Lead Platform Engineer

Kraken; Manchester; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraken is looking for a Lead Platform Engineer to lead a team of 5–8 Platform Engineers and scale Kraken’s AWS-based cloud foundation, the backbone of our grid flexibility and customer-management products.

You’ll own production stability, set priorities, deliver major initiatives on clear timelines, mentor engineers, partner with product managers, and help foster a transparent, inclusive culture in a remote-first, globally distributed team.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership of platform/DevOps teams.
• Extensive hands-on AWS with serverless and containerised services.
• Experience delivering at scale with security and CI/CD practices.

Responsibilities

• Own a functional Platform Engineering team and set strategic direction.
• Ensure production stability and scalability of services.
• Manage team priorities and delivery timelines.
• Collaborate with Platform Engineers and Product Manager on implementations.
• Lead major initiatives with clear timelines.
• Foster open communication and an inclusive team culture.
• Line-manage Platform Engineers and set performance expectations.
• Review individual and team performance and provide feedback.
• Deliver technical improvements and large projects, through code reviews and architectural guidance.
• Drive non-functional improvements in production systems.

Skills

AWS platform engineering

Team leadership

Communication (async)

DevOps practices

Mentoring

Production reliability

Security best practices

CI/CD tooling

Linux

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS Lambda

EventBridge/SQS/SNS

DynamoDB

IAM

EC2

Job description

Help us use technology to make a big green dent in the universe!

Kraken powers some of the most innovative global developments in energy.

We create the technology that redefines utilities and unlocks a new energy system of the future. By optimising renewable generation, building a more intelligent grid, and empowering utilities to deliver an exceptional customer experience, our operating system is transforming the industry worldwide.

It’s an incredibly exciting time to work in energy. Join us on our mission to improve the lives of ONE BILLION humans within the decade and shape a cleaner, better future for everyone.

KrakenFlex

The energy industry is undergoing the largest transformation since industrialisation at an unprecedented rate of change and we are positioning ourselves to be at the heart of that change.

Our aim is to be the leading global provider of solutions that enable customers to release £30bn of value per annum from distributed energy resources (DERs).

We are building a Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription business with a global addressable market of £2.4 billion per annum, by digitally connecting hundreds of thousands of DERs with energy markets.

We have already attained a market leading position and KrakenFlex is a recognised thought leader and innovator in the industry.

We’re looking for a skilled and pragmatic Lead Platform, DevOps, or Cloud Infrastructure engineer to join and help lead our growing team.

Specifically, we’re looking for a Lead Platform Engineer to manage a team of 5-8 Platform Engineers and help us build and scale Kraken's AWS cloud foundation, which forms the basis for our market-leading grid flexibility and customer management products.

We’re an innovative and customer‑focussed company, helping to drag the utilities industry into the 21st century, using a mixture of serverless and containerised technologies in AWS.

What you’ll own

• Have ownership of a functional team within Platform Engineering, working closely with the Director and Heads of Platform Engineering to define strategic objectives and team direction

• Own the production stability and reliability of the team’s services, ensuring they are built to scale and operate effectively in production

• Manage team priorities and deliveries

• Collaborate regularly and effectively with Platform Engineers in your functional team to deliver the technical implementation of the team’s strategic priorities, working alongside the Product Manager.

• Lead delivery of major initiatives on clear timelines

• Partner effectively in the wider Platform Engineering team to deliver outcomes

• Build a strong culture of open communication where teammates can ask questions without fear, promoting a positive and inclusive team environment.

• Live the Kraken culture and values, and be a role model for your team

• Line-manage a group of Platform engineers

• Set clear performance expectations and goals for team members

• Regularly review individual and team performance, offering actionable insights and constructive feedback to support and grow team members

• Deliver technical improvements such as small features and bug fixes, as well as larger projects with the team

• Support team delivery through code reviews, technology research and architectural guidance

• Drive and improve the non-functional elements of production systems owned by your team

What you’ll bring to the party

• Great experience with AWS. We use a lot of different AWS services and not just the standard few, so you should be comfortable with serverless, managed, and containerised services.

• Record of successfully and consistently delivering critical path projects, on time and at scale

• Excellent communication, with a focus on doing this asynchronously across multiple timezones and countries

• Meticulous organisation and planning skills

• Experience of mentoring and coaching a team to perform at a high-level of quality

• Experience managing and supporting large-scale internet-facing distributed systems, for millions of customers

• Knowledge of security best-practices, security and CI/CD tooling, and methodologies

Bonus points

• Previous experience in leading technical delivery for small, highly-autonomous teams

• Track-record of effective collaboration with other teams and departments to drive holistic outcomes

• A proactive, innovative mindset with the ability to drive continuous improvement

• Previous experience working in a remote-first asynchronous team providing 24x7 support

• Familiarity with some of our tech stack:

• Typescript, python, or similar programming languages

• Terraform, or a similar infrastructure-as-code tool

• AWS services such as Lambda, IAM, EventBridge/SQS/SNS, DynamoDB, ECS, EKS

• Messaging queues, event-driven async processing or similar technologies

• Docker and Kubernetes

• Experience with Linux

Studies have shown that some groups of people, like women, are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet 100% of the job requirements. Whoever you are, if you like one of our jobs, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we’re looking for! At Kraken, we're creating a team of genuine, honest, empathetic people. Our people are our strongest asset and the unique skills and perspectives people bring to the team are the driving force of our success. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute. We consider all applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

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*Please note that, in line with our current recruitment policy, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position; applicants must have the right to work in the country that they're applying to, at the time of application.*