Lead Platform Engineer

Guardian; Holmdel Township (NJ); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Guardian is seeking a Lead Platform Engineer to enhance the engineering experience by delivering reusable platform capabilities, APIs, and automation. You will lead cross‑functional delivery, drive initiatives from discovery to deployment, and scale engineering enablement across distributed teams.

Strong coding skills in C#, TypeScript, Java, Python, Go, or Kotlin are essential for success. You will collaborate with global teams, document architectures, and mentor engineers while balancing

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of professional software engineering experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience designing, building, and operating production software systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and build reusable platform capabilities, services, APIs, integrations, tooling, and automation.
• Apply modern engineering practices to deliver scalable, maintainable solutions.
• Contribute production‑quality code and support solutions through deployment and adoption.
• Improve developer workflows and platform usability with reusable components.
• Lead strategic engineering initiatives from scope to production delivery.
• Develop implementation plans and coordinate dependencies across teams.
• Partner with architectures and engineers to identify challenges and opportunities.
• Conduct discovery to clarify user needs, constraints, and success criteria.

Skills

C#

TypeScript

Java

Python

Go

Kotlin

Cross-team collaboration

Communication

Technical leadership

Education

BS in CS/Engineering

Tools

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

Azure DevOps

Temporal

Job description

Position Summary

We are looking for a Lead Platform Engineer to improve the engineering experience across Guardian by identifying opportunities, partnering with engineering teams, and delivering reusable platform capabilities, solutions, and tooling. This role combines hands‑on software engineering, technical leadership, and cross‑functional collaboration to improve developer productivity, accelerate platform adoption, and reduce friction across the software development lifecycle. Operating across multiple initiatives and domains, you will partner with Engineering Experience leadership to drive work from discovery through delivery and scale engineering enablement across the organization. Success requires strong software engineering fundamentals, familiarity with AI‑assisted software development tools, excellent communication skills, and the ability to navigate ambiguity while driving technical work to completion.

You are

• A software engineer who has personally designed, built, and shipped production software.
• Comfortable working across multiple teams, technologies, and business domains.
• Able to take a defined initiative and independently drive discovery, planning, implementation, and delivery.
• A strong communicator who can build partnerships and influence technical decisions without direct authority.
• Curious and proactive when faced with ambiguous problems or incomplete requirements.
• Effective working with globally distributed teams across multiple time zones.
• Passionate about improving the developer experience through practical, scalable solutions.
• An advocate for pragmatic engineering practices that balance speed, quality, maintainability, and adoption.

You have

Required Qualifications

• 7–10 years of professional software engineering experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, and operating production software systems.
• Strong software development skills using technologies such as C#, TypeScript, Java, Python, Go, Kotlin, or similar languages.
• Experience building and supporting production services, APIs, integrations, and automation solutions.
• Proven ability to drive technical initiatives from requirements gathering through implementation and deployment.
• Experience collaborating across multiple engineering teams and organizational boundaries.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience creating technical documentation, implementation plans, and architectural designs.
• Experience working with globally distributed engineering teams.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in environments with evolving requirements and incomplete information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with developer experience, platform engineering, internal developer platforms, or engineering enablement initiatives.
• Experience with CI/CD platforms such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, or similar technologies.
• Experience with workflow orchestration platforms such as Temporal or similar technologies.
• Experience building integrations across enterprise platforms and services.
• Experience supporting adoption of engineering tools, frameworks, or organizational engineering practices.
• Familiarity with AI‑assisted software development tools and engineering productivity solutions.
• Experience designing and implementing metrics, reporting, or engineering intelligence solutions.

You will

Engineering Solution Delivery

• Design and build reusable platform capabilities, services, APIs, integrations, tooling, and automation.
• Apply appropriate architectural patterns and modern engineering practices to deliver scalable, maintainable solutions.
• Contribute production‑quality code and support solutions through deployment, operational readiness, and adoption.
• Improve developer workflows and platform usability through targeted technical solutions and reusable components.

Engineering Initiative Ownership

• Lead assigned strategic engineering initiatives from approved scope through production delivery.
• Develop implementation plans, sequence work into achievable phases, and coordinate dependencies across teams.
• Partner with application, platform, architecture, and engineering teams to identify challenges and opportunities.
• Conduct discovery to clarify user needs, stakeholders, constraints, dependencies, and success criteria.
• Translate engineering and business needs into solution requirements and technical recommendations.
• Build alignment on priorities and gather feedback to shape solutions and future improvements.

Technical Communication & Enablement

• Present technical recommendations, designs, and implementation approaches to engineers and stakeholders.
• Create clear documentation, implementation guides, onboarding materials, and reusable engineering patterns.
• Facilitate technical discussions and help teams navigate adoption of new capabilities.
• Communicate project status, risks, decisions, and outcomes effectively in both synchronous and asynchronous environments.
• Share lessons learned, best practices, and reusable approaches across teams.

Technical Leadership

• Mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and technical discussions.
• Promote engineering standards, best practices, and reusable patterns.
• Help establish scalable approaches for platform adoption and engineering enablement.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of engineering processes, tooling, and developer workflows.
• Support operational excellence through reliability, observability, documentation, and maintainability practices.

Reporting Relationships

As our Lead Platform Engineer, you will report to our Head of Engineering Experience and Platform, who reports to our Head of Engineering Enablement & Enterprise Architecture.

Location

This position requires working three days a week at a Guardian office in New York, NY; Holmdel, NJ; or Bethlehem, PA.

Travel

No regular travel is required for this position.

Salary Range

The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation.

Our Promise

At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals. Through skill‑building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.

Inspire Well-Being

As part of Guardian’s Purpose – to inspire well‑being – we are committed to offering contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources to our colleagues. Explore our company benefits at www.guardianlife.com/careers/corporate/benefits. Benefits apply to full‑time eligible employees. Interns are not eligible for most Company benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Guardian is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable law.

Accommodations

Guardian is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Guardian also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants (and employees) to accommodate the individual's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [e-mail]. Please note: this resource is for accommodation requests only. For all other inquires related to your application and careers at Guardian, refer to the Guardian Careers site.

Visa Sponsorship

Guardian Life is not currently or in the foreseeable future sponsoring employment‑based visas (e.g., such as an H‑1B). In order to be a successful applicant, you must be legally authorized to work in the United States, without the need for employer sponsorship/support now or at any time in the future.

Notice Regarding Guardian’s Use of Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment

As part of Guardian’s job application process, Guardian may use artificial intelligence tools (“AI Tools