Head of Platform Engineering

Harnham; Randstad; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Harnham is seeking a senior platform engineering leader to shape the technical foundation of a Benelux-scale digital platform. You will own strategy, people, and performance across core services, infra, and developer experience, guiding AI-enhanced development and scalable architecture.

Leading cross-functional teams, you will drive cloud, Kubernetes, and observability initiatives while partnering with product and growth to deliver business outcomes.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership of platform or software engineering teams at scale.
• Expert in distributed systems and backend tech like Scala, Kafka, search platforms.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, containers, and developer tooling.
• Knowledge of Kubernetes, CI/CD, and observability.
• Budget management and cost optimisation experience.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and align cross-functional teams.
• Experience adopting AI-driven development practices.
• Data-driven mindset focusing on performance and reliability.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead platform engineering strategy across core services, infra, and developer experience.
• Oversee large-scale distributed systems architecture for performance and resilience.
• Set engineering standards across frontend, backend, and mobile.
• Lead infra strategy including cloud, Kubernetes, CI/CD, observability, and cost control.
• Guide adoption of event-driven patterns, CQRS, and distributed transactions.
• Build and mentor high-performing engineering leadership teams.
• Own platform financials including cloud spend, tooling, and headcount.
• Champion AI integration into engineering workflows.
• Collaborate with product, data, and growth to align tech with business goals.
• Define and track metrics for platform health and productivity.

Skills

Platform leadership

Distributed systems

Scala

Kafka

Search platforms

Cloud infrastructure

Containerisation

Kubernetes

CI/CD pipelines

Observability

Budget management

Stakeholder influence

AI adoption

Data-driven mindset

Tools

Kubernetes

CI/CD tooling

Observability tooling

Job description

This is a unique opportunity to shape the technical foundation of a large scale digital platform with millions of users across the Benelux region. You will operate at the intersection of platform engineering, distributed systems, and AI adoption, with full ownership of strategy, people, and performance. The role offers real influence over how modern engineering organisations evolve, particularly in embedding AI into development at scale.

The Company

They are a leading digital marketplace organisation operating at significant scale across multiple European markets. Their platform supports millions of users and businesses, enabling seamless digital interactions and contributing to more sustainable ways of buying and selling. With a strong engineering culture and product focus, they continue to invest in platform innovation to enhance performance, scalability, and developer experience. Their technology teams are central to delivering reliable, high quality user journeys.

The Role

• Define and lead the platform engineering strategy across core services, infrastructure, and developer experience
• Oversee large scale distributed systems architecture, ensuring performance, scalability, and resilience
• Drive best practice engineering standards across frontend, backend, and mobile development
• Lead infrastructure strategy including cloud platforms, Kubernetes, CI CD, observability, and cost optimisation
• Guide adoption of modern architectural patterns such as event driven systems, CQRS, and distributed transactions
• Build, mentor, and lead high performing engineering leadership teams, fostering autonomy and accountability
• Own platform financials including cloud spend, tooling, and headcount planning
• Champion the integration of AI into engineering workflows and platform capabilities
• Collaborate closely with product, data, and growth teams to align technical delivery with commercial goals
• Define and track metrics for platform health, performance, and engineering productivity

Your Skills and Experience

• Strong experience leading platform or software engineering organisations at scale
• Deep technical expertise in distributed systems and modern backend technologies such as Scala, Kafka, and search platforms
• Proven track record in cloud infrastructure, containerisation, and developer tooling
• Strong knowledge of Kubernetes, CI CD pipelines, and observability frameworks
• Commercial awareness with experience managing engineering budgets and cost optimisation
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and align cross functional teams
• Experience driving adoption of new technologies including AI driven development practices
• Data driven mindset focused on performance, reliability, and continuous improvement

What They Offer

• Competitive salary and performance based incentives
• Opportunity to lead a large scale, high impact engineering organisation
• Strong career progression with exposure to executive level decision making
• Collaborative and forward thinking technical environment focused on innovation