Senior Platform Engineer (x/f/m)

About the role

This position centers on the design, construction, and long-term stewardship of the foundational platform that governs data privacy and lifecycle management for ALAN. You will architect and maintain the critical systems that allow other engineering groups to handle sensitive member information with confidence and compliance. Your responsibilities will directly shape the security posture and regulatory alignment of our products as we scale across new markets. You will act as a platform owner, balancing technical excellence with cross-functional collaboration to solve intricate data challenges. The role requires a deep commitment to reliability, safety, and the creation of internal tools that abstract complexity for the wider engineering organization. You will translate ambiguous requirements into robust platform capabilities that serve as the backbone of our data infrastructure. Success in this role will be measured by the stability of the platform, the autonomy it grants to product teams, and the trust placed in it to safeguard critical data assets.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Assume full ownership of the Data Privacy Orchestrator, driving its reliability, safety features, and day-to-day operational health.
• Design and deliver self-serve tools, clear documentation, and reusable templates that enable product teams to construct and manage their own data lifecycle rules independently.
• Partner closely with legal, security, and product stakeholders to translate regulatory and business requirements into concrete data handling specifications and resolve complex data management issues.
• Extend the platform's scope to accommodate new data stores and third-party integrations, supporting the company's international expansion and product diversification.
• Implement robust monitoring and alerting strategies to ensure platform reliability, performance, and quick detection of anomalies or potential data leaks.
• Lead incident response efforts for platform-related issues, conducting thorough post-incident reviews to identify root causes and drive preventative improvements.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to standardize data workflows, ensuring consistent application of privacy policies and data governance practices across all services.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and architectural patterns to modernize the platform, improve developer experience, and reduce operational overhead.
• Contribute to the technical roadmap for data foundations, prioritizing initiatives that enhance scalability, security, and usability.
• Mentor junior engineers by providing code reviews, technical guidance, and hands-on support in building platform-oriented solutions.

Requirements

• Bring proven experience as a backend or platform engineer, with a strong track record of building and operating services that become critical dependencies for other engineers.
• Demonstrate the ability to influence and align cross-functional teams, including legal, security, and product, without direct authority to drive projects to successful completion.
• Show a pragmatic mindset focused on delivering safe, effective, and maintainable solutions while prioritizing continuous improvement in processes and systems.
• Have direct experience in platform engineering roles where you managed the full lifecycle of services, including deployment, monitoring, troubleshooting, and incident response.
• Exhibit strong proficiency in English, both written and verbal, to communicate effectively with international stakeholders and produce clear documentation.
• Possess a deep understanding of data privacy principles and regulatory landscapes, with hands-on experience implementing controls that support compliance.
• Display comfort working in ambiguous situations, making informed decisions with incomplete information while balancing technical trade-offs and business needs.
• Commit to working collaboratively in a team-oriented environment that values transparency, ownership, and shared problem-solving.

Nice to have

• Hands-on experience with data privacy regulations such as GDPR and familiarity with data governance frameworks and compliance processes.
• Background in an enabling or platform team structure, where you have supported multiple products through shared services and internal tooling.

Skills & tools

• Proficiency in Python and TypeScript, with the ability to write clean, maintainable, and well-tested code.
• Solid experience with PostgreSQL, including schema design, query optimization, and performance tuning.
• Strong operational skills with AWS or GCP, including networking, compute services, and managed data stores.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes for container orchestration and management.
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code tools such as Terraform for provisioning and managing cloud resources.
• Experience using Datadog for monitoring, log analysis, and observability of platform services.

Practical notes

• You must be legally authorized to work in France, Belgium, or Spain.
• The role values in-person collaboration and offers flexibility for remote work where appropriate.
• ALAN encourages applications from individuals who may not meet every listed requirement but are passionate about the responsibilities of this role.