Staff Platform Engineer

OpenKrill; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Focus is a fully remote digital services firm delivering civic tech solutions and platform enablement for U.S. government programs.

We seek a Staff Platform Engineer to design, evolve, and govern internal enterprise platforms that accelerate delivery, improve deployment safety, and ensure operational reliability across multi-vendor systems used by federal and state agencies. You will drive enterprise observability, automated CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code, and compliance automation,

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional experience developing full-stack applications and tooling with TypeScript and Python.
• Experience writing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and using infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform.
• Experience designing complex systems interacting with multiple external services, databases, and third-party APIs.
• Proven ability to work in cross-functional agile teams and communicate technical updates to stakeholders.
• Familiarity with AWS GovCloud, FedRAMP, and observability tooling.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and maintain scalable end-to-end automated UI and API test suites using Playwright and TypeScript across product verticals.
• Design automated data generation tools and synthetic applicant profiles using Python and REST APIs.
• Develop front-end tools in React and TypeScript for vendor and government stakeholders to generate test scenarios and monitor pipelines.
• Construct and optimize CI/CD pipelines to support quality gates and feature-driven promotion.
• Create reusable engineering patterns, self-service capabilities, and starter kits for rapid platform adoption.
• Provide code reviews, mentorship, and establish team development patterns for quality.

Skills

TypeScript

Python

CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

Terraform

AWS GovCloud

FedRAMP

Observability

Cross-functional teams

Governance

Tools

Terraform

DataDog

Job description

ABOUT FOCUS

Focus https://focusconsulting.io/ is a digital services firm dedicated to delivering on projects with impact in the civic tech space. We partner with states and federal agencies—including the Department of State, IRS, and the Department of Education—transform outdated systems into modern, efficient solutions that deliver better outcomes for citizens.

At Focus, we believe in doing impactful work while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. We encourage our team to log off at the end of the day, take time off when needed, and bring their best selves to work. We are intentional about staying on the cutting edge of our tooling and practices—from modern cloud development environments to integrating AI into our daily workflows—so our engineers spend their time solving hard problems, not fighting dull tools.

We are a fully remote company, and all employees must be based in the continental U.S. Some projects may require occasional travel, approximately 1-2 times per year.

ROLE OVERVIEW

As a Staff Platform Engineer, you will serve as a hands-on technical leader you will design, evolve, and govern internal enterprise platforms that accelerate delivery speed, deployment safety, and operational reliability across complex, multi-vendor systems supporting tens of millions of American students and borrowers.

You will drive enterprise observability, automated CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code, and compliance automation. You will act as a platform enablement authority, reducing operational toil, standardizing environment configurations, and preventing architectural fragmentation across dozens of vendors and integrated business applications.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Architect, build, and maintain scalable end-to-end (E2E) automated UI and API test suites using Playwright and TypeScript across multiple product verticals.
• Design and build automated data generation tools and synthetic applicant profile generators using Python and REST APIs to replace manual data setup processes.
• Develop user-friendly front-end tools in React and TypeScript that enable external vendor teams and government stakeholders to generate test scenarios on demand and monitor pipeline status.
• Construct, maintain, and optimize CI/CD pipelines to support quality gates and feature-driven promotion practices.
• Build reusable engineering patterns, self-service platform capabilities, CLI utilities, and starter kits that allow application teams to adopt platform tools with minimal direct intervention.
• Provide actionable feedback through thorough code reviews and 1:1 mentorship, bake high code quality standards into deliverables, and help set team development patterns.
• Serve as a trusted technical liaison to client leads and external vendor teams, advocating for developer self-service, smooth release gatekeeping, and collaborative troubleshooting.
• Support cloud infrastructure updates using Terraform, embed automated security scanning, and navigate continuous compliance processes in a FedRAMP/Public Trust environment.

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years of professional experience developing full-stack applications and tooling using TypeScript and Python.
• Practical experience writing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and leveraging infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform.
• Experience designing complex systems that interact with multiple external services, databases, and third-party APIs.
• Proven experience working on cross-functional agile teams, estimating complex engineering tasks, and directly communicating technical updates to client stakeholders.
• Strong diagnostic skills for troubleshooting complex, distributed multi-vendor application failures and microservices.
• Prior experience working on federal government digital service projects or civic tech programs.
• Familiarity with AWS GovCloud environments, FedRAMP compliance standards, and observability tooling such as DataDog.
• Experience implementing synthetic test data generators or complex mock data services for enterprise integrations.

REQUIREMENTS

• Legal authorization to work in the United States
• Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired
• Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future
• May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract