Lead Software Engineer, Platform Engineering

United States Digital Space LLC; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Klaviyos is seeking a Lead Software Engineer for the Platform Engineering team in Boston to set technical direction for core platform services and to stay hands-on with the systems you build.

You will lead cross-team initiatives, own the design and evolution of platform primitives, and drive cost-efficiency while mentoring engineers and guiding on-call practices.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems.
• Hands-on production software development in Python and/or Go.
• Experience in cloud-native environments with infrastructure as code (Terraform) and Kubernetes.
• Strong Linux networking fundamentals; capable of debugging production systems.
• Experience across platform domains such as API gateways, observability, or database/storage.
• Ability to own the full lifecycle of cross-team platform initiatives.
• Mentor engineers and influence technical direction beyond the team.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; RFCs and design docs.

Responsibilities

• Build a deep understanding of engineering needs to design platform primitives (infrastructure, databases, queuing) balancing vision with product needs.
• Set the technical vision and multi-year roadmap for core platform services.
• Own design, development, and evolution of foundational platform primitives.
• Lead cross-team initiatives to improve availability, scalability, latency, and cost-efficiency.
• Identify architectural gaps and lead solutions; drive on-call reliability.
• Leverage Python, Go, AWS, and Kubernetes; collaborate with security and product leaders.
• Champion best practices like design reviews, infrastructure as code, and defensive programming.
• Drive cost-optimization via right-sizing and tooling, mentor engineers, and support career growth.
• Participate in on-call and root-cause analyses to prevent recurrence; explore AI tooling where appropriate.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Python

Go

Cloud-native

Infrastructure as code

Kubernetes

AWS

Linux networking

Mentoring

On-call / incident response

Technical communication

Education

BA or BS in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

AWS

MySQL / Redis

RabbitMQ / Kafka

Job description

At the company, we value the unique backgrounds, experiences and perspectives each the company (we call ourselves Klaviyos) brings to our workplace each and every day. We believe everyone deserves a fair shot at success and appreciate the experiences each person brings beyond the traditional job requirements.

Team Overview

The mission of the Platform Engineering team is to provide the infrastructure primitives, platforms, tooling, and guidance that let every engineering team at the company build, ship, and operate with confidence. We own the paved path for how product teams manage their services, applications, and data — spanning core infrastructure, observability, databases, and queuing.

As a Lead Software Engineer on the Platform Engineering team, you will set technical direction for our core platform services, ensuring our platform primitives scale with the company’s growth while remaining simple, reliable, and cost‑efficient for the teams that depend on them. Your work will be highly visible and will directly shape how thousands of the company engineers build and ship products every day.

How you’ll make an impact

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across the Platform Engineering org while remaining hands‑on with the systems you build. You will:

• Build a deep understanding of engineering needs across the organization, guiding the design and development of the right platform primitives (infrastructure, databases, queuing, and more) and balancing the platform’s vision with the practical needs of product teams

• Set the technical vision and long‑term roadmap for core platform services, translating organizational priorities into a clear, multi‑year plan

• Own the design, development, and evolution of foundational platform primitives that product teams rely on to ship quickly and safely

• Lead cross‑team initiatives that improve the availability, scalability, latency, and cost‑efficiency of the company’s core platforms, and drive adoption of the resulting paved paths

• Identify systemic gaps and architectural bottlenecks, and lead the design and delivery of solutions

• Leverage technologies such as Python, Go, AWS, and Kubernetes to advance the platform, partnering closely with security, and product engineering leaders

• Champion best practices across the organization, including technical design review, configuration as code, and defensive programming

• Drive cost‑optimization efforts across the platform — right‑sizing infrastructure, improving resource utilization, and building the tooling and guardrails that make cost‑efficiency the default

• Mentor senior and mid‑level engineers, raising the bar for technical quality and engineering craft across the Platform Engineering org

• Participate in and help evolve on‑call practices, with a focus on solving issues at the root, preventing recurrence, and minimizing alert fatigue

• You’ve already experimented with AI in work or personal projects, and you’re excited to dive in and learn fast. You’re hungry to responsibly explore new AI tools and workflows, finding ways to make your work smarter and more efficient.

Who you are

• BA or BS degree in Computer Science, related field, or equivalent experience

• 10+ years of experience designing, building, and operating large‑scale distributed systems, with a track record of technical leadership

• Deep, hands‑on experience developing production software in Python and/or Go

• Extensive experience working in cloud‑native environments, with hands‑on ownership of infrastructure as code (e.g. Terraform) and containerized platforms (e.g. Kubernetes)

• Fundamental understanding of Linux and all layers of the networking stack; comfortable administering and debugging production systems

• Experience across a range of platform‑related domains such as API gateways & traffic management, observability, asynchronous processing, or database/storage platforms

• Proven ability to independently own the full lifecycle of complex, cross‑team platform initiatives — from discovery and technical design through rollout and long‑term maintenance

• Strong track record of mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction beyond your immediate team

• Excellent communicator who writes clear technical design docs and RFCs, and keeps stakeholders aligned on progress, risk, and trade‑offs

• Comfortable handling complex systems in outage situations and driving failures to root cause and resolution

Nice to have

• Familiarity with high‑volume data processing and storage systems, including OLTP and OLAP databases

• Experience with large‑scale data ecosystems — e.g., ClickHouse, DynamoDB, MySQL, Kafka, Spark, Flink, Iceberg, or Airflow

• Background in internal tooling or paved‑path platform design

Tech Stack

The company’s platform is primarily built with Python and React and runs on AWS. Engineers join us from a wide range of technical backgrounds and are supported in learning our stack.

Core technologies include:

• Python / Django / FastAPI / Go

• MySQL / Redis / Memcached

• RabbitMQ / Celery / Apache Kafka / Apache Pulsar

• AWS / Terraform / Kubernetes

Location & Work Model

This role is based in Boston, Massachusetts. the company supports work authorization and relocation for this position.

At the company, we enjoy tackling meaningful engineering challenges and value people who take ownership, learn continuously, and collaborate openly. We are committed to building inclusive teams and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

The company is growing fast and we have openings for all skill levels across all of our teams. Learn more about our engineering culture at the company.tech.

Massachusetts Applicants: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Our salary range reflects the cost of labor across various U.S. geographic markets. The range displayed below reflects the minimum and maximum target salaries for the position across all our US locations. The base salary offered for this position is determined by several factors, including the applicant’s job‑related skills, relevant experience, education or training, and work location.

In addition to base salary, our total compensation package may include participation in the company’s annual cash bonus plan, variable compensation (OTE) for sales and customer success roles, equity, sign‑on payments, and a comprehensive range of health, welfare, and wellbeing benefits based on eligibility.