Head of Platform Engineering (up to £225k)

Dex; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Dex is seeking a senior platform/infra leader to define the cloud strategy and build the team from scratch for a partner focused on enterprise AI in financial services. You will own the Azure/AKS architecture, drive security and compliance, and establish robust CI/CD with observability across backend, frontend, and data services.

You will lead critical audits (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR) and shape the security posture, secrets management, and incident response, enabling scalable, compliant workflows

Qualifications

• 10+ years in infrastructure or platform engineering.
• Experience with production Kubernetes and Terraform at scale.
• Experience leading platform teams in fast-growth startups.
• Security/compliance frameworks: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the end-to-end cloud strategy, architecting and scaling the Azure/AKS environment for demanding financial-services deployments.
• Build and lead the platform engineering team from the ground up, setting the technical bar and culture.
• Own CI/CD across all services (backend, frontend, data), establishing product-wide observability, on-call rotations, and incident response.
• Lead the company through critical SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits, implementing robust security, secrets management, and compliance measures (GDPR, FCA).

Skills

Platform engineering

Kubernetes

Terraform

Azure

Security compliance

Python scripting

Bash scripting

Observability

On-call

Leadership

Cloud architecture

Tools

Terraform

Azure

PostgreSQL

MySQL

NoSQL

Job description

This role is with one of Dex's trusted partner companies. We work closely with their teams to truly understand their culture, goals, and what they're looking for, so we can match you with the right opportunity and give you context about the role before you commit to a process.

The role

This company builds AI systems that automate how major financial institutions produce and validate client-ready work, turning complex, manual analysis into automated workflows for global banks, private equity, and credit firms. They're backed by leading investors, with significant Series A funding to scale their rapidly growing enterprise AI platform.

This isn't a maintenance role. You're the first platform leader, defining the entire cloud strategy and building the team from scratch. You'll own the architecture, scale their Azure/AKS environment, and implement the security and compliance measures (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR) that enable a product handling sensitive financial data. This is a rare seat: full mandate, significant resources, and no inherited legacy.

The work

• Define and drive the end-to-end cloud strategy, architecting and scaling the Azure/AKS environment for demanding financial-services deployments.
• Build and lead the platform engineering team from the ground up, setting the technical bar and culture.
• Own CI/CD across all services (backend, frontend, data), establishing product-wide observability, on-call rotations, and incident response.
• Lead the company through critical SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits, implementing robust security, secrets management, and compliance measures (GDPR, FCA).

What You Bring

• 10+ years in infrastructure or platform engineering, with deep experience architecting and operating production Kubernetes and Terraform at scale.
• Proven track record building, leading, and scaling high-performing platform teams in fast-growth startup environments.
• End-to-end ownership of critical infrastructure, from initial architecture and deployment through production support, observability, and on-call.
• Expertise implementing and navigating security and compliance frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR) for regulated environments.
• Hands-on proficiency with Azure cloud networking, production databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, NoSQL), and automation scripting (Python, Bash).