Lead Platform Engineer

Job Posting Organization:
The organization is the largest nonprofit dedicated to combating poverty, disease, and inequity globally. Founded on the principle that everyone deserves the opportunity to lead healthy and productive lives, the foundation emphasizes the importance of diversity among its employees to reflect the populations it serves. The organization offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, retirement contributions, and opportunities for community engagement. The foundation is committed to fostering a supportive work environment that promotes both personal and professional growth.

Job Overview:
As a Lead Platform Engineer, you will take on a pivotal role within the Enterprise Data Solutions (EDS) team, which is part of the Business Operations and IT organization. Your primary responsibility will be to architect, deliver, and evolve complex technology solutions that support the foundation and its affiliates worldwide. This position requires a high level of independence and expertise, as you will act as a subject matter expert and practice lead, contributing to technical execution, mentoring engineers, and building team capabilities. You will translate complex organizational and technical challenges into actionable plans, collaborating with various service teams and being accountable for the outcomes of your initiatives. Your role will involve providing technical leadership across multiple platforms, shaping solution strategies, and ensuring the overall health and reliability of the systems you oversee. This position is crucial for enhancing the foundation's operational effectiveness and advancing its global mission.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Define and evolve multi-year Data and AI platform roadmaps that align with enterprise architecture, security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security standards, and business strategies.
• Collaborate with global business leaders to understand their needs, translating those requirements into meaningful design artifacts and implementing data and AI tooling for the Enterprise Data Platform (EDP).
• Implement governance controls and security best practices for data and AI as the EDP continues to develop.
• Provide architectural leadership and hands-on development for frameworks on complex, cross-team initiatives, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, resilient, and maintainable.
• Lead evaluations of platform tools and frameworks, guiding decisions on whether to build or buy solutions, ensuring alignment with enterprise technical direction.
• Develop and promote engineering standards, reference architectures, and data access design patterns across IT and partner teams.
• Anticipate technology impacts across applications, data, integrations, and infrastructure, guiding teams through informed trade-off decisions.
• Develop design patterns for data and AI applications on EDP using various technologies such as Databricks and OpenAI.
• Manage and improve a custom application (Data Portal) for self-service data cataloging and sharing. 1
• Conduct architectural and technical reviews of solution designs and delivery approaches to enhance quality and consistency. 1
• Champion automation, governance, observability, and operational excellence to ensure platform reliability and cost-effectiveness. 1
• Drive continuous improvement of engineering practices and operational processes. 1
• Partner with service managers and product owners to shape service strategies and roadmaps. 1
• Provide senior-level input to annual planning, including resource needs and modernization opportunities. 1
• Serve as a practice lead and mentor, building collaborative relationships across IT and business operations. 1
• Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leadership, to translate complex concepts into actionable recommendations.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• A minimum of 12 years of experience in data platforms, focusing on advanced analytics, AI/ML infrastructure, data security, and automation.
• Proven experience in implementing managed and custom MCP servers.
• Experience in data platform architecture and processing unstructured data to extract insights.
• Familiarity with health and life sciences data analysis using analytical and reporting tools.
• Experience co-developing solutions on EDP using Databricks and Azure.
• Hands-on experience with Azure services, including Data Lake and Azure ML, and infrastructure automation using Terraform.
• Proficiency in Databricks, Snowflake, and API-driven data platforms.
• Strong understanding of cloud-based infrastructure, networking, identity, security, and automation. 1
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.

Educational Background:
Candidates must possess a bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science or a related field, or have equivalent experience that demonstrates their capability in the required technical areas.

Experience:
The position requires a minimum of 12 years of experience in data platforms, with a strong focus on advanced analytics, AI/ML infrastructure, data security, and automation. Candidates should have a proven track record in implementing managed and custom servers, as well as experience in data platform architecture and processing unstructured data.

Languages:
While the job description does not specify mandatory languages, proficiency in English is implied as the primary language of communication within the organization. Additional language skills may be beneficial but are not explicitly required.

Additional Notes:
The position is full-time and requires unrestricted work authorization in the United States, as the foundation does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. The salary range for this position is between $190,100 and $294,700 USD, with higher ranges for specific locations such as Seattle and Washington D.C. The foundation emphasizes a balance between competitive pay and its mission-driven focus, with new hire salaries typically falling between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check, and the organization is committed to providing an inclusive hiring experience for all candidates.