Lead Platform Engineer - Solutions

Kraken powers some of the most innovative global developments in energy. We create the technology that redefines utilities and unlocks a new energy system of the future. By optimising renewable generation, building a more intelligent grid, and empowering utilities to deliver an exceptional customer experience, our operating system is transforming the industry worldwide. It’s an incredibly exciting time to work in energy. Join us on our mission to improve the lives of one billion humans within the decade and shape a cleaner, better future for everyone.

About the role

Our Global Platform Engineering Solutions team builds custom integration solutions with our clients and automates the build of the main Kraken Customer application. As the Lead, you will manage people across the US and EU, as well as coordinate with your APAC counterpart, delivery management, and global Platform leadership to ensure a smooth process for just-in-time Kraken app delivery, champion automation, and solve unique client requirements to ensure networking, regulatory, data safety, and other needs are met.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership
  • Work closely with the APAC Solutions lead, Director, Heads of Platform Engineering and Client Engineering to define strategic objectives and team direction
  • Manage team priorities and ensure initiatives are completed within deadlines
  • Work with Client Engineering and pre-Sales teams to support client use cases and integrations, with a continuous improvement workstream to streamline and automate app builds
  • Provide production support for highly-available, large-scale internet-facing distributed systems
• People Management
  • Line manage 7-10 Platform Engineers in Solutions team across the US and EU, and co-manage the global, follow-the-sun team and pipeline to support new client infrastructure builds
  • Set clear performance expectations and regularly review individual and team performance, offering actionable insights and constructive feedback to support and grow team members
  • Lead a strong team culture with open communication, trust, and inclusive team environment
  • Participate in Platform Engineering leadership and org-wide efforts as well as setting high standards for team health, code hygiene, and ways of working
• Technical Delivery
  • Deliver technical improvements such as small features and bug fixes
  • Support team delivery through code reviews, technology research and architectural guidance

Requirements

• Excellent communication skills, with a focus on doing this asynchronously across multiple timezones and countries
• Demonstrable impact working effectively with developers, product managers and other business stakeholders to understand and deliver impactful projects or improve KPIs
• Record of successfully and consistently delivering critical path projects, on time and at scale
• Meticulous organisation and planning skills
• Experience of mentoring and coaching highly-autonomous teams
• Proficiency with AWS. We use a lot of different AWS services and including Amazon EKS in production
• Knowledge of Platform Engineering best-practices, including security, CI/CD tooling and methodologies

Skills

• Experience working on SaaS platforms, including engaging product teams to ensure up-skilling and knowledge sharing across teams
• Proactive, problem-solving orientation with an interest in continual improvement
• Prior experience in globally distributed teams

Technologies We Use

• Build platform tooling and automation primarily in Python and Django
• CI/CD pipelines in CircleCI; GitOps workflows using ArgoCD
• Kubernetes-based environments - we use Amazon EKS
• Terraform for IaC

Benefits

• Great medical, dental, and vision insurance options
• Paid time off — we know working hard means also being able to recharge as needed, we trust our employees to get the work done and take the time they need
• 401(k) plan with employer match
• Parental leave. Biological, adoptive and foster parents are all eligible
• Pre-tax commuter benefits
• Flexible working environment: you need to shift around your schedule? You do you, we genuinely believe in work/life balance
• Equity Options: every Kraken employee owns part of the business. We’re a team, working together towards huge goals. Every person is crucial to our success, you should be rewarded as such
• Modern office or co-working spaces depending on location

Pay

The salary range for this role ranges on average from $175,000 - $225,000 per year. Where you sit within this range will depend on your relevant experience.