor and coach engineers, enforce standards, and provide guidance on the most challenging technical problems. This role is both hands-on and leadership-focused: you will build, automate, and optimise platforms while also coordinating work across engineers to ensure quality, reliability, and security at scale. Success requires deep technical expertise, the ability to lead through influence, and a mindset of continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
- Infrastructure & Cloud: Design, implement, and lead delivery of complex infrastructure solutions in Azure and Kubernetes (AKS). Define and evolve reusable patterns for infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Crossplane) and enforce governance. Ensure scalability, high availability, security, and disaster recovery are considered in all builds. Lead complex migrations (e.g. AKS upgrades, network segmentation) with minimal disruption. Build, enhance, and scale internal developer platforms and tooling to increase delivery speed and safety. Establish and maintain golden paths, reusable templates, and developer onboarding experiences. Drive adoption of platform products by partnering with product engineering and QA.
- CI/CD & Automation: Architect and optimise CI/CD pipelines for multiple teams and services. Implement advanced release strategies (blue/green, canary, feature flags) and enforce security and compliance checks. Define reusable pipeline frameworks and templates for org-wide adoption. Lead initiatives to eliminate bottlenecks and systemic inefficiencies in build/test/deploy processes.
- Security & Compliance: Integrate security and compliance into platform workflows (identity, RBAC, secrets, supply chain security). Define and enforce secure-by-default patterns for infrastructure and pipelines. Partner with IT/InfoSec to embed compliance evidence automation into platforms.
- Observability & Reliability: Define and implement observability strategies (SLOs, metrics, tracing, error budgets) at team and multi-team scope. Lead root cause analysis for incidents and ensure learnings are applied. Drive SRE practices into daily engineering, improving MTTR and resilience. Promote and lead game days, chaos testing, and proactive reliability improvements. Mentor and coach junior and mid-level engineers, raising the technical bar through example. Lead technical reviews, ensuring quality, maintainability, and alignment to best practices. Provide guidance in resolving conflicts and aligning technical direction across multiple teams. Share knowledge through workshops, documentation, and training sessions.
Success Measures
- Lead the delivery of high-impact initiatives that raise reliability, security, and developer productivity.
- Mentor and coach engineers, building future technical leaders within the team.
- Establish platform standards, patterns, and golden paths that scale across the organisation.
- Position yourself for progression into Staff or Principal roles with greater organisational scope.
What Success Looks Like
- Mentorship & Coaching: Actively supports the growth of mid-level and junior engineers by providing structured feedback, pairing sessions, and development plans.
- Delivery Leadership: Leads the execution of multi-service initiatives, coordinating dependencies, sequencing risk/value, and ensuring timely, reliable delivery.
- Ownership: Takes end-to-end responsibility for delivering solutions to complex technical challenges and proactively unblocks others.
- Standards & Quality: Defines and enforces high standards in code, testing, CI/CD, observability, and security. Ensures team deliverables meet long-term maintainability goals.
- Resilience Under Pressure: Leads incident response and post-incident reviews calmly, ensuring robust fixes and systemic improvements.
- Continuous Improvement: Actively drives optimisation and automation across platforms and processes, improving developer productivity and reducing toil.
- Collaboration & Communication: Communicates clearly with developers, stakeholders, and leadership. Influences technical decisions across teams with credibility and clarity.
Training & Enablement
You will receive: Structured onboarding (products, customers, systems), Systems training.
Skills & Experience
- Proven track record delivering complex technical projects in cloud-native environments.
- Strong skills in Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, Crossplane) with governance and testing.
- Deep understanding of distributed systems, scalability, and operational best practices.
- Expertise in CI/CD tooling (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins) including advanced release strategies.
- Knowledge of observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, LGTM) and SLO implementation.
- Strong background in security practices: secrets management, RBAC, supply chain security.
- Programming proficiency in Golang, with additional scripting experience (Python, Bash).
- Solid Linux and Windows administration experience, including troubleshooting and performance tuning.
- Prior experience as a technical lead or senior engineer on multi-person projects.
- Experience implementing observability and reliability improvements at scale.
- Knowledge of telecommunications protocols (WebRTC, RTP, SIP) is a plus.
- Familiarity with cost optimisation and FinOps practices in cloud environments.
Benefits and Perks
- 25 days annual leave plus your birthday off.
- Increased holiday entitlement with length of service.
- Enhanced maternity and paternity packages.
- Life insurance.
- Enhanced pension options.
- Company-paid sick leave.
- Personal training allowance.
- Buy and sell holiday options.
- Social, charity and culture committee events.
- Hybrid working (minimum two days in the office).
AI in Our Hiring Process: At MaxContact, we expect engineers to work effectively with AI tools every day. We welcome candidates who use AI to prepare their applications and encourage you to demonstrate your ability to collaborate with AI during any take-home assessments. During live interviews, we will assess your ability to think through problems and make engineering decisions — both with and without AI assistance.
Senior Platform Engineer: Infra, CI/CD & Reliability Lead in Manchester employer: MaxContact
MaxContact is an exceptional employer that prioritises employee well-being and professional growth, offering a generous benefits package including 25 days of annual leave plus your birthday off, enhanced maternity and paternity packages, and a personal training allowance to foster continuous learning. Our collaborative work culture encourages innovation and teamwork, with opportunities for mentorship and leadership development, making it an ideal environment for Senior Platform Engineers looking to make a meaningful impact in a dynamic setting.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Platform Engineer: Infra, CI/CD & Reliability Lead in Manchester
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, attend meetups, and engage in online communities. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can refer you directly.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a portfolio or GitHub repository showcasing your projects, especially those related to CI/CD, infrastructure, and cloud solutions. This gives potential employers a taste of what you can do beyond your CV.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for interviews by practising common technical questions and scenarios relevant to platform engineering. Use mock interviews with friends or online platforms to build confidence and refine your answers.
✨Tip Number 4
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 MaxContact.
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Platform Engineer: Infra, CI/CD & Reliability Lead in Manchester
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Skills:Make sure to highlight your technical expertise in cloud-native environments, especially with Azure and Kubernetes. We want to see how you've tackled complex projects and what tools you've used, like Terraform or CI/CD pipelines.
Be a Storyteller:When you describe your experiences, tell us a story! Share specific examples of challenges you faced, how you led your team, and the impact of your work. This helps us understand your thought process and leadership style.
Tailor Your Application:Don’t just send a generic application. Tailor your CV and cover letter to reflect the key responsibilities and success measures mentioned in the job description. Show us why you're the perfect fit for this role at StudySmarter!
Apply Through Our Website:We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way to ensure your application gets into the right hands. Plus, it shows us you’re genuinely interested in joining our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at MaxContact
✨Know Your Tech Inside Out
Make sure you’re well-versed in the technologies mentioned in the job description, especially Azure, Kubernetes, and Infrastructure-as-Code tools like Terraform. Brush up on your knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and observability stacks, as these will likely come up during technical discussions.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
Since this role involves mentoring and leading teams, be prepared to discuss your past experiences in guiding engineers and driving projects. Share specific examples where you’ve influenced technical decisions or improved processes, highlighting your ability to lead through influence.
✨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, particularly around scalability, security, and reliability. Be ready to explain how you approached these issues and what the outcomes were.
✨Demonstrate a Continuous Improvement Mindset
This role values a mindset of continuous improvement, so come prepared with examples of how you’ve optimised processes or implemented new practices in your previous positions. Discuss any initiatives you’ve led that resulted in increased efficiency or developer productivity.
