Lead Platform Engineer

Thoughtworks•Chicago, IL

16h•Remote

About The Position

As Lead Platform Engineer, you will architect and maintain the foundational infrastructure that supports efficient, scalable software development. You will create and enhance developer tools, APIs, and integrations that automate workflows and streamline processes, collaborating with engineering teams to ensure the platform supports high-quality applications while maintaining scalability, reliability, and performance. You will empower development teams to independently provision and manage software delivery pipelines, including CI/CD systems, source control, and artifact repositories. You will guide the design and implementation of efficient, secure pipelines tailored to software delivery engagements, with fast feedback loops and adherence to risk management, security, and governance requirements. The role includes designing, implementing, and maintaining platform infrastructure; driving automation and CI/CD; ensuring security, scalability, and high availability; troubleshooting incidents and performance issues; managing cloud infrastructure and containerization; and promoting Infrastructure as Code, DevOps, and GitOps practices. You will also support cloud application performance tuning, auto-scaling, and cost optimization. The position is with Thoughtworks. The annual salary range is $155,000–$249,000 USD, subject to factors including experience and geographic location. US applicants must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require visa sponsorship.

Requirements

In-depth expertise in Google Cloud Platform services, including GKE, Compute, Storage, VPC networking, and Serverless.
Broad familiarity with multi-cloud environments such as AWS or Azure.
Advanced hands-on experience with Terraform and configuration management automation using Ansible or Chef.
Experience driving DevOps, CI/CD, and GitOps practices.
Experience designing and implementing infrastructure test automation frameworks such as Terratest, Kitchen, or InSpec.
Knowledge of platform observability and monitoring and alerting tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, New Relic, or ELK Stack.
Experience securing infrastructure using cloud security best practices, including IAM, encryption, and network policies, and establishing continuous security monitoring and proactive threat detection.
Practical experience managing and supporting data infrastructure and operations, including cloud storage, high-throughput pipelines, and NoSQL databases.
Deep background in containerization, including Docker and Helm, and enterprise Kubernetes orchestration platforms, specifically Google Kubernetes Engine.
Programming and scripting skills in Java, Python, Go, Bash, or similar.
Ability to automate operational workflows, build developer tooling, and integrate RESTful APIs within microservices architectures.
Experience with platform performance tuning, dynamic auto-scaling, and cloud cost optimization.
Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills, with fluency in English.
Strong collaboration skills and ability to work effectively with development, operations, security, and other cross-functional teams.
Ability to troubleshoot complex technical issues and provide clear, actionable solutions.
Strong problem-solving skills and a proactive, solution-oriented approach.
Ability to make technically reasoned recommendations for platform improvements.
Strong ownership mentality, focus on results, and commitment to continuous improvement.
Ability to translate complex business and technical requirements into scalable, efficient platform solutions.
US employment applicants must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require visa sponsorship.

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and maintain scalable and reliable platform infrastructure for development and production environments.
Drive platform automation and CI/CD pipelines to improve deployment and operational speed and efficiency.
Ensure platform security, scalability, and high availability in line with business needs and operational SLAs.
Troubleshoot platform performance bottlenecks, incidents, and outages; perform and communicate root cause analyses.
Implement and oversee containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes, and manage cloud infrastructure services.
Apply Infrastructure as Code principles to define and manage platform resources.
Support adoption of DevOps and GitOps practices to streamline deployments, improve collaboration, and reduce manual intervention.
Tune and optimize cloud-based applications and infrastructure for sustainable performance.
Help development teams independently provision and manage software delivery pipelines, including CI/CD systems, source control, and artifact repositories.
Design secure, efficient delivery pipelines with rapid feedback loops and appropriate risk management, security, and governance.
Build developer tooling and integrate RESTful APIs to automate operational workflows.
Establish platform observability, proactive monitoring, alerting, continuous security monitoring, and threat detection.
Manage and support data infrastructure and operations, including cloud storage, high-throughput pipelines, and NoSQL databases.
Perform dynamic auto-scaling and strategic cloud cost optimization.
Collaborate with development, operations, and security teams and recommend platform improvements supported by technical reasoning.