Senior/Staff Platform Engineer

To be considered for the Senior/Staff Platform Engineer role at Playground, candidates should have a minimum of 5 years of experience in infrastructure, DevOps, or software engineering, particularly with deployment pipelines and system performance. Proficiency with modern deployment tools and CI/CD pipelines is essential, along with strong experience in Vite, monorepos, and optimizing frontend build tools. Familiarity with logging and monitoring solutions like Sentry or Google Cloud Monitoring, an understanding of security best practices, and excellent problem-solving skills are crucial for this role.

A Senior/Staff Platform Engineer at Playground is responsible for designing and maintaining the infrastructure that ensures our platform is scalable and secure. Key responsibilities include optimizing deployment pipelines, improving Vite configurations, maintaining a queryable logging system, and enhancing real-time service uptime monitoring. You will also work on internal developer tools to improve productivity and ensure compliance with security best practices, all while documenting processes and configurations clearly.

Playground offers a competitive salary and equity options, alongside a comprehensive benefits package that includes 3 weeks of PTO, health, vision, and dental plans. Additionally, there is a $1200/year education stipend and daily free lunches. The role also provides the opportunity to work in a collaborative environment with a high level of autonomy, promoting personal and professional growth.

Playground is committed to supporting its engineers through an annual education stipend of $1200, allowing employees to invest in their continuous learning and skill development. The collaborative culture at Playground also fosters knowledge sharing, mentorship opportunities, and the ability to work on impactful projects that enhance your career path while contributing to our mission.

The Senior/Staff Platform Engineer position at Playground is fully in-office in Union Square, NYC. Candidates should be open to this fully in-person role, as Playground emphasizes teamwork and collaboration in a vibrant office space, which is crucial for successfully driving our mission forward.

In your response, highlight specific projects where you've utilized Vite, mentioning the challenges faced and how you optimized build tool configurations for performance. Be prepared to discuss any metrics or improvements you noticed after implementing these optimizations.

Share a detailed example of a significant problem in your previous infrastructure work, including the steps you took to identify and resolve it. Focus on your thought process, the tools or methodologies you employed, and the outcome of your solution.

Discuss your approach to security in infrastructure projects. Include specific best practices you advocate for, tools you use to monitor compliance, and how you've implemented security measures in previous roles to safeguard deployments.

Explain any specific logging or monitoring solutions you’ve used, such as Sentry or Google Cloud Monitoring. Detail how these tools helped you troubleshoot and resolve issues effectively, and emphasize your systematic approach to debugging.

Provide an overview of your relevant experience with CI/CD tools like Jenkins or GitLab CI. Discuss a particular deployment strategy you've implemented, any challenges faced, and the benefits of your approach in ensuring smooth deployments and high system uptime.

Share your method for prioritization, including any frameworks or tools you use to keep track of projects. Provide an example of a time when you successfully managed competing priorities while ensuring project deliverables were met on time.

Elaborate on how you maintain documentation for configurations, processes, and best practices. Emphasize the importance of clear documentation and perhaps provide examples of tools you use to facilitate this practice, ensuring others can understand and follow your work.

Discuss a specific initiative or tool you implemented to enhance the developer experience. Detail the feedback you received from your team, any measurable benefits that resulted, and how it fostered a more efficient workflow.

Mention specific articles, journals, or online communities you engage with to stay informed about developments in infrastructure, DevOps, and software engineering. Highlight how this knowledge enhances your work and contributes to your team's success.

Share your personal connection or motivation for wanting to work in child care technology. Address what excites you about Playground's mission and how you envision your contributions making a positive impact in this sector.