Franklin Bates

Principal Platform Engineer (Microsoft Infrastructure & Azure) Location: 1-2 days a week required in the Central London office Salary: up to £55,000 + benefits We are working exclusively with a well-established non-profit organisation who are seeking an experienced Principal Platform Engineer to join their infrastructure team. This is an excellent opportunity for a senior Microsoft infrastructure professional who enjoys owning and improving enterprise platforms across both on-premises and Azure environments. Our client is specifically looking for a hands-on engineer with deep expertise across Windows Server, Active Directory, Azure Infrastructure, security, patching, and operational excellence - this is not a cloud-native, DevOps, or Kubernetes-focused role. You will play a key role in maintaining and enhancing a critical hybrid infrastructure estate, acting as a senior technical escalation point whilst driving platform improvements, security standards, and infrastructure projects. The Opportunity As Principal Platform Engineer, this position requires someone who can operate independently, take ownership of complex technical issues, lead infrastructure projects, and contribute to the development of standards, documentation, and best practice. You will be responsible for the ongoing management, support, security, and evolution of the organisation's Microsoft infrastructure estate. You will work across both on-premises and Azure environments, ensuring services remain secure, resilient, and highly availability. Key Responsibilities Manage and maintain Windows Server infrastructure across on-premises and Azure environments. Administer and support Active Directory, DNS, Group Policy, and core Microsoft services. Maintain Azure infrastructure including virtual machines, storage, networking, and platform services. Lead patching, vulnerability remediation, security hardening, and compliance initiatives. Manage backup and recovery processes, ensuring business continuity and recovery readiness. Deliver infrastructure upgrades, migrations, and platform improvement projects. Act as a senior technical escalation point for complex infrastructure issues. Develop and maintain technical standards, procedures, and documentation. Work closely with internal teams and third-party suppliers to support service delivery. Essential Experience We are looking for candidates who have previously worked as: Senior Infrastructure Engineer Azure Infrastructure Engineer Microsoft Platform Engineer Senior Systems Engineer 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer Successful candidates will demonstrate: Strong hands-on Windows Server administration experience. Proven experience supporting and administering Microsoft Azure infrastructure. Azure certifications: Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) and/or Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) Deep knowledge of Active Directory, DNS, and Group Policy. Experience managing patching, security baselines, and vulnerability remediation. Backup and disaster recovery expertise within enterprise environments. Experience working within structured change management and ITIL-led environments. The ability to lead technical initiatives and take ownership of critical infrastructure services. Profile Sought This role would suit a technically strong infrastructure professional who combines deep Microsoft expertise with a proactive, ownership-driven mindset. The ideal candidate will be comfortable balancing operational support, infrastructure improvement, security compliance, and project delivery whilst remaining hands-on with the technology. If you are looking for a role where you can make a genuine impact on a complex hybrid infrastructure environment and continue developing your Azure expertise, we would love to hear from you.

Lead Software Engineer London (hybrid) 90k to 105k We're partnering with an ambitious London-based payments start-up looking to hire a hands-on Lead Software Engineer to help shape the next generation of their platform as they scale. This is a high-impact opportunity for a senior engineering leader who enjoys operating across architecture, platform engineering, product delivery, and technical strategy in a fast-moving environment. You'll play a key role in defining engineering standards, influencing product direction, and building scalable systems capable of supporting rapid growth within a modern payments ecosystem. The Opportunity Joining at an exciting stage of growth, you'll work closely with founders, product teams, and engineers to design and deliver a highly scalable payments platform using modern cloud-native technologies. This role combines: hands-on engineering, technical leadership, architecture ownership, and mentoring responsibilities. You'll be expected to remain close to the code while driving best practice across the wider engineering function. Key Responsibilities Define and evolve platform architecture across mobile, backend, and cloud infrastructure Lead engineering design decisions and establish scalable development standards Build and optimise high-performance backend services using Node.js Drive mobile architecture and delivery using React Native Own AWS infrastructure strategy, scalability, reliability, and security Work closely with product and leadership teams to shape technical roadmap Champion engineering excellence, DevOps culture, CI/CD, and automation Explore and implement modern AI-assisted engineering tooling and workflows Required Experience We're looking for a strong technical leader with experience building scalable products within start-up or high-growth environments. Essential Skills Strong experience with React Native Deep backend engineering expertise using Node.js Strong knowledge of AWS infrastructure and cloud-native architecture Experience working with PostgreSQL and scalable data design Proven experience operating at Technical Architect, Principal Engineer, or Staff Engineer level Experience building scalable distributed systems and APIs Strong understanding of modern software engineering best practices Desirable Experience Payments, fintech, or regulated environment experience Exposure to AI-assisted development tooling such as Claude, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar DevOps and infrastructure-as-code experience What's on Offer Opportunity to shape architecture from an early stage High ownership and autonomy Modern engineering environment Fast-growing fintech business with strong leadership backing Competitive salary + equity potential Hybrid working in London

