At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and build infrastructure for a global trading platform while mentoring the team.
- Company: Join a leading fintech company focused on innovation and collaboration.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work options, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Be part of a diverse team committed to respect and inclusivity.
- Why this job: Lead AI adoption in operations and make a real impact in a dynamic environment.
- Qualifications: Experience in cloud engineering, networking, and AI tooling is essential.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
We're hiring a Principal Platform Engineer to be a senior technical anchor in our Platform/Operations function. This is a 70% hands-on engineering role: you'll design, build, and operate the infrastructure that keeps a global trading platform running, while acting as a technical mentor and design authority across the wider team.
A core part of this role is leading our adoption of AI within operations — using LLM-based tooling, agentic workflows, and automation to reduce toil, accelerate incident response, and raise the operational leverage of the whole department. We're not looking for someone to write a strategy deck about AI; we're looking for someone who will build with it.
What you'll do
- Platform & cloud engineering (the 70%)
- Design, build, and operate infrastructure across AWS (VPC, networking, EKS), Azure (AKS, AKV, networking), with an understanding of on-prem environments.
- Own core networking design and implementation across Cloud environments — connectivity, routing, DNS, load balancing, firewalls, and private links between cloud and on-prem.
- Engineer for high availability: multi-region and multi-AZ architectures, failover design, capacity planning, and disaster recovery for a platform where downtime has direct market impact.
- Build and maintain infrastructure-as-code (Terraform or similar), CI/CD pipelines, and Kubernetes platforms as products consumed by engineering teams.
- SRE & reliability
- Define and drive SLOs, error budgets, and observability standards (metrics, logging, tracing) across the platform.
- Take part in post-incident reviews and help with the resulting reliability work to completion.
- Continuously reduce toil through automation — if we've done it manually twice, you're already scripting it.
- AI-driven operations
- Identify, prototype, and productionise AI-assisted workflows across the department: incident triage and summarisation, runbook automation, log/alert analysis, change-risk assessment, internal knowledge tooling.
- Use AI-assisted engineering tools (Copilot, or equivalents) as a first-class part of your own workflow, and coach the team to do the same safely and effectively.
- Establish sensible guardrails for AI use in a regulated, availability-critical environment, knowing when automation should act and when it should recommend.
- Technical leadership (the 30%)
- Act as a mentor to engineers across the Platform and Operations teams, raising the bar on design, code, and operational practice.
- Be a design authority on cross-team projects: review architectures, challenge assumptions, and ensure new services are built to be operable, observable, and resilient from day one.
- Contribute to the technical roadmap for the platform function, balancing reliability investment against delivery.
What we're looking for
- Must have
- A background in Operations or SRE running highly available, redundant production platforms — you understand failure domains, graceful degradation, and what 'five nines' costs.
- Deep hands-on experience with AWS (VPC design, networking, EKS) and Azure (AKS, Key Vault, networking) — genuinely multi-cloud, not one cloud plus a certification.
- Strong Networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, routing concepts, firewalls, load balancing, hybrid connectivity (Direct Connect / ExpressRoute, VPNs).
- Production Kubernetes experience at scale, including day-2 operations (upgrades, capacity, security, multi-cluster).
- Infrastructure-as-code and automation as a default working style (Terraform, Ansible, or similar; strong scripting in Python, Go, or Bash).
- Demonstrable, practical use of AI tooling to improve engineering or operational workflows — you can show us something you've automated, accelerated, or de-toiled with it.
- The credibility and communication skills to mentor senior engineers and influence design decisions without formal authority.
- Understanding of different database technologies.
- Nice to have
- Experience in trading, exchanges, market data, fintech, or another latency- and availability-sensitive domain.
Trayport is committed to creating and sustaining a collegial work environment in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect and one which reflects the diversity of the community in which we operate. We provide accommodations for applicants and employees who require it.
Principal Platform Engineer in London employer: Trayport
Trayport is an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture, perfect for those passionate about automation and quality assurance. With a strong focus on employee growth, you will have the opportunity to mentor peers and leverage cutting-edge AI tools in a dynamic environment, all while contributing to meaningful projects that enhance software quality. Located in a vibrant area, Trayport offers a supportive atmosphere where your contributions are valued and recognised.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Platform Engineer in London
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Trayport or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Trayport.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Trayport.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Trayport that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Platform Engineer in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Trayport.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Trayport and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Trayport
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Trayport uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
