[Hiring] Senior Platform Engineer @Howden

Role Description

The Senior Platform Engineer builds and runs the Azure platform that Howden's US AI and data workloads sit on. This is a hands-on engineering role: you will design, code, and operate the landing zones, the data platform, the AI runtime services, and the networking, identity, and security controls that let engineering teams ship AI capability safely and quickly.

• The scope spans three connected layers:
• The Azure foundation: subscriptions, landing zones, networking, private connectivity, identity, and policy, all expressed as Terraform.
• The data platform: Databricks, Lakehouse storage, Unity Catalog, ingestion and orchestration, and the governed data products that AI systems consume.
• The AI platform: Azure AI Foundry, the AI Gateway, agent runtime and hosting, model deployment and quota management, and the control surfaces such as Microsoft Agent 365 and the agent registry that make agent estates visible and governable.

You will work from architecture direction set by the Leads, Group Architecture, and InfoSec, and you will own the implementation end to end. Expect to spend most of your time in Terraform, in pipelines, and in Azure, with a heavy emphasis on agent-assisted development: using coding agents and AI development tooling to move faster than a conventional infrastructure pace and knowing when to trust the output and when to rewrite it.

This role is self-directed. You will be handed an outcome and a rough shape, and you are expected to break it down, sequence it, unblock yourself, and deliver production-quality work collaborating with other team members.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• 6+ years of professional experience in cloud platform, infrastructure, or data engineering, including 3+ years building and operating production workloads on Azure.
• Deep hands-on Azure experience across compute, storage, networking, identity, and integration services, with production ownership rather than project exposure.
• Strong Terraform experience provisioning Azure infrastructure at scale: modules, state management, multi-environment workflows, versioning, and drift management.
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing Azure networking and connectivity: hub-and-spoke, VNets, private endpoints and Private Link, DNS, firewalls, and NSGs.
• Hands-on Azure security and identity experience: Entra ID, managed identities and service principals, RBAC design, Key Vault, encryption, and secure connectivity patterns.
• Production experience with Azure data platform tooling, including Databricks and at least one of Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric, or Synapse, covering ingestion, transformation, orchestration, and cost management.
• Working experience with lakehouse and Delta patterns, data modelling, and strong SQL, plus hands-on work with both structured and unstructured enterprise data.
• Production experience with Azure AI services such as Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI Service, or Azure AI Search, including deployment, quota, and access management.
• Strong scripting and automation ability in Python, plus PowerShell or Bash, and comfort reading and contributing to application code.
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or GitLab, including approval gates and automated testing.
• Working experience with containers and cloud-native deployment patterns: Docker, serverless functions, and managed container services such as Container Apps or AKS.
• Experience instrumenting and supporting production systems with Azure Monitor, Application Insights, or comparable observability tooling, and owning cost visibility for the platform you run.
• Solid engineering fundamentals: Git workflow, code review, automated testing, debugging, and writing code other engineers can maintain.
• Practical daily use of AI coding assistants or coding agents in a professional engineering workflow.
• Demonstrated ability to take an outcome and deliver it independently, breaking down the work and resolving blockers without close direction.
• Experience contributing to architecture and technical trade-off discussions, presenting options and recommendations to architects, security, or engineering leadership.
• Clear written and verbal communication with technical and non-technical colleagues.

Requirements

• Microsoft Azure certifications (Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Administrator, DevOps Engineer Expert, AI Engineer Associate, or Data Engineer Associate) or comparable cloud credentials.
• Databricks certification and experience with Unity Catalog, cluster policies, and workspace governance at enterprise scale.
• Hands-on experience with AI gateway patterns: Azure API Management AI Gateway, model routing, token-based throttling, semantic caching, and chargeback models.
• Experience with Microsoft Agent 365, Entra Agent ID, or comparable agent identity, inventory, and lifecycle tooling.
• Experience with agent runtimes and orchestration frameworks such as Azure AI Agent Service, Semantic Kernel, LangGraph, or AutoGen, and with Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and tool integration.
• Experience with data governance tooling such as Microsoft Purview, including classification, lineage, and access policy.
• Experience with Azure landing zone frameworks, Azure Policy as code, and enterprise-scale governance in a multi-subscription estate.
• Experience with Kubernetes at production scale, including networking, scaling, and workload identity.
• Experience with ServiceNow or comparable ITSM and GRC integration for change, approval, and CMDB workflows.
• Experience working to a defined SDLC or AI governance framework, and with regulatory regimes such as SOX, GDPR, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, or the EU AI Act.
• Familiarity with Azure integration services: API Management, Logic Apps, Service Bus, Event Hubs.
• Background in insurance, financial services, or another regulated industry.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, including healthcare savings and reimbursement accounts.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Flexible Paid Time Off and paid parental leave.
• Life and Disability insurance.