Platform Engineer

Howden • Rayne Township, PA

1d • $180,000 - $220,000

About The Position

Howden is seeking a hands-on Platform Engineer to build, automate, and evolve the Microsoft Azure infrastructure that supports its US technology and data platforms. This is an Azure infrastructure engineering role, not a data engineering role. Azure Databricks is an important part of the platform, but the position focuses on its infrastructure, security, networking, identity, automation, and operational foundations—not on developing data pipelines, notebooks, transformations, or data models.

The role spans the broader Azure ecosystem, including infrastructure for data platforms, applications, AI solutions, integrations, containerized workloads, and other emerging technology needs. The engineer will assess problems and select appropriate Azure services, turn ideas into working infrastructure, automate repetitive processes, build reusable capabilities, and improve the developer experience. The position calls for curiosity, constructive challenge of existing approaches, comfort with ambiguity and experimentation, and ownership of solutions from investigation and design through implementation and production operation.

The role is full-time and permanent. The expected base salary range is $180,000–$220,000, with actual pay determined by factors including experience and work location. Employees are eligible for a discretionary bonus and benefits and programs subject to eligibility. The role is classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in a technical or quantitative discipline, or equivalent practical technical experience.
• At least 5 years of experience in cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, DevOps, SRE, or a similar hands-on engineering role.
• Proven hands-on experience building and operating production workloads and infrastructure on Microsoft Azure.
• Proven experience using Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD to automate cloud infrastructure and platform configuration.
• Hands-on experience supporting Azure Databricks from an infrastructure, security, identity, networking, or platform administration perspective.
• Experience working across multiple Azure services and selecting technologies based on technical and business requirements.
• Demonstrated experience owning technical solutions from design through implementation, deployment, troubleshooting, and production operation.
• Strong hands-on experience designing, building, automating, and operating Microsoft Azure infrastructure across a broad range of services.
• Deep understanding of Azure subscriptions, resource groups, networking, storage, identity, security, compute, application hosting, monitoring, and governance.
• Strong proficiency with Terraform and Infrastructure as Code, including reusable modules and consistent multi-environment deployments.
• Strong knowledge of Azure networking, including VNets, subnets, private endpoints, private DNS, routing, firewalls, network security groups, and secure external connectivity.
• Strong experience with Microsoft Entra ID and Azure access management, including RBAC, security groups, service principals, managed identities, and least-privilege patterns.
• Strong infrastructure and platform-level knowledge of Azure Databricks, including workspace provisioning and configuration, networking, storage integration, Unity Catalog infrastructure, identity and access management, compute policies, secrets, security, and monitoring.
• Experience provisioning and operating Azure services such as Azure Container Apps, App Service, Functions, Storage Accounts, Key Vault, and Azure Monitor, or comparable managed services.
• Strong experience building CI/CD and infrastructure automation, preferably using Azure DevOps, YAML pipelines, Git, APIs, and SDKs.
• Proficiency in automation and scripting using Python, PowerShell, Bash, or similar technologies.
• Experience implementing observability, monitoring, logging, alerting, cost management, and operational controls across Azure environments.
• Strong understanding of cloud security and governance, including secrets management, environment isolation, network security, auditability, access controls, and secure-by-default infrastructure patterns.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex problems spanning Azure infrastructure, networking, identity, security, Databricks, storage, applications, and external integrations.
• Builder mindset and ability to take an ambiguous infrastructure problem from investigation and architecture through implementation, automation, deployment, and production operation.
• Track record of constructively challenging existing approaches, identifying inefficient or unnecessarily complex processes, proposing pragmatic alternatives, and delivering working solutions.
• Automation-first mindset, with an emphasis on making repetitive infrastructure and operational activities automated and reusable wherever practical.
• Experience creating self-service capabilities and reusable platform patterns that help engineering teams move faster while maintaining appropriate security and governance.
• Practical experience using modern AI-assisted and agentic engineering tools to accelerate infrastructure development, troubleshooting, automation, and documentation.
• Strong bias for action and ownership, with ability to move from problem identification to a working production solution with minimal oversight.
• Comfort working in an entrepreneurial environment and willingness to work across traditional infrastructure boundaries as US platform and engineering capabilities evolve.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders across data engineering, AI, security, infrastructure, operations, and global platform teams.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in an enterprise or regulated environment.
• Insurance industry experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, automate, and operate secure, scalable infrastructure across Microsoft Azure.
• Provision and manage Azure services using Terraform and Infrastructure as Code, creating reusable patterns for consistent deployment across environments.
• Build and maintain Azure Databricks infrastructure, including workspace configuration, networking, storage integration, identity and access, Unity Catalog infrastructure, compute policies, secrets, security, and monitoring.
• Partner with Data Engineers to provide reliable and secure platform capabilities for their pipelines, notebooks, transformations, and data models.
• Design and support Azure networking and connectivity, including VNets, subnets, private endpoints, private DNS, routing, firewalls, and connections to SaaS and external platforms.
• Implement and improve identity and access patterns using Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC, security groups, service principals, and managed identities.
• Build CI/CD pipelines and automation for infrastructure provisioning, configuration, validation, and deployment.
• Provision and operate other appropriate Azure services, including application hosting, containerized workloads, storage, Key Vault, monitoring, and integration services.
• Build monitoring, logging, alerting, cost controls, and operational capabilities to improve platform reliability and issue resolution.
• Create self-service capabilities and reusable platform patterns that enable engineering teams to move faster with less manual intervention.
• Identify repetitive, manual, or unnecessarily complex processes and replace them with simpler, automated solutions where practical.
• Constructively challenge technical approaches and processes, using evidence and working solutions to drive continuous improvement.
• Troubleshoot complex issues across Azure infrastructure, networking, identity, security, Databricks, storage, applications, and external integrations.
• Collaborate with data engineering, AI, security, infrastructure, operations, and global platform teams while maintaining ownership of delivery.
• Own technical solutions from investigation and architecture through implementation, automation, deployment, troubleshooting, and production operation.

Benefits

• Discretionary bonus eligibility.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including healthcare savings and reimbursement accounts.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Flexible Paid Time Off.
• Paid parental leave.
• Life and disability insurance.
• Reasonable accommodations may include flexible hours or hybrid working, subject to role requirements and eligibility.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior