Senior Engineer, Internal Developer Platform

About the role

The role is responsible for designing, building, and operating cloud platform and DevOps capabilities across AWS and GCP. The engineer will enable reliable, secure, and scalable delivery by developing Kubernetes and Infrastructure-as-Code foundations, building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, and driving automation, observability, and operational best practices across engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Proven experience in designing, implementing, and managing an internal developer portal, preferably with Backstage.io.
• Create and maintain software templates using Backstage's Scaffolder to standardize project creation and enforce best practices.
• Expertise in developing custom Backstage plugins and customizing the platform using TypeScript, Node.js, and React to meet the unique needs of our developers.
• Experience configuring and managing the Backstage Software Catalog to provide a unified view of services, documentation, and tooling.
• Extensive experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, GCP) and familiarity with the other.
• This includes expertise in core services like VPC, IAM, S3, and managed Kubernetes (EKS, GKE).
• Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and hands-on experience with tools like Terraform to automate the provisioning and management of cloud resources.
• Experience with Crossplane.io to manage cloud services and infrastructure through a unified, Kubernetes-native API.
• A strong scripting and automation skill set using languages like Python, Go, or Bash.
• A solid understanding of containerization technologies, including Docker and Kubernetes, and their ecosystems.
• Solid experience with CI/CD principles and proficiency in building and maintaining pipelines using GitLab CI/CD.
• Experience integrating various tools into CI/CD pipelines to automate builds, testing, and deployments.
• Proficiency in managing software artifacts and dependencies using JFrog Artifactory.
• A proactive approach to identifying and resolving platform issues before they impact developers.
• A methodical approach to problem-solving.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, TypeScript, and JavaScript.
• Experience with web development fundamentals and API design (REST, GraphQL).
• A solid understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) best practices, including version control with Git.
• Demonstrated experience delivering and operating cloud platforms in both AWS and GCP, including core services for compute, storage, networking, IAM, and managed Kubernetes.
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, and operating Kubernetes platforms and tooling (e.g., cluster lifecycle, upgrades, workload onboarding patterns, ingress, service discovery, secrets/config management).
• Demonstrated experience with Infrastructure as Code and reusable module patterns across cloud providers (e.g., Terraform; CloudFormation as needed), including pipeline integration, versioning, and promotion strategies.
• Demonstrated experience with CI/CD tooling and practices (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Bitbucket pipelines), including build/test/release automation, artifact management, and environment deployment strategies.
• Demonstrated experience with GitOps and deployment automation patterns (e.g., Argo CD/Flux where applicable) for Kubernetes and cloud workloads.
• Demonstrated experience with observability and operational practices (monitoring/alerting, centralized logging, tracing, dashboards, on-call readiness, incident response, runbooks).
• Demonstrated experience applying SRE/operational metrics and reliability practices (SLIs/SLOs, error budgets, capacity/performance considerations).
• Demonstrated systems and network fundamentals for cloud environments (VPC/VNet design, DNS, routing, load balancing, proxies/firewalls, certificate/TLS basics).
• Demonstrated programming/scripting capability in one or more of: Python, Go, Java, Shell/Bash; strong Linux fundamentals.
• Demonstrated experience integrating services and tools through APIs and secure communication patterns across applications, databases, and platforms.
• Demonstrated knowledge of DevSecOps practices (secrets management, vulnerability scanning, least privilege, supply-chain controls such as signing/SBOM where applicable, and automated policy enforcement).

Requirements

To ensure a strong start, all employees participate in our New Employee Orientation during their first week. This experience is held in person at our Madison, WI Headquarters or one of our AmFam core locations to help you connect with our mission, meet key team members and build relationships that support your growth.

Qualifications

• Developer Experience (DevX) & Backstage Development: Proven experience in designing, implementing, and managing an internal developer portal, preferably with Backstage.io.
• Expertise in developing custom Backstage plugins and customizing the platform using TypeScript, Node.js, and React to meet the unique needs of our developers.
• Experience configuring and managing the Backstage Software Catalog to provide a unified view of services, documentation, and tooling.
• Cloud And Infrastructure Management: Extensive experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, GCP) and familiarity with the other.
• This includes expertise in core services like VPC, IAM, S3, and managed Kubernetes (EKS, GKE).
• Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and hands-on experience with tools like Terraform to automate the provisioning and management of cloud resources.
• Experience with Crossplane.io to manage cloud services and infrastructure through a unified, Kubernetes-native API.
• A strong scripting and automation skill set using languages like Python, Go, or Bash.
• CI/CD & DevOps Mindset: Solid experience with CI/CD principles and proficiency in building and maintaining pipelines using GitLab CI/CD.
• Experience integrating various tools into CI/CD pipelines to automate builds, testing, and deployments.
• Proficiency in managing software artifacts and dependencies using JFrog Artifactory.
• A proactive approach to identifying and resolving platform issues before they impact developers.
• A methodical approach to problem-solving.
• Software Development Fundamentals: Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, TypeScript, and JavaScript.
• Experience with web development fundamentals and API design (REST, GraphQL).
• A solid understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) best practices, including version control with Git.
• Demonstrated knowledge of modern SDLC practices and operating models (e.g., Agile, product-based teams, platform-as-a-product).
• Demonstrated experience delivering and operating cloud platforms in both AWS and GCP, including core services for compute, storage, networking, IAM, and managed Kubernetes.
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, and operating Kubernetes platforms and tooling (e.g., cluster lifecycle, upgrades, workload onboarding patterns, ingress, service discovery, secrets/config management).
• Demonstrated experience with Infrastructure as Code and reusable module patterns across cloud providers (e.g., Terraform; CloudFormation as needed), including pipeline integration, versioning, and promotion strategies.
• Demonstrated experience with CI/CD tooling and practices (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Bitbucket pipelines), including build/test/release automation, artifact management, and environment deployment strategies.
• Demonstrated experience with GitOps and deployment automation patterns (e.g., Argo CD/Flux where applicable) for Kubernetes and cloud workloads.
• Demonstrated experience with observability and operational practices (monitoring/alerting, centralized logging, tracing, dashboards, on-call readiness, incident response, runbooks).
• Demonstrated experience applying SRE/operational metrics and reliability practices (SLIs/SLOs, error budgets, capacity/performance considerations).
• Demonstrated systems and network fundamentals for cloud environments (VPC/VNet design, DNS, routing, load balancing, proxies/firewalls, certificate/TLS basics).
• Demonstrated programming/scripting capability in one or more of: Python, Go, Java, Shell/Bash; strong Linux fundamentals.
• Demonstrated experience integrating services and tools through APIs and secure communication patterns across applications, databases, and platforms.
• Demonstrated knowledge of DevSecOps practices (secrets management, vulnerability scanning, least privilege, supply-chain controls such as signing/SBOM where applicable, and automated policy enforcement).