Title:  Platform Engineer: Automation

Requisition Details

Infrastructure automation for cloud and on-premises platforms

Hybrid cloud: Azure, AWS and on-premise

Closing Date: 26 October 2026

ROLE MANDATE

Design, build and operate secure, reusable infrastructure automation across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and on-premise environments. Build and evolve an Infrastructure Marketplace or Internal Developer Platform (IDP) that enables governed self-service through reusable templates, Golden Paths and platform APIs, with security, compliance, monitoring, cost management and operational controls embedded by design.

Job Purpose

To engineer and continuously improve infrastructure automation capabilities that enable reliable, secure and repeatable delivery of cloud and on-premise infrastructure. The role converts infrastructure requirements, architecture standards and operational controls into version-controlled code, reusable automation patterns and governed delivery pipelines.

The Platform Automation Engineer works and collaborates across infrastructure, cloud, security and platform teams to reduce manual effort, configuration drift, deployment lead time and operational risk while improving standardisation, traceability and service resilience. The role also contributes to the design, build and operation of an infrastructure marketplace or IDP, enabling users to discover and consume approved infrastructure services through automated, policy-compliant golden paths.

Key outcomes

• Infrastructure is provisioned and configured through approved, reusable Infrastructure as Code and automation patterns.
• Azure, AWS and on-premise (VMWare) deployments are executed through secure, auditable CI/CD pipelines.
• Automation code is version-controlled, tested, peer-reviewed, documented and maintained as a managed product.
• Manual infrastructure activities are replaced with reliable self-service or event-driven automation where appropriate.
• Platform security, compliance, resilience, observability and cost controls are embedded into automation by design.
• Automation performance and adoption are measurable through delivery, reliability and operational metrics.
• Infrastructure services are published in a searchable catalogue with clear ownership, documentation, support and lifecycle information.
• Consumers can request approved infrastructure through self-service workflows, templates or APIs with automated fulfilment and governance.
• Golden paths provide secure, standardised and reusable patterns while reducing cognitive load for delivery and infrastructure teams.

Job Responsibilities

Infrastructure as Code and provisioning

• Design, develop and maintain Terraform modules and reusable IaC patterns for Azure, AWS and on-premise infrastructure.
• Automate infrastructure provisioning, configuration, patching, lifecycle activities and decommissioning using Ansible, Python and PowerShell.
• Apply modular design, naming standards, tagging, state management, secrets handling and policy controls across IaC solutions.
• Detect and remediate configuration drift while preserving approved architecture and security baselines.

Automation engineering

• Engineer idempotent, testable and supportable automation for compute, operating systems, middleware, network integrations, storage and platform services.
• Create APIs, scripts, runbooks and orchestration workflows that integrate cloud and on-premise platforms.
• Use AI and approved Copilot capabilities to accelerate code generation, testing, documentation, analysis and operational automation, subject to governance and human review.
• Refactor legacy