Principal Platform Engineer

Ladders; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical, dental, and vis

401(k) retirement plan options

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flex

Life and AD&D insurance

Short- and Long-Term disability

Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO)

Employee Assistance and Wellness

Rewards and Recognition programs

Job summary

Ladders seeks a Principal Platform Engineer to guide architecture and evolution of core engineering platforms enabling reliable, secure, scalable operations. You will partner with engineering, infrastructure, and security to boost automation, observability, and delivery capabilities across the environment.

In this hands-on leadership role, you will influence technical direction, mentor the Platform Engineering team, and drive higher velocity and consistency across the software delivery

Qualifications

• 8+ years in technical roles with 2+ years in leadership.
• Extensive DevOps and Platform Engineering with end-to-end ownership.
• 5+ years using GitLab CI/CD and pipeline authoring.
• Automation experience with Python, Terraform and Ansible.
• 8+ years Linux/VM systems administration.
• Familiar with TCP/IP and SNMP networking.
• Hands-on with AI tooling related to AIOps.
• Proven team-building and performance management for 5+ engineers.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of high-availability automated platforms.
• Manage and mentor the Platform Engineering team, owning technical roadmaps.
• Plan and operate an OpenTelemetry observability platform using a range of technologies.
• Build an automated federated observability edge stack with site-specific configurations.
• Design engineering lifecycle platforms for secure high-velocity SDLC processes.
• Develop and operate infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD pipelines for provisioning and deployment.
• Establish security protocols for platform technologies, ensuring compliance.

Skills

DevOps leadership

GitLab CI/CD

Automation: Python

Terraform/Ansible

Linux/VM admin

Networking TCP/IP

AIOps tooling

Team leadership

Tools

GitLab CI/CD

Terraform

Ansible

Python

OpenTelemetry

Linux

Job description

For our client, we are seeking a Principal Platform Engineer to join the team of a leader in the Information Technology space. This role will guide the architecture and evolution of core engineering platforms that support reliable, secure, and scalable operations. The Principal Platform Engineer will partner closely with engineering, infrastructure, and security stakeholders to strengthen automation, observability, and delivery capabilities across the environment. In this hands‑on leadership role, you will influence technical direction, mentor the Platform Engineering team, and help drive higher velocity and consistency across the software delivery lifecycle.

Location: Remote - US based candidates only, no visa sponsorship available

Compensation: $180,000 – $210,000 annually

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of high-availability automated platforms
• Manage and mentor the Platform Engineering team, owning technical roadmaps
• Plan and operate an OpenTelemetry observability platform using a range of technologies
• Build an automated federated observability edge stack with site‑specific configurations
• Design engineering lifecycle platforms for secure high‑velocity SDLC processes
• Develop and operate infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD pipelines for provisioning and deployment
• Establish security protocols for platform technologies, ensuring compliance

Qualifications

• 8+ years in technical roles, with 2+ years in management or principal-level leadership
• Extensive DevOps and Platform Engineering experience with end-to-end ownership of developer and infrastructure platforms
• Proficient in GitOps and CI/CD with 5+ years using GitLab CI/CD and pipeline authoring
• Expert in automation frameworks, particularly Python, Terraform, and Ansible
• Solid background in Linux and VM systems administration, with 8+ years of experience
• Familiarity with networking protocols, including TCP/IP and SNMP, for 3+ years
• Understanding of AI tooling related to AIOps, with at least 1 year of hands‑on experience
• Proven experience in team building and performance management for teams of 5+ engineers

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan options
• Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Access to Life and AD&D insurance
• Short- and Long-Term disability protections
• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policies
• Employee Assistance and Wellness programs
• Rewards and Recognition programs

Our client is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every qualification—your background could be exactly what this team needs.