Platform Chapter Lead - Engineering

easyJet; Luton; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

30% bonus potential

25 days holiday

Pension scheme

Life assurance

Discounted staff travel

Annual discount on easyJet holidays

Work Abroad 30 days/year

EV lease salary sacrifice

Job summary

easyJet is modernising how we build and ship software across our digital and operational estate. As Head of Platform Engineering you'll own the strategy, delivery and operation of our internal developer platform, and lead the group of teams behind it.

You will own the roadmap, set technical direction with Enterprise Architecture, and drive FinOps to optimise cloud spend, while growing strong engineering leaders and aligning platform work with business goals.

Qualifications

• Experience of leading multiple engineering teams and turning platform strategy into delivered outcomes.
• Ability to balance cost, speed and risk with commercial judgement.
• Strong cloud-native background with AWS, Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience in budgeting/headcount ownership and FinOps for cloud spend.
• Excellent communication and ability to influence at executive level.

Responsibilities

• Lead 4–5 Platform, DevOps and Developer Enablement teams through managers and grow leaders.
• Define and drive the roadmap for the Internal Developer Platform and tooling with Enterprise Architecture.
• Own end-to-end delivery quality, predictability and pace; surface risks early.
• Manage operating budget (opex) and headcount; implement cost-effective tooling and FinOps.
• Improve developer experience and platform adoption with measurable outcomes.

Skills

Platform leadership

Cloud-native

DevOps

Executive communication

Budget ownership

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

GitHub Actions

Terraform

Backstage

Job description

We are easyJet – a FTSE-250 listed, £multi-billion low-cost airline that serves tens of millions of customers every single year. If you’re reading this, you have probably already been an easyJet customer, and you’ll know that there is no more iconic (or Orange!) travel brand in Europe.

We fly more than 1,207 routes, connecting 38 countries across Europe, and employ more than 18,000 colleagues. We’re on a mission to make low-cost travel easy – and whatever your role here, you’ll connect millions of people to what they love using Europe’s best airline network, great value fares, and friendly service.

What makes us easyJet? Our Promise Behaviours – we are Safe, Bold, Welcoming and Challenging. Four Behaviours. One Spirit. One easyJet.

About The Role

We're modernising how we build and ship software across our digital and operational estate. As Head of Platform Engineering you'll own the strategy, delivery and operation of our internal developer platform, and lead the group of teams behind it.

What You'll Do

• Lead the teams. Lead 4–5 Platform, DevOps and Developer Enablement teams through their managers; develop your leaders, plan capacity, and hire and grow strong talent.
• Own the strategy. Define and drive the roadmap for our Internal Developer Platform and tooling, set technical direction with Enterprise Architecture, and make deliberate build/buy calls.
• Own delivery. Hold end-to-end accountability for delivery — quality, predictability and pace — surfacing risks early and driving continuous improvement.
• Own the budget. Own the operating budget (opex) and headcount, run a cost-effective tooling strategy, and embed FinOps to manage cloud spend and demonstrate value.
• Drive developer experience. Make the platform something teams want to use — paved paths, less friction — using metrics (e.g. DORA) and real feedback to keep improving it.
• Keep it reliable and compliant. Oversee performance, resilience and observability for revenue-critical services through peak traffic, and maintain security and compliance (e.g. PCI-DSS, GDPR).
• Bring the business with you. Align platform strategy with business goals and translate technical trade-offs into clear decisions, up to executive level.

Essential

What you'll bring

• You live and breathe modern platform engineering — Continuous Delivery, Team Topologies, developer experience and the craft of building strong engineering culture. These aren't buzzwords to you; they're how you think.
• A track record of leading multiple engineering teams at scale (as a leader of managers/leads), setting platform strategy and turning it into delivered outcomes.
• Ownership of budget and headcount, with the commercial judgement to balance cost, speed and risk.
• Strong cloud-native and modern DevOps background — cloud (ideally AWS) and Kubernetes, CI/CD, infrastructure as code and observability — with enough engineering depth (e.g. Java, .NET, Python) to be credible with strong engineers.
• Excellent communication and the ability to influence at executive level, plus a real record of growing engineering leaders.

Desirable

• Building or operating an Internal Developer Platform or developer tooling — Backstage especially welcome.
• Familiarity with tools like Terraform, GitHub Actions and Octopus (or equivalents), and FinOps / cloud cost management.
• Regulated, high-availability or high-transaction-volume domains (travel, retail, payments).

What Success Looks Like In The First 12 Months

• A clear platform roadmap and operating model the teams are bought into.
• Measurably improved delivery predictability and developer experience.
• A healthy fin-ops culture embedded and a Product-led leadership team supporting you.

Why Join Us?

You’ll be part of a dynamic team at the heart of easyJet’s Automation & Innovation organisation, working alongside OD and HR, and supporting AI Solution Leads embedded across the business. Your impact will be measured not just by what you deliver, but by what you enable others to achieve.

“Please note that this role does not meet the criteria for visa sponsorship, and we are therefore unable to consider applicants who require sponsorship to work in the UK.”

We Offer

• Competitive base salary
• 30% bonus potential.
• 25 days holiday, pension scheme, life assurance, and a flexible benefits package.
• Discounted staff travel scheme for friends and family
• Annual credit for discount on easyJet holidays
• ‘Work Away’ scheme, allowing you to work abroad for 30 days a year
• Electric vehicle lease salary sacrifice scheme

Location & Hours of Work

We operate a hybrid working policy of 40%-60% of the month spent with colleagues.

Reasonable Adjustments

At easyJet, we are dedicated to fostering an inclusive workplace that reflects the diverse customers we serve across Europe. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds. If you require specific adjustments or support during the application or recruitment process, such as extra time for assessments or accessible interview locations, please contact us at [e-mail].

We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to ensure accessibility and accommodation

Business Area

Information Technology (IT)

Primary Location

United Kingdom-London-London Luton Airport

Organisation

Information Technology (IT)

Schedule

Full-time

Unposting Date

Ongoing