Principal Platform Engineer

As a Principal Platform Engineer at CityFibre, your responsibilities will include providing technical leadership, overseeing the design and development of DevOps systems, and guiding the architectural direction of our AWS infrastructure. You'll manage a variety of technologies within the Platform Release Train and collaborate closely with the SecOps team to implement security measures. You’ll also create and maintain essential documentation, mentor junior engineers, and work with vendors to onboard solutions.

The ideal candidate for the Principal Platform Engineer role at CityFibre will have substantial experience managing public cloud platforms, extensive knowledge in diagnosing and administrating Kafka brokers, and expertise in microservices, containers, and container orchestration. Familiarity with event-driven architecture will also be crucial for success in this position.

CityFibre is proud to be a Times Top 50 Employer for Gender Equality and actively promotes diversity, inclusion, and belonging. The company is committed to creating a supportive culture where every employee’s voice is heard. We invite applicants from all backgrounds, and provide reasonable adjustments in the hiring process to ensure everyone has the opportunity to succeed.

At CityFibre, a Principal Platform Engineer is expected to have significant opportunities for career growth. With the company's focus on mentorship and professional development, you'll have access to tools and resources that foster continuous learning, enable you to lead projects, and develop your skills within a growing organization.

CityFibre offers a comprehensive benefits package to its Principal Platform Engineers which includes a competitive salary, a performance-related bonus, 25 days of annual leave plus additional days off for special occasions like your birthday. Additional benefits focus on wellbeing, including private medical insurance and flexible family-friendly policies.

In answering this question, highlight specific projects you’ve worked on that involved AWS infrastructure. Discuss your role in managing cloud services, any challenges you faced, and how you ensured efficiency, security, and scalability in those projects.

When responding to this question, share specific examples of mentoring tactics you've employed, like regular check-ins, pairing them with more experienced colleagues, or providing constructive feedback. Illustrate how you believe mentorship fosters professional growth and technical proficiency.

You should address your approach to security by mentioning specific practices you've implemented, such as incorporating security in CI/CD processes, regular auditing, and collaboration with SecOps teams. Emphasize your commitment to maintaining security protocols to protect data.

Be prepared to discuss the specific microservices architectures you’ve developed or worked with. Highlight any tools you’ve used for container orchestration like Kubernetes, and discuss how these technologies improved system reliability and deployment speed.

Talk about real-world challenges you've encountered, such as scaling issues or cost management. Discuss the strategies you employed to navigate these challenges, like optimizing configurations or benchmarking performance metrics.

This is your chance to show passion for ongoing learning. Share how you engage with industry resources like webinars, online courses, tech blogs, or community groups. Mention any specific technologies or trends you're currently exploring.

Talk about the importance of thorough documentation in your work. You could mention your systematic approach to creating documentation, ensuring clarity and accessibility, and how it aids in knowledge transfer and team efficiencies.

Explain the metrics you use to gauge success, such as deployment frequency, lead time for changes, or change failure rate. Share examples of how you've used these metrics to drive improvements in your previous roles.

Highlight the significance of teamwork in your position. Describe how you foster collaboration across teams, and share examples of successful projects that thrived through interdepartmental cooperation.

Discuss your strategies for managing vendor relationships, including setting clear requirements, maintaining open communication for feedback and updates, and your approach to integrating their solutions into existing workflows effectively.