Platform Engineer

Talent; Canberra; On-site; AUD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Talent in Canberra is seeking an experienced Principal Platform Engineer to lead complex platform engineering initiatives within a large Federal Government technology environment. You will build and uplift secure, scalable cloud platforms across AWS and Azure, creating reusable platform capabilities that enable development teams to deliver high-quality services.

Expect hands-on leadership across cloud-native engineering, Kubernetes, automation and security, with platform governance and roadmaps

Qualifications

• Extensive experience delivering secure, scalable cloud platforms across AWS and Azure.
• Hands-on with containerisation, Kubernetes and orchestration.
• Experience building reusable platform capabilities and developer self-service.
• Strong governance, policy-as-code and security testing practices.
• Proven ability to lead platform roadmaps and drive adoption of engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, operate and continuously improve secure cloud platform services across AWS and Azure.
• Develop cloud-native capabilities and hosting patterns using containers and Kubernetes.
• Establish platform standards, templates and guardrails for reusable engineering patterns.
• Advance CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code via Terraform and automation.
• Develop internal developer platforms and onboarding processes for teams.
• Improve developer experience with documentation and reusable patterns.

Skills

Platform engineering leadership

Cloud architecture

Stakeholder engagement

Security by design

On-call readiness

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

GitLab

GitHub

Jira

Artifactory

OpenTelemetry

Job description

• Canberra // NV1 clearance required

• 12-month contract + 12-month extension

  Position Overview

  An opportunity is available for an experienced Principal Platform Engineer to lead complex platform engineering initiatives within a large Federal Government technology environment.

  This senior technical role will focus on building and uplifting secure, scalable and reliable cloud platforms across AWS and Azure, creating reusable platform capabilities that make it easier for development teams to deliver high-quality services. You will work across cloud-native engineering, Kubernetes, automation, developer self-service, security and reliability while helping shape platform standards, roadmaps and engineering practices.

  The position will suit a highly experienced, hands-on platform or cloud engineer who can combine deep technical expertise with technical leadership and stakeholder engagement.

  Key Duties

  • Design, build, operate and continuously improve secure, reusable cloud platform services across AWS and Azure.
  • Develop cloud-native capabilities and standardised application hosting patterns using containers and Kubernetes.
  • Establish platform standards, golden paths, templates, guardrails and reusable engineering patterns.
  • Build and improve CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, automation and standardised engineering toolchains.
  • Develop developer self-service capabilities, internal developer platforms and structured onboarding processes.
  • Improve developer experience through clear documentation, reusable patterns and platform enablement.
  • Embed automated security controls, vulnerability management, compliance checks, automated testing and secure-by-design practices.
  • Improve platform reliability and observability through monitoring, alerting, service health practices and incident response.
  • Lead platform roadmap planning, prioritisation, governance and lifecycle management.
  • Work closely with delivery, architecture, security, operations and business stakeholders to resolve complex technical issues and drive adoption of platform engineering practices.
  • Support critical platform services, including participation in after-hours on-call arrangements.

  Skills and Experience Required

  • Extensive experience designing, implementing and operating secure, scalable cloud platforms across AWS and Azure.
  • Deep expertise in containerisation, Kubernetes and orchestration technologies.
  • Strong experience with Terraform, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD and automation.
  • Experience with engineering toolchains such as GitLab, GitHub, Artifactory and Jira.
  • Demonstrated experience building reusable platform capabilities, standardised engineering patterns and developer self-service solutions.
  • Strong understanding of secure platform engineering, including policy-as-code, vulnerability management, automated security testing and compliance automation.
  • Experience designing or supporting internal developer platforms and service mesh architectures.
  • Strong knowledge of platform governance, reference architectures, engineering standards, guardrails and operational controls.
  • Experience with developer portals or platform catalogues such as Backstage or equivalent will be highly regarded.
  • Knowledge of enterprise observability practices including OpenTelemetry, distributed tracing, metrics, logging and service health monitoring is desirable.
  • Experience with secrets management technologies such as HashiCorp Vault or equivalent is desirable.
  • Strong troubleshooting skills across cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, platform services and enterprise environments.
  • Must be an Australian citizen and able to obtain a Negative Vetting Level 1 (NV1) security clearance.