Head of Platform Engineering

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As the Head of Platform Engineering, you will be responsible for designing, implementing, and operating a common platform that underpins our banking products and services. Your primary mission is to create a secure, compliant, and efficient environment for product engineers across multiple domains-including cloud infrastructure, shared services, mobile and web platforms, developer experience, security engineering, observability, and reliability. By leveraging both external best practices and in-house innovations, you will drive efficiencies and scalability as our operations grow.

Requirements

Platform Strategy & Leadership:

• Collaborate closely with the CTO and key stakeholders to co-create and align on a unified technical vision for a shared platform that empowers diverse product engineering teams.
• Evangelise platform best practices and ensure adoption across the Technology department.
• Lead and empower your team to be collectively recognised as the go-to experts in front-end (mobile and web), network, infrastructure, developer experience tools and security, both within the organisation and across cross-functional infrastructure guilds.

Design & Implementation:

• Own the shared platform vision implementation strategy.
• Architect and build a common platform integrating our mobile and web digital channels, public cloud infrastructure, third-party services, and proprietary in-house tools.
• Lead the design and evolution of public cloud networks to securely deliver banking services.
• Identify opportunities to introduce new shared services by evaluating external solutions and/or building custom in-house services.
• Champion, protect and evolve shared engineering culture.
• Maintain and evolve engineering principles and practises in line with Product engineering.

Security & Compliance:

• Oversee the implementation and continuous improvement of secure development tools and processes in line with the InfoSec roadmap.
• Ensure that the platform meets all relevant security and compliance standards, integrating industry best practices and automated security tooling (e.g., IAM, RBAC, SIEM, IaC scanning, IDS/IPS).

Operational Excellence:

• Own the maintenance and evolution of existing shared services, ensuring robust observability, reliability, and performance.
• Champion the automation and abstraction of infrastructure dependencies to streamline product delivery.
• Play a technical leadership role in the most complex and demanding projects, balancing strategic oversight with hands-on engineering involvement.

Team Leadership & Stakeholder Management:

• Recruit, mentor, and grow a high-performing organisation of platform and security engineers.
• Engage with senior stakeholders to manage demand, prioritise initiatives, and communicate technical architectures and roadmaps effectively to Executive and Director-level audiences.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that platform engineering efforts are aligned with broader organisational goals.

Strategic & Technical Leadership:

• Proven track record in designing, implementing, and operating cloud-based platforms at scale.
• Ability to define and communicate complex technical architectures and processes in a clear, accessible manner.
• Experience in both hands-on engineering and high-level strategic leadership, especially in environments with a "cloud-first" mindset.

Cloud & Infrastructure Expertise:

• Deep hands-on experience with AWS and GCP cloud services and a strong practical understanding of cloud-based infrastructure.
• Expertise in Infrastructure as Code (preferably Terraform), CI/CD pipelines, test-driven development, and automation tools.
• Familiarity with modern process automation, including event-driven and RESTful architectures.

Security & Compliance skills:

• Solid background in cloud security architecture, with practical experience deploying and automating security tools and processes.
• Ability to lead the implementation of secure development practices that align with organisational compliance requirements.
• Relevant network or security certifications (e.g., CSSP, AWS CSA, CSOA) are a plus.

Communication & Stakeholder Management:

• Demonstrated ability to manage senior stakeholders and build consensus across diverse teams.
• Skilled in presenting technical roadmaps and strategic initiatives to Executive and Director-level audiences.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a commitment to developing efficient, repeatable solutions to complex challenges.

About Our Process

We can be flexible with the structure of our interview process if someone's circumstances or timescales require it but our general structure is:

• CTO - 30 mins
• Engineering Managers - 60 mins
• Staff Engineers - 60 mins
• Exec/founder - 30 mins

Please let us know if you have any specific requirements or need assistance so we can be as accommodating as possible for you.

Benefits

What We Offer

We're constantly evaluating and adding benefits to best support our employee's wellbeing and to help them thrive in and outside of work. The following benefits are what we currently offer:

• 35 total days holiday (25 annual leave, 8 bank holidays, 1 Kroo bank holiday [June 24th], and 1 day off during the week of your birthday)
• 3 personal health days
• An employer-sponsored volunteer programme (up to 4 hours per month supported by our partner Matchable)
• All equipment you need to work remotely effectively, with a MacBook Pro as standard
• Access to our modern, bustling office in Farringdon, Central London.
• Access to our Cycle to Work scheme
• Access to our Electric Car scheme
• An enhanced parental leave policy
• Room to grow and excel within a fast-paced, high growth start-up

Office/remote working

Currently, the majority of Kroo is working fully remotely. Working remotely has changed many of our lives for the better and we are behind continuing the benefits of flexibility once restrictions are lifted. At the same time, we have a beautiful office in Farringdon, which, when used for the right things, can be a useful and powerful tool. Currently we see a blended model of working 1-2 days a week in the office, so candidates that are able to travel in occasionally are the best fit for our current working practices.

Diversity

We are firmly committed to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace in which all employees are valued, respected, safe, supported, and listened to without judgement or prejudice. These principles apply to all, regardless of race or ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, mental or physical ability, religion, appearance, political beliefs, educational background, class, and position or tenure within the company. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are central to the direction we take at Kroo, and are considered across all aspects of our business.