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Howden

Global insurance intermediary and broker network

Senior Platform Engineer - Azure Data & AI Platform

Platform Engineering +1Updated on Nov 13
Full-timeLondon, UKNo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

  • At least 5 years of platform or infrastructure engineering experience building production platforms.
  • Deep Azure knowledge covering networking, identity and access management, storage, compute, and platform-as-a-service services, including service endpoints and private endpoints.
  • Experience deploying Azure Databricks workspaces, configuring Unity Catalog, optimizing Spark jobs, and managing costs.
  • Infrastructure-as-code experience with Terraform or Bicep, including writing modules, managing state, and structuring large projects.
  • Experience building multi-stage continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines with gates, approvals, and security scanning using Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.
  • Containerization experience and knowledge of best practices for application containers and containers holding machine-learning or artificial-intelligence models.
  • Knowledge of defense in depth, least privilege, network segmentation, and security-first engineering.
  • Understanding of machine-learning operations fundamentals, including model training versus inference, experiment tracking, model versioning, and deployment patterns.
  • Python or PowerShell for automation, tooling, and platform utilities.
  • Experience with observability beyond basic metrics, including distributed tracing and log aggregation patterns.
  • Pragmatism in choosing appropriate tools, documentation discipline, an automation mindset, and an everything-as-code approach.
  • Ability to collaborate and translate between data scientists, engineers, and business stakeholders.
  • Ownership of systems through building, operating, and supporting them.

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement Azure landing zones, management groups, and subscription architecture.
  • Build and maintain hub-and-spoke network topologies with segmentation and security controls.
  • Implement Azure Policy, role-based access control, and governance frameworks that balance security with developer productivity.
  • Manage identity and access using Entra ID, service principals, and managed identities.
  • Establish monitoring, logging, and alerting using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Application Insights.
  • Manage cloud costs and apply FinOps practices to control spending.
  • Deploy and configure Azure Databricks workspaces with Unity Catalog for data governance.
  • Assist data and AI teams with pipeline development.
  • Establish Databricks best practices for cluster policies, job scheduling, notebook standards, and workspace organization.
  • Integrate Databricks with ADLS Gen2, Azure SQL, Synapse, and other data services.
  • Set up and maintain continuous integration and continuous delivery for Databricks notebooks, jobs, and infrastructure.
  • Work with data engineers on performance optimization, cost control, and platform capabilities.
  • Build machine-learning model deployment pipelines using Azure Machine Learning, Databricks MLflow, or both.
  • Implement model versioning, experiment tracking, and model registry patterns.
  • Establish batch and real-time inference endpoints with monitoring and governance.
  • Create reusable machine-learning pipeline templates and infrastructure-as-code modules.
  • Integrate Azure OpenAI and Cognitive Services into platform offerings.
  • Implement responsible AI guardrails, including model monitoring, bias detection, and explainability.
  • Create tools, features, and dashboards for the developer platform.
  • Build continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines in Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions with security scanning.
  • Implement shift-left security practices including static and dynamic application security testing, dependency scanning, infrastructure scanning, and secrets management.
  • Establish infrastructure-as-code standards with Terraform or Bicep, including modules and policy enforcement.
  • Create self-service tooling and automation for common platform tasks.
  • Write documentation for engineering users.
  • Participate in an on-call rotation for platform incidents.

Desired Qualifications

  • Experience with Azure landing zones and the Cloud Adoption Framework.
  • Experience with Microsoft Purview for data governance and cataloging.
  • Experience with Delta Lake, Spark optimization, and data quality frameworks.
  • Azure networking certifications or equivalent deep knowledge.
  • Experience with container orchestration using AKS.
  • Experience with API design and management, including API Management, Application Gateway, and Front Door.

About the Company

Howden

Global insurance intermediary and broker network

Howden Group Holdings distributes insurance products and services through retail and specialty broking, reinsurance broking, and underwriting as a tech-enabled B2B insurance distributor. It connects clients with insurers and provides risk management and tailored insurance solutions through its platform. It differentiates itself by combining a broad mix of retail, specialty, and reinsurance broking with strategic acquisitions (e.g., Barnett Waddingham and ARM Group) to expand capabilities like captive management and grow its geographic footprint. Its goal is to broaden global reach and service offerings to become a comprehensive insurer-to-client partner for corporate and multinational clients.

Company size
1,001-5,000
Company stage
Debt Financing
Total funding
$4.1B
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Founded
1882

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