Innovation Platform Engineer

freshfields; Manchester; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Freshfields is seeking an experienced Innovation Platform Engineer to shape and build the technology platforms underpinning the firm’s innovation journey. This hands-on role focuses on Azure and GCP, creating reusable platforms, secure cloud environments, and scalable services to support AI, automation and digital transformation initiatives.

You will collaborate with Innovation, Enterprise Architecture, Security and Product teams to establish engineering standards and ensure production-ready

Qualifications

• Proven experience designing and operating cloud platforms (Azure/GCP).
• Strong IaC, automation and DevSecOps with secure, scalable architectures.
• Experience building CI/CD pipelines and multi-cloud deployments.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of the firm's innovation platform across Azure and GCP.
• Design reusable cloud architectures, landing zones and pipelines.
• Build secure, automated cloud environments with IaC and DevSecOps.
• Develop and optimise CI/CD pipelines across multi-clouds.
• Document designs and enable production handover for prototypes.

Skills

Azure Cloud

Google Cloud

Infrastructure as Code

DevSecOps

CI/CD

Docker

Kubernetes

API Architecture

LLMs

GitHub

Azure DevOps

Security Controls

AI Platforms

Tools

Make

Zapier

Power Platform

Job description

About Freshfields

Freshfields is a global law firm with a long history of helping clients navigate complex challenges. As technology continues to reshape the legal industry, we are investing significantly in innovation, engineering excellence and AI-enabled solutions that enhance how we deliver services to our clients and support our people.

Our Innovation team plays a central role in this journey, bringing together legal expertise, emerging technologies and engineering excellence to create scalable, secure and practical solutions that deliver real business value.

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Innovation Platform Engineer to help shape and build the technology platforms that underpin innovation across the firm.

This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, creating reusable platforms and enabling teams to move quickly and safely from idea to production. You will design, engineer and operationalise secure, scalable cloud environments and innovation services across Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), supporting a growing portfolio of AI, automation and digital transformation initiatives.

Working closely with Innovation, Enterprise Architecture, Security, Infrastructure and Product teams, you will help establish the engineering standards, cloud patterns and operational approaches that make innovation sustainable at enterprise scale.

From rapid prototyping and proof-of-concept development through to production-ready engineering and operational handover, you will play a key role in turning promising ideas into real-world solutions.

What You'll Be Doing

Cloud Platform Engineering

• Lead the development and evolution of the firm's innovation platform across Azure and GCP.
• Design reusable cloud architectures, landing zones, deployment pipelines and shared engineering services.
• Build secure, scalable and automated cloud environments using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and DevSecOps principles.
• Establish engineering standards, technical guardrails and operational best practices.
• Implement monitoring, observability and support capabilities for innovation services.
• Partner with engineering and operational teams to transition successful prototypes into production.
• Develop and optimise CI/CD pipelines across multi-cloud environments.
• Support platform governance, resilience and cost optimisation.

Innovation Delivery & Experimentation

• Design and build prototypes and proof-of-concept solutions to validate new ideas quickly and effectively.
• Work iteratively, incorporating user feedback to improve solutions and accelerate learning.
• Develop reusable templates, automation assets and engineering components.
• Document technical designs, architecture decisions and implementation approaches.
• Help assess and shape solutions progressing through the innovation pipeline.

AI & Emerging Technologies

• Engineer AI-enabled solutions leveraging Azure AI, Vertex AI, large language models and emerging agentic frameworks.
• Evaluate new technologies and assess their practical application within a professional services environment.
• Translate cutting-edge technical capabilities into scalable business solutions.
• Provide technical insight and feasibility assessments for innovation initiatives.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with Innovation stakeholders to understand business challenges and user needs.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Security, Data and Infrastructure teams to ensure solutions align with firm standards.
• Support testing and adoption activities, rapidly responding to feedback and enhancements.
• Prepare successful solutions for production implementation through documentation, knowledge transfer and operational readiness.

About You

We're looking for someone who combines deep technical expertise with a pragmatic, delivery-focused mindset.

You will likely bring:

• Strong engineering experience across Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
• Experience building and managing cloud-native platforms and services.
• Expertise in Infrastructure as Code, automation and platform engineering practices.
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps methodologies.
• Knowledge of containerisation and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience designing secure, API-driven architectures and integrating enterprise security controls.
• Hands-on experience with AI engineering platforms, large language models, orchestration frameworks and AI solution development.
• Familiarity with tools such as GitHub, Azure DevOps and automated deployment pipelines.
• Exposure to Power Platform, Zapier, Make or other low-code/no-code technologies.

In addition, you'll be someone who:

• Enjoys solving complex problems and experimenting with new technologies.
• Can communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Thrives in fast-moving environments where priorities and requiremen