Principal Engineer - Scalable SaaS / Data Platforms Location: UK remote (optional office presence - South West) The Brief We are supporting a fast-growing technology organisation in the search for a Principal Engineer to help scale a complex, globally deployed SaaS platform. This is a senior individual contributor role with strong technical leadership expectations - ideal for someone who enjoys solving complex engineering challenges at scale while influencing architecture and engineering direction. The Opportunity You will take ownership of critical areas of a large-scale platform, helping to evolve architecture, improve performance, and support rapid international growth. Working closely with engineering leadership and cross-functional teams, you will: Lead design and architectural decisions across key product areas Build and scale distributed systems handling high-volume data workloads Support the evolution of a SaaS platform serving global enterprise customers Influence engineering standards, tooling, and best practice across teams Partner with product and technical stakeholders to shape roadmap direction Drive improvements across scalability, resilience, and performance A key focus will be scaling platform capability - supporting increased data volumes, users, and integrations while maintaining reliability and speed. The Candidate We are looking for an experienced engineer with deep technical expertise and a track record of operating at scale: Strong background in software engineering and system design Experience building and scaling distributed, data-intensive platforms Proven ability to design robust, scalable SaaS architectures Deep understanding of modern engineering principles and best practices Experience working in cloud-native environments Ability to navigate complexity and bring clarity to ambiguous technical challenges Strong communication skills, with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders Experience mentoring engineers and contributing to technical leadership Technical Environment Experience with modern architectures and tooling is expected, with exposure to technologies such as: Cloud platforms and containerisation (e.g. Kubernetes) Event-driven and microservices architectures Large-scale data processing and search technologies Modern backend development languages and frameworks Why Apply? Work on genuinely complex, high-impact engineering challenges Join a fast-scaling, product-led technology business Influence architecture and engineering direction at scale Fully remote-first culture with flexibility Strong compensation and long-term growth opportunity

Software Developer £85,000-£110,000 depending on experience and skillset Flexible hybrid set up (Worcestershire office) Do you have a Rust software development background? Drive development of an original Linux-based network security appliance as a Software Developer, getting stuck into security software and systems development within a thriving technology organisation providing security solutions for regulated industries from government roots spanning back 15 years. Work for truly engaged and passionate company owners, on projects that have bigger purpose with social value and are technically interesting and demanding, encouraging self-development and growth amongst a super hands-on team. Quality is key within this organisation, and genuine, demonstratable passion for software development, intellectual curiosity and self-motivation must be at the heart of Software Developers who join this team. Requirements for Software Developer positions: Must have or be able to obtain security clearance at DV clearance level (please check your eligibility prior to applying for this position) Must have a strong Computer Science or Systems Engineering degree (BSc) education foundation - no alternatives accepted Software development skills in Rust and ideally Go too - the environment is Rust and Go but it is not wholly necessary to have strengths in Go, though you must be willing to learn and develop skills in Go as well as apply your Rust skills Must have solid Linux network programming and protocol implementation skills as well as exceptional knowledge of Linux networking fundamentals and Linux networking at layers 2-4 The package on offer for Software Developers is a salary of £85,000-£110,000 depending on experience, with a benefits package including professional development budget, private healthcare, wellness support and a flexible hybrid set up. Please only apply for consideration if you have full, independent right to work in the UK and have lived in the UK permanently for the past 5-10+ years due to the security clearance requirements attached to this role, outlined in the Requirements section above