Principal Platform Engineer (DevOps)

IDEXX; Westbrook (ME); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health/Dental/Vision Benefits

5% matching 401k

Annual cash bonus

Employee stock program

Mental health resources

Job summary

IDEXX is seeking a Principal Platform Engineer to enhance their internal developer platforms. This role will involve deep technical ownership of AWS, GitHub, Terraform, and more, alongside mentoring other engineers. The ideal candidate will possess 8+ years in DevOps, with expertise in cloud technologies and a strong foundation in Python.

Competitive salary ranging from $120,000 to $140,000, with various benefits including health coverage, 401k matching, and opportunities for professional growth.

Qualifications

• Experience with AWS Organizations, SCP strategy, account governance.
• Proficiency in Terraform and CloudFormation.
• Ability to mentor and guide engineers in a collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and architecture of platform capabilities.
• Provide mentorship and technical guidance to engineers.
• Drive architectural discussions and backlog refinement.

Skills

AWS Organizations

CloudFormation

Terraform

Python

GitHub Enterprise

Mentorship

Agile collaboration

Education

8+ years in platform engineering or DevOps

Tools

AWS Control Tower

CloudFormation StackSets

JFrog Artifactory

Job description

IDEXX DevOps contributes to the success of IDEXX employees and customers by providing scalable, innovative solutions and technical leadership. Our PAWS (Productivity Automation Workflow Solutions) team builds and operates the internal developer platforms that IDEXX software teams rely on every day — so that engineers across the company can ship faster, safer, and with confidence.

In this role

As a Principal Platform Engineer (DevOps), you bring deep technical ownership to IDEXX’s internal developer platforms — shaping the direction of our AWS, GitHub Enterprise, Terraform Cloud, and JFrog Artifactory environments alongside a close-knit agile team. You lead from within the team: writing production Python, mentoring engineers, driving technical decisions, and solving the most complex cross-team platform challenges. You are the go-to person for the hardest problems, the most ambiguous requirements, and the broadest platform questions — and you make the engineers around you better in the process.

Platform Development & Technical Leadership

• Own the design and architecture of platform capabilities across AWS Organizations, GitHub Enterprise, Terraform Cloud, and JFrog Artifactory — balancing developer experience with security and compliance requirements.
• Architect and implement complex AWS Organizations structures: multi-account governance, secure account configuration, SCP strategy, permission boundaries, and account vending pipelines that scale with IDEXX’s growth.
• Lead the design of GitHub Enterprise configurations, policies, and automation — ensuring the platform is both highly usable for developers and meets InfoSec and Compliance standards.
• Define Terraform Cloud platform standards: workspace architecture, Sentinel policy frameworks, module registry strategy, and state management patterns.
• Support engineering teams in adopting secure artifact and dependency hosting within JFrog Artifactory
• Write and review production-quality Python — setting the standard for code quality, testing practices, and maintainability on the team.
• Lead and participate in pair programming and code review; your engagement elevates the quality and design thinking of the whole team.
• Identify platform gaps and technical debt and drive initiatives to address them through the backlog and sprint process.

You Will Be a Mentor, Fostering Team Growth

• Mentor and coach Senior and mid-level Platform Engineers — providing technical guidance, code feedback, and career development support.
• Model collaborative engineering practices: pairing, documentation, incremental delivery, and open communication.
• Help onboard new team members and accelerate their ramp-up on platform tooling, codebases, and team norms.

You Will Have Agile Team Participation

• Partner closely with the Platform Lead Engineer and Platform Agile Practitioner to shape backlog refinement, define acceptance criteria for complex work, and ensure technical clarity before work enters a sprint.
• Collaborate with the Platform Engineering Manager and Platform Product Owner to influence prioritization of technically complex or high-impact work.
• Drive architectural discussions and lightweight design reviews within the team sprint cycle — keeping the team moving without creating heavyweight process.
• Break down ambiguous, cross-team platform problems into well-scoped deliverables.

You Will Engage With Internal Customer Partnerships

• Engage with senior engineers and technical leads across IDEXX’s software and DevOps teams to understand complex, cross-cutting platform requirements.
• NaviGate competing customer needs and make principled trade-offs between developer experience, security posture, and platform complexity.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor to internal teams on platform capabilities, patterns, and best practices.

What You Need To Succeed

• 8+ years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps, or infrastructure software engineering, with demonstrated growth in scope and ownership over time.
• Subject matter expertise in CloudFormation and Terraform
• Fluency in Python — you write it fluently, review it critically, and set the standard for quality and design on the team.
• Deep expertise with AWS Organizations: SCP strategy, account governance, landing zone design (Control Tower or equivalent), and multi-account security architecture.
• Advanced GitHub Enterprise administration experience: organization-wide policy design, GitHub Actions at scale, security configuration, and API-driven automation.
• Strong Terraform Cloud expertise: workspace and state architecture, Sentinel policy framework design, module publishing, and governance patterns.
• A track record of mentoring or growing other engineers — technically and professionally.
• Proven ability to handle ambiguous, cross-team problems independently and drive them to clear, well-implemented solutions.
• Strong agile collaboration skills: you know how to work within a sprint team, shape a backlog, and deliver iteratively without losing sight of long-term platform health.
• Excellent communication skills — you can engage confidently with engineers, managers, InfoSec, and Compliance teams alike.
• A collaborative mindset by default — you don’t go it alone, and you don’t let others go it alone either.

Nice to Have

• Experience with native AWS management tools, such as AWS Control Tower, AWS Config, or AWS Security Hub at an organizational scale.
• Experience using CloudFormation StackSets to distribute standardized resource configurations
• Experience designing policy-as-code frameworks using Sentinel or OPA/Rego.
• Experience with identity federation principals in enterprise environments to support single sign-on access, including working knowledge of Entra ID (formerly Azure AD)
• Experience with developer portal or internal tooling frameworks (e.g., Backstage, AWS Service Catalog).
• AWS professional or specialty certification.
• Background working in regulated industries (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP, or similar).
• Experience contributing to or influencing engineering standards across a broader organization.

Technologies You’ll Work With

Amazon Web Services and AWS Organizations (SCPs, IAM, Control Tower), GitHub Enterprise, Terraform Cloud, JFrog Artifactory, Python, CloudFormation, Git

Location

We prefer you to be driving distance to our Westbrook, Maine Headquarters where we require a flexible hybrid 8 days per month on-site. Alternatively, we are also open to those in NH or MA who can visit the HQ less frequently.

What You Can Expect From Us

• Base annual salary target: $120000 - $140000 (yes, we do have flexibility if needed)
• Opportunity for annual cash bonus
• Health / Dental / Vision Benefits Day-One
• 5% matching 401k
• Additional benefits including but not limited to financial support, pet insurance, mental health resources, volunteer paid days off, employee stock program, foundation donation matching, and much more!

Why IDEXX?

We’re proud of the work we do, because our work matters. An innovation leader in every industry we serve, we follow our Purpose and Guiding Principles to help pet owners worldwide keep their companion animals healthy and happy, to ensure safe drinking water for billions, and to help farmers protect livestock and poultry from diseases. We have customers in over 175 countries and a global workforce of over 10,000 talented people.

So, what does that mean for you? We enrich the livelihoods of our employees with a positive and respectful work culture that embraces challenges and encourages learning and discovery. At IDEXX, you will be supported by competitive compensation, incentives, and benefits while enjoying purposeful work that drives improvement.

Let’s pursue what matters together.

IDEXX values a diverse workforce and workplace and strongly encourages women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign‑born residents, and veterans to apply.

IDEXX is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, citizenship status, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, or any protected category prohibited by local, state, or federal laws.