Senior Platform Engineer GCP & AWS in Watford

We’re looking for a Senior Platform Engineer to join our team here at Wickes. Wickes is a home improvement retailer which offers a wide range of products for DIY and home improvement, with a strong focus on serving both the local trade and general public, including kitchen and bathroom installations. We are currently undergoing a technical transformation replacing many of the key systems used to run and operate our business. To support our shift toward becoming a digital-first business, we are seeking an experienced Senior Platform Engineer with deep Google Cloud Platform (GCP) expertise and strong working knowledge of AWS.

The role exists to design, build, and maintain the multi-cloud infrastructure that powers our internal platforms and enables software engineering squads to deliver applications efficiently, securely, and reliably. Championing our "Platform as a Product" philosophy, you will build scalable, automated multi-cloud environments, manage continuous delivery pipelines, and drive multi-cloud integration patterns. Bringing strong expertise in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) along with solid AWS knowledge, you will provide technical leadership, mentor engineers, and drive operational excellence across both cloud environments.

What you’ll be doing:

• Cloud Infrastructure Automation (GCP & AWS): Design, implement, and operate highly available, secure, and scalable infrastructure leveraging deep Google Cloud Platform (GCP) expertise alongside solid AWS knowledge. Utilise Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles (Terraform) to create reusable, versioned modules and machine images (Packer) for cloud workloads.
• Core Cloud Architecture & Operations: Provide deep technical expertise across all GCP services (GKE, Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, BigQuery, IAM, Cloud Functions, etc.) and good working knowledge on core AWS services (EC2, ECS/EKS, S3, RDS, VPC, IAM, Lambda). Optimise multi-cloud resource utilisation and cost (FinOps) while maintaining reliability. Deliver technical leadership and operational guidance for Google Workspace administration.
• CI/CD Pipeline Development & Management: Architect, optimize, and maintain automated CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins) across multi-cloud delivery paths. Integrate automated testing, quality gates, and security scanning tools (SAST/DAST/SCA) to accelerate release velocity.
• Multi-Cloud Networking & Security Integration: Implement robust networking, interconnectivity (VPN/DirectConnect/Interconnect), and unified identity and access management (IAM) strategies across GCP and AWS environments. Enforce security guardrails and data protection policies across both cloud perimeters.
• Observability & SRE Practice: Build and maintain enterprise monitoring, tracing, and logging solutions (Datadog, CloudWatch, Google Cloud Operations suite). Ensure full telemetry visibility across GCP and AWS workloads to proactively manage platform health and service-level objectives (SLOs).
• Governance & Continuous Improvement: Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for our infrastructure, processes, and tools in Confluence. Continuously assess and refine existing products to support evolving business needs. Lead knowledge-sharing initiatives to promote engineering excellence across teams.

What we’re looking for:

Ideally you’ll have a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience. With regards to your overall experience, to be successful in the role, we’d expect you’ll have around 8+ years in a DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), or Platform Engineering role within enterprise cloud environments. As well as this we’re looking for:

• Cloud Expertise: Minimum 5+ years hands-on experience designing, deploying, and managing complex Google Cloud Platform (GCP) infrastructure, combined with demonstrable experience working with AWS.
• Advanced IaC: Expert-level proficiency with Terraform for multi-provider deployments (GCP and AWS providers), module design, and state management.
• CI/CD Leadership: Demonstrable experience building, maintaining, and optimizing enterprise pipelines using GitLab CI/CD or Jenkins.
• Scripting & Automation: Strong proficiency in at least one scripting/programming language (Python, Bash, or Go).
• Containerization & Orchestration: Solid hands‑on experience with Docker and managed Kubernetes engines (GCP GKE and AWS EKS).
• Observability Tools: Hands‑on experience with enterprise observability tools (Datadog preferred).
• Networking & Security: Strong understanding of multi‑cloud networking concepts (VPC peering, Interconnect, DNS, Load Balancing) and unified identity frameworks (IAM, SAML, OIDC).

We’re looking for the following attributes in the successful candidate:

• Poise and ability to act calmly and competently in high‑pressure, demanding situations.
• Ability to manage ambiguity to clarify requirements and objectives to ensure successful outcomes.
• High degree of initiative, dependability, and ability to work with minimal supervision while being resilient to change.
• High level of personal integrity, as well as the ability to professionally handle confidential matters and show an appropriate level of judgement and maturity.
• A critical thinker, strong problem‑solving and trouble‑shooting skills.
• Technology neutral: remains unbiased toward any specific technology or vendor choice, and is more interested in results than personal preferences.
• Motivated and driven by achieving long‑term business outcomes.
• Excellent written, verbal, communication and presentation skills with the ability to articulate new ideas and concepts to technical and nontechnical audiences.

What can we offer you?

You’ll be supported with fantastic learning and development and have the opportunity to grow and develop your career with us. We’ll also equip you with a benefits package that includes:

• Competitive bonus
• Car allowance
• Save-as-you-earn scheme
• Private Medical and Life Assurance
• Enhanced contributory pension scheme
• Colleague discount
• Discount platform including savings and cash back at numerous retailers, savings on gym membership, cycle to work scheme

Our widely recognised wellbeing strategy is something we’re proud of at Wickes. As part of this, we offer a range of health and wellbeing benefits and support, including an Employee Assistance Programme, financial education & loans, and access to parental, menopause and fertility support. By giving you the support you need to do well at work, and the flexibility to make life work for you, we are giving you a career that doesn’t put your life on hold. Where you can be yourself, do your best work, and make a positive difference every day.

About Us:

Wickes is a multi‑channel retailer operating in the home improvement market. With 50 years in industry, Wickes now generates revenue in excess of £1.6bn across 230 stores delivered by 8,000+ colleagues. But it is our culture that is considered our best kept secret; it’s a collaborative, down to earth, fun and inclusive environment where people feel part of a winning team. All our colleagues come from different backgrounds, but what we all have in common is a determination to succeed and a passion for being the best we can be. If that sounds like you, we’ll make you feel right at home.

We aim to create an inclusive workplace with colleagues’ wellbeing at the heart of everything we do. We’re a Disability Confident Employer and committed to building a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We welcome applications from disabled people and are committed to providing an accessible recruitment process and workplace for everyone. If you require any support or reasonable adjustments, please let us know here.