Staff Platform Engineer

Staff Platform Engineer

This role is remote based with a preference for candidates in the Seattle metro.

Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for our clients. We're all in on AWS, combining deep UX capability with senior engineering talent to get AI into production fast and keep it there. We've earned the trust of leaders across Consumer Products and Retail, Education, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Manufacturing and more, and earned a reputation as the nimble alternative to traditional global systems integrators. Founded in 2009, with delivery centers in Canada, the United States, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, we are smaller, faster, and more senior by design. Our teams average 15+ years of experience. We move fast, sweat the details, and build things that actually ship.

Position Overview

We're looking for a Staff Platform Engineer to define and lead platform engineering strategy across complex, multi-environment cloud systems. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who can own infrastructure architecture end-to-end, drive DevSecOps and compliance practices, and serve as a technical leader on the engagements they support.

In this role, you will work as a key technical contributor on a cross-functional team, defining standards and owning platform reliability, performance, and security at scale. You'll mentor engineers, partner with leadership on infrastructure direction, and lead complex migrations and modernization initiatives.

Why This Role Matters

At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems for a human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencils means engineering paired with creativity, because every agent we ship has to work for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate. Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to 45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on.

What You'll Do

Craft & Delivery

• Define DevOps strategy and lead infrastructure architecture across multi-environment, multi-region cloud systems
• Architect and own scalable Kubernetes platforms and containerized infrastructure at scale
• Own infrastructure as code strategy and standards across environments
• Lead DevSecOps implementation including secrets management, compliance, auditing, IAM, and zero-trust networking
• Drive platform reliability, performance SLAs, and cost optimization across production systems
• Lead complex cloud migrations and platform modernization initiatives
• Own observability strategy and production reliability practices
• Lead the design and operation of AI/ML platform infrastructure, including model serving and deployment, GPU workload orchestration, LLM gateway and observability, vector store infrastructure, and CI/CD for AI/ML systems
• Bring an AI-forward mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude, Cursor, and other modern AI assistants to ship higher-quality work at pace

Collaboration & Communication

• Partner with engineering, product, and leadership to align platform strategy with business and delivery goals
• Communicate complex infrastructure decisions and tradeoffs clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Lead design reviews, architecture discussions, and release readiness assessments

Leadership & Influence

• Establish platform engineering standards and best practices on the engagements you support
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers, helping them grow their craft, confidence, and impact
• Act as a technical escalation point on complex infrastructure and platform challenges
• Evaluate emerging tools and technologies, recommending patterns that improve platform reliability and developer experience

What You'll Bring

• 7+ years of professional DevOps or platform engineering experience, with experience leading complex platform initiatives
• Expert scripting and programming skills (e.g., Python, Go, Java, Bash)
• Deep cloud expertise across at least one major platform
• Expert Kubernetes and container orchestration skills
• Expert IaC skills across multiple tools
• Strong CI/CD architecture experience at scale
• Strong DevSecOps experience including secrets management, compliance, and auditing
• Experience with networking, IAM, security architecture, and zero-trust principles in cloud environments
• Experience with service mesh, distributed systems, and microservices architecture
• Strong experience with AI/ML platform infrastructure, including model serving and deployment, GPU workload orchestration, LLM gateway and observability, vector store infrastructure, and CI/CD for AI/ML systems
• Demonstrated leadership and technical mentoring experience across a team or organization
• Strong stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to translate technical depth across audiences
• Demonstrable, day-to-day usage and expert knowledge of AI-forward tools such as Claude and Cursor
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to navigate highly ambiguous technical and business challenges with sound judgment
• Cloud certifications (e.g., AWS DevOps Engineer Professional, CKA, Azure DevOps Engineer) or FinOps experience is a plus

Helpful Extras and Unique Skills

You'll Do Well Here if You Are

• A doer. You see something broken and fix it. You'd rather move on clarity than wait for certainty.
• A fast learner who knows you don't know everything. The AI landscape changes weekly. You're senior enough to know better and curious enough to keep learning anyway.
• Direct in a way that makes the work better. You give honest feedback. You'd rather have the hard conversation than blow smoke.
• Obsessed with craft. You know genius is in the details. You ship exceptional, not perfect, and you don't put your name on work you wouldn't stand behind.
• Built for ownership. You honor commitments, admit mistakes fast, and back your teammates when a decision costs something. No handoffs, no finger-pointing.
• All in. You treat clients' businesses like your own. You take the work seriously without taking yourself seriously.
• Resourceful when the budget, timeline, or team is tight. Constraints don't slow you down. They sharpen you.
• Glad to be in the room with people who care as much as you do. Our teams average fifteen-plus years of experience. We hire people who push each other to do better work.

The below range reflects the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs. The salary range for this role is $126,000 - $174,000 USD. We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) to eligible employees. An offer of employment may be conditional upon successful completion of a background check in accordance with local legislation and our candidate privacy notice. Your current employer will not be contacted without your permission. We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.