Lead Platform Engineer

thoughtworksreferral; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Thoughtworks is seeking a Lead Platform Engineer to architect and maintain scalable infrastructure, APIs, and developer tooling. You will enable autonomous delivery Pipelines, CI/CD, and governance across cloud environments to empower engineering teams.

You will drive security, performance and reliability while guiding platform strategies and tooling decisions. The role requires deep GCP experience, Terraform-based IaC, and strong scripting, with hands-on Kubernetes and observability expertise.

Qualifications

• GCP expertise across GKE, Compute, Storage, VPC and serverless services; multi-cloud familiarity (AWS/Azure).
• Terraform IaC mastery; configuration automation with Ansible or Chef.
• Proven DevOps, CI/CD and GitOps experience; robust infra test automation (Terratest, Kitchen, InSpec).
• Observability knowledge with Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, New Relic or ELK Stack for troubleshooting.
• Cloud security practices (IAM, encryption, network policies) with continuous monitoring.
• Data infra experience: cloud storage, high-throughput pipelines, NoSQL databases.
• Containerization depth (Docker, Helm) and Kubernetes platforms (GKE).
• Programming/scripting to automate workflows and integrate RESTful APIs in microservices.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement and maintain scalable platform infrastructure for development and production environments.
• Drive automation and CI/CD pipelines for faster deployments and operations.
• Ensure security, scalability and high availability to meet SLAs.
• Troubleshoot platform issues, perform root cause analysis and communicate outcomes.
• Implement and oversee containerization and cloud services (Docker, Kubernetes; AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Champion IaC to define and manage platform resources.
• Support DevOps and GitOps to streamline deployments and collaboration.
• Tune performance, enable dynamic auto-scaling and optimize cloud costs.

Skills

GCP expertise

CI/CD automation

GitOps practices

Programming scripting

Monitoring & alerting

Security best practices

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Chef

Docker

Kubernetes

Helm

GKE

Job description

As Lead Platform Engineer, you will be responsible for architecting and maintaining the foundational infrastructure that supports efficient and scalable software development. This involves creating and enhancing developer tools, APIs, and integrations that automate workflows and streamline processes to improve team agility. You will collaborate closely with engineering teams to ensure the platform meets their needs for delivering high-quality applications, while maintaining scalability, reliability, and performance. A key aspect of this role is empowering development teams to independently provision and manage their own software delivery pipelines, including CI/CD systems, source control, and artifact repositories, enabling them to deliver software continuously and reliably without relying on other teams. You will guide the design and implementation of efficient and secure pipelines tailored to specific software delivery engagements, ensuring fast feedback loops and adherence to risk management, security, and governance requirements.

Job responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain scalable and reliable platform infrastructure to support the development and production environments.
• Drive automation and CI/CD pipelines for the platform, improving the speed and efficiency of deployments and operations.
• Ensure the platform's security, scalability, and high availability, meeting the business needs and operational SLAs.
• Troubleshoot and resolve platform-related issues, including performance bottlenecks, incidents, and outages, and ensure root cause analysis is performed and communicated.
• Implement and oversee the use of containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes) and manage cloud infrastructure services (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Champion the use of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles to define and manage platform resources.
• Support the adoption of DevOps and GitOps practices to streamline deployments, enhance collaboration, and reduce manual intervention.
• Actively participate in performance tuning and optimization for cloud-based applications and infrastructure, ensuring long-term sustainability and performance.

Job qualifications

Technical Skills

• Mandatory in-depth expertise in Google Cloud Platform ( GCP ) services (GKE, Compute, Storage, VPC networking, Serverless), with broad familiarity with multi-cloud environments (AWS or Azure).
• Advanced, hands-on mastery of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform , alongside configuration management automation using Ansible or Chef.
• Proven experience driving DevOps, CI/CD, and GitOps practices, including designing and implementing robust infrastructure test automation frameworks (e.g., Terratest, Kitchen, InSpec).
• Comprehensive knowledge of platform observability, designing proactive monitoring and alerting systems using tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, New Relic, or ELK Stack to troubleshoot complex platform issues.
• Demonstrated track record in securing infrastructure following cloud security best practices (IAM, encryption, network policies) and establishing continuous security monitoring and proactive threat detection.
• Practical experience managing and supporting data infrastructure and operations, including cloud storage solutions, high-throughput pipelines, and NoSQL databases.
• Deep background in containerization (Docker, Helm) and enterprise Kubernetes orchestration platforms, specifically Google Kubernetes Engine.
• Solid programming and scripting skills (Java, Python, Go, Bash, or similar) to automate operational workflows, build developer tooling, and integrate RESTful APIs within microservices architectures.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct platform performance tuning, dynamic auto-scaling, and strategic cloud cost optimization.

Professional Skills

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal, with fluency in English.
• Strong collaboration skills and the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including development, operations, and security teams.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex technical issues and provide clear, actionable solutions.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a proactive and solution-oriented approach to challenges.
• Ability to make recommendations for platform improvements backed by strong technical reasoning.
• Strong ownership mentality with a focus on delivering results and driving continuous improvement.
• Ability to break down complex business and technical requirements and translate them into scalable and efficient platform solutions.

Other things to know

Learning & Development

There is no one-size-fits-all career path at Thoughtworks: however you want to develop your career is entirely up to you. But we also balance autonomy with the strength of our cultivation culture. This means your career is supported by interactive tools, numerous development programs and teammates who want to help you grow. We see value in helping each other be our best an