Senior Engineer, Internal Developer Platform

American Family Insurance•Boston, MA

1d•$99,000 - $167,000•Onsite

About The Position

This role is responsible for designing, building, and operating cloud platform and DevOps capabilities across AWS and GCP. The engineer will enable reliable, secure, and scalable delivery by developing Kubernetes and Infrastructure-as-Code foundations, building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, and driving automation, observability, and operational best practices across engineering teams.

Requirements

Proven experience in designing, implementing, and managing an internal developer portal, preferably with Backstage.io.
Expertise in developing custom Backstage plugins and customizing the platform using TypeScript, Node.js, and React.
Experience configuring and managing the Backstage Software Catalog.
Ability to create and maintain software templates using Backstage's Scaffolder.
Extensive experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, GCP) and familiarity with the other.
Expertise in core cloud services like VPC, IAM, S3, and managed Kubernetes (EKS, GKE).
Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and hands-on experience with tools like Terraform.
Experience with Crossplane.io to manage cloud services and infrastructure.
Strong understanding of containerization technologies, including Docker and Kubernetes.
Solid experience with CI/CD principles and proficiency in building and maintaining pipelines using GitLab CI/CD.
Proficiency in managing software artifacts and dependencies using JFrog Artifactory.
A strong scripting and automation skill set using languages like Python, Go, or Bash.
A solid understanding of SRE principles, including Service Level Objectives (SLOs), error budgets, and a focus on reliability, scalability, and performance.
Hands-on experience with Datadog for full-stack observability.
Experience in troubleshooting complex, distributed systems and a methodical approach to problem-solving.
Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, TypeScript, and JavaScript.
Experience with web development fundamentals and API design (REST, GraphQL).
A solid understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) best practices, including version control with Git.
Demonstrated knowledge of modern SDLC practices and operating models (e.g., Agile, product-based teams, platform-as-a-product).
Demonstrated experience delivering and operating cloud platforms in both AWS and GCP, including core services for compute, storage, networking, IAM, and managed Kubernetes.
Demonstrated experience designing, building, and operating Kubernetes platforms and tooling (e.g., cluster lifecycle, upgrades, workload onboarding patterns, ingress, service discovery, secrets/config management).
Demonstrated experience with Infrastructure as Code and reusable module patterns across cloud providers (e.g., Terraform; CloudFormation as needed), including pipeline integration, versioning, and promotion strategies.
Demonstrated experience with CI/CD tooling and practices (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Bitbucket pipelines), including build/test/release automation, artifact management, and environment deployment strategies.
Demonstrated experience with GitOps and deployment automation patterns (e.g., Argo CD/Flux where applicable) for Kubernetes and cloud workloads.
Demonstrated experience with observability and operational practices (monitoring/alerting, centralized logging, tracing, dashboards, on-call readiness, incident response, runbooks).
Demonstrated experience applying SRE/operational metrics and reliability practices (SLIs/SLOs, error budgets, capacity/performance considerations).
Demonstrated systems and network fundamentals for cloud environments (VPC/VNet design, DNS, routing, load balancing, proxies/firewalls, certificate/TLS basics).
Demonstrated programming/scripting capability in one or more of: Python, Go, Java, Shell/Bash; strong Linux fundamentals.
Demonstrated experience integrating services and tools through APIs and secure communication patterns across applications, databases, and platforms.
Demonstrated knowledge of DevSecOps practices (secrets management, vulnerability scanning, least privilege, supply-chain controls such as signing/SBOM where applicable, and automated policy enforcement).

Nice To Haves

Relocation support is offered for eligible candidates.
Up to 10% travel.

Responsibilities

Designing, implementing, and managing an internal developer portal, preferably with Backstage.io.
Improving the developer experience by creating self-service tools and streamlining workflows.
Developing custom Backstage plugins and customizing the platform using TypeScript, Node.js, and React.
Configuring and managing the Backstage Software Catalog.
Creating and maintaining software templates using Backstage's Scaffolder.
Designing, building, and operating cloud platform and DevOps capabilities across AWS and GCP.
Developing Kubernetes and Infrastructure-as-Code foundations.
Building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines.
Driving automation, observability, and operational best practices across engineering teams.
Provisioning and managing cloud resources using Terraform.
Managing cloud services and infrastructure through a unified, Kubernetes-native API using Crossplane.io.
Building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI/CD.
Integrating various tools into CI/CD pipelines.
Managing software artifacts and dependencies using JFrog Artifactory.
Applying SRE principles, including Service Level Objectives (SLOs), error budgets, and a focus on reliability, scalability, and performance.
Using Datadog for full-stack observability, including setting up monitors, creating dashboards, and using APM for distributed tracing.
Troubleshooting complex, distributed systems.
Applying modern SDLC practices and operating models (e.g., Agile, product-based teams, platform-as-a-product).
Designing, building, and operating Kubernetes platforms and tooling.
Applying GitOps and deployment automation patterns for Kubernetes and cloud workloads.
Applying observability and operational practices (monitoring/alerting, centralized logging, tracing, dashboards, on-call readiness, incident response, runbooks).
Applying SRE/operational metrics and reliability practices (SLIs/SLOs, error budgets, capacity/performance considerations).
Integrating services and tools through APIs and secure communication patterns.