Explore senior leadership opportunities in technology by searching for Platform Development & Engineering Senior Manager jobs. This pivotal executive role sits at the intersection of software engineering, infrastructure, and strategic leadership, responsible for building the foundational platforms that enable entire organizations to innovate and scale. Professionals in this field are visionary leaders who translate business strategy into technical execution, managing teams that create the internal tools, services, and cloud infrastructure upon which hundreds or thousands of other engineers build products. Typically, a Platform Development & Engineering Senior Manager oversees the end-to-end lifecycle of internal developer platforms and cloud services. Common responsibilities include defining and delivering multi-year platform roadmaps aligned with enterprise technology strategy. They lead engineering teams focused on automation, reliability, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices, ensuring platform services meet stringent availability, performance, and security standards. A core aspect of the role is driving the adoption of modern engineering practices such as Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), GitOps, and policy-as-code to automate environment provisioning, management, and compliance. These leaders own the environment lifecycle across multiple cloud service providers (CSPs), championing a "product mindset" where internal developers are treated as customers. They collaborate closely with security, governance, and product teams to integrate guardrails and best practices directly into the platform, making the secure and compliant path the easiest one for development teams. A significant part of the mission is to improve developer experience and productivity by providing self-service capabilities, standardized "paved road" workflows, and centralized developer portals, thereby reducing cognitive load and accelerating software delivery. The typical skills and requirements for these leadership jobs are extensive. Candidates generally possess a bachelor's degree or higher in a technical field, coupled with 10+ years of progressive experience in cloud platform engineering, DevOps, or software development, with at least 5-7 years in a leadership capacity. Deep, hands-on expertise with major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and their native services is essential, as is proven experience with infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform and automation frameworks. A strong background in implementing SRE principles, DevOps/DevSecOps cultures, and managing the transition from legacy systems to cloud-native architectures is highly valued. Beyond technical acumen, successful senior managers demonstrate exceptional strategic thinking, stakeholder management, and the ability to mentor teams, enforce technical excellence, and communicate complex concepts to executive leadership. They are measured by outcomes such as improved developer productivity metrics, system reliability, cost optimization (FinOps), and the successful delivery of scalable, secure platform services that drive business velocity. For those looking to shape the technological backbone of an enterprise, Platform Development & Engineering Senior Manager jobs offer a challenging and impactful career path at the forefront of digital transformation.
