Staff Platform Engineer

We are looking for a Staff Platform Engineer to join Horizon3’s Internal Platform Team (IPT) and shape the cloud and delivery foundations behind NodeZero.

You will lead complex, cross-team initiatives; define platform direction; improve developer workflows; and establish standards that make our systems secure, reliable, and easier to operate. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for an engineer who enjoys solving ambiguous problems and building reusable platform capabilities.

Lead the design and evolution of AWS, Kubernetes/EKS, and shared platform services.

Define architecture for infrastructure automation, service delivery, regional capabilities, and ephemeral environments.

Build reusable platform capabilities, self-service workflows, and release-safety practices.

Evolve infrastructure-as-code and declarative approaches, including Terraform and Crossplane-related capabilities.

Improve platform reliability, observability, security, performance, and operability.

Participate in on-call and incident response, leading post-incident improvements.

Drive high-impact initiatives across multiple teams and balance reliability, security, cost, developer experience, and delivery speed.

Establish platform standards, reduce technical debt, and guide design decisions.

Partner with feature teams to turn platform needs into durable solutions.

Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar across Engineering.

Improve documentation, runbooks, interfaces, and self-service paths.

Communicate clearly and build alignment across Platform, Application Engineering, Data Engineering, Product, Program Management, and Security.

8+ years in platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, SRE, DevOps, or software engineering with substantial production-platform ownership.

Deep experience designing and operating cloud platforms, preferably AWS.

Strong Kubernetes experience, including production operations, networking, reliability, and troubleshooting.

Strong infrastructure-as-code and automation experience with Terraform, Crossplane, or comparable tools.

Experience operating CI/CD and delivery infrastructure.

Strong understanding of IAM, secrets, networking, ingress, and least privilege.

Experience with distributed-systems observability and operational practices.

Proficiency in Go and Python for platform services, developer tooling, or automation.

Demonstrated success leading complex initiatives across multiple teams.

Excellent communication, mentoring, and technical-influence skills.

Multi-region or multi-environment SaaS platform experience.

Internal developer platform, declarative API, or Platform-as-a-Service experience.

GitLab CI/CD, self-hosted runners, OpenTelemetry, or Datadog experience.

Ephemeral-environment, automated-provisioning, or platform-lifecycle experience.

Security-sensitive, regulated, or cybersecurity experience.

Startup or high-growth company experience.

AWS, Kubernetes, and EKS

Terraform and Crossplane-related tooling

GitLab and CI/CD pipelines

OpenTelemetry and Datadog

Linux, containers, networking, IAM, and secrets-management systems

Go and Python for automation and platform services

Exact tool matches are less important than strong platform fundamentals, sound judgment, and end-to-end ownership of production systems.

Engineering teams move faster through reliable platform capabilities and self-service workflows.

Shared services are secure, observable, maintainable, and easier to operate.

Regional and ephemeral environments deploy consistently with less manual effort.

Platform consumers have clear interfaces, documentation, and support paths.

You are trusted to lead complex platform decisions and develop other engineers.

You’ll shape the platform behind a rapidly evolving cybersecurity product used by organizations around the world, working with engineers, security practitioners, and technical leaders on problems with broad technical impact.

Occasional travel may be required for company onsite meetings and team collaboration.

Perks of Horizon3

Inclusive Team: We value diversity and promote an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.

Growth Opportunities: Be part of a dynamic and growing team with numerous career development opportunities.

Innovative Culture: Work in a collaborative environment that encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.

Hybrid & Remote Work: We embrace a mix of remote and hybrid work models depending on role and location, including our Chicago office, where some roles require regular in-office presence.

Competitive Compensation: We offer competitive salary, equity and benefits. Our benefits include health, vision & dental insurance for you and your family, a flexible vacation policy, and generous parental leave.

Compensation and Values

At Horizon3, we believe that our people are our greatest asset, and our compensation philosophy reflects this core value. We are committed to fostering an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and rewarded for their contributions. Our compensation structure is designed to be fair, competitive, and transparent, ensuring that every team member is recognized and compensated equitably across roles, levels, and locations.

In accordance with various State’s transparency regulations, we provide the following salary range information for this position:

Base salary range: $199,750 - $270,000 annually. The exact salary will be determined based on the selected candidate’s location, qualifications, experience, and relevant skills.

Additional compensation: All full-time roles are eligible for an equity package in the form of stock options.

You Belong Here

Horizon3 is not just an equal opportunity employer - we are a community that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental principles of our culture and success. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace where everyone feels welcome and respected, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, or any other legally protected status by law.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion means we strive to attract, develop, and retain a workforce that reflects the varied communities we serve. We believe that diverse perspectives drive innovation and strengthen our ability to create cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. At Horizon3, every team member is valued and supported in an environment that encourages personal and professional growth.

We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences, and we encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Come be a part of Horizon3, where your unique contributions are recognized, and your potential is limitless.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Application Note

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.