Associate Senior Product Owner - Platform Engineering

World Bank Group•Washington, DC

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Information and Technology Solutions (ITS) Vice Presidency Unit (VPU) at the World Bank Group is seeking an Associate Senior Product Owner - Platform Engineering to join their Platform Engineering team. This team is responsible for building and operating the internal developer platform (IDP) and the underlying cloud infrastructure. The role is central to the team's transition towards a product-oriented, developer-first platform engineering discipline, enabling software delivery teams to operate more efficiently and autonomously. The selected candidate will be the technical authority for platform engineering, driving the design, development, and evolution of the IDP, cloud infrastructure-as-code, and AI infrastructure capabilities. While not a people management role, the candidate will mentor junior staff, track technical work, and set engineering standards.

Requirements

Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a closely related technical field, with a minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience; or a Bachelor's degree with at least 10 years of equivalent experience.
Demonstrated expert-level proficiency in Infrastructure-as-Code, with extensive hands-on experience using Terraform in production environments across multi-cloud or hybrid cloud deployments.
Proven practical experience with AWS and Azure cloud services, including compute, networking, identity, storage, and security services.
Active, hands-on experience building or operating an Internal Developer Platform (IDP), using either Port.io or Backstage (or equivalent tooling).
A working background in software development — the candidate must have meaningfully written and shipped production code. This is not a background in infrastructure alone; the candidate must understand the full software delivery lifecycle from the perspective of a developer.
Deep understanding of the platform engineering discipline, including the rationale for golden paths, self-service infrastructure, and the transition away from ticket-driven, operations-centric infrastructure models. The candidate must be able to articulate why this shift matters and have experience driving it in a prior role.
Working familiarity with AI infrastructure platforms such as Databricks and/or AWS Bedrock — sufficient to automate their provisioning and lifecycle management via IaC and to engage as a credible technical partner with the teams that own these platforms. The candidate is not expected to lead AI infrastructure strategy but must be capable of executing automation against it.
Hands-on experience building AI agents that address real-world problems. This experience is valued as evidence of technical depth and an ability to engage fluently with AI platform teams, not as a core delivery responsibility of this role.
Proven ability to guide and mentor junior technical staff, assign and track work, and maintain engineering quality in a team setting without holding formal managerial authority.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to translate technical complexity into clear, compelling narratives for diverse audiences.
Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with experience working effectively across organizational boundaries in a large, complex institution.
Collaborative, low-ego working style with the confidence to advocate for technical positions and the judgment to know when to adapt.

Nice To Haves

Relevant cloud certifications (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect, HashiCorp Terraform Associate or Professional).
Experience working in multilateral development banks, international organizations, or other large, security-conscious enterprise environments.
Familiarity with platform engineering metrics and developer experience (DevEx) measurement frameworks.
Contributions to open-source projects in platform engineering, IaC, or AI infrastructure space.

Responsibilities

Lead the technical design, development, and operations of the Internal Developer Platform (IDP), serving as the primary technical authority and decision-maker for platform architecture.
Own the end-to-end implementation of Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices using Terraform, ensuring consistent, auditable, and repeatable infrastructure provisioning across cloud environments.
Define, build, and maintain golden paths — opinionated, pre-approved software delivery workflows and templates — that enable development teams to deliver software securely and efficiently without requiring deep infrastructure expertise.
Architect and operate cloud infrastructure on both AWS and Azure, ensuring platforms are secure, scalable, cost-efficient, and aligned with WBG policies and standards.
Serve as the lead engineer for the Internal Developer Portal (using Port.io), driving adoption, feature development, and integration with the Bank's software delivery ecosystem.
Champion the philosophical and operational shift from traditional infrastructure management to platform engineering, articulating the value of this transformation clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders alike.
Develop and maintain a platform roadmap in alignment with ITS strategy, anticipating the evolving needs of internal development teams and proactively addressing capability gaps.
Contribute to the Bank's broader DevSecOps culture by embedding security, observability, and developer experience considerations into every layer of the platform.
Partner closely with teams responsible for AI platforms such as Databricks and AWS Bedrock to understand their deployment patterns, requirements, and agreed standards — then translate those into automated, repeatable provisioning pipelines owned and operated by the Platform Engineering team.
Automate the provisioning and lifecycle management of AI infrastructure components in accordance with standards defined by the owning teams, ensuring consistency, auditability, and scalability across environments.
Bring sufficient hands-on familiarity with AI agent development to engage meaningfully with AI platform teams, understand their technical needs, and build the automation and self-service capabilities that support their work.
Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior and mid-level platform engineers, supporting their professional development and technical growth.
Assign and track technical work across the team, ensuring delivery milestones are met and engineering quality standards are upheld.
Collaborate closely with the team leader on capacity planning, technical onboarding, and cross-team coordination.
Communicate complex technical concepts clearly and effectively to a wide range of audiences, including non-technical stakeholders, senior management, and external partners.
Represent the Platform Engineering team in cross-ITS technical forums, architecture reviews, and vendor engagements.
Produce clear technical documentation, architecture decision records (ADRs), and platform usage guides to ensure knowledge is well-shared and accessible.
Engage with Enterprise architecture to align platform engineering strategy with broader ITS technologies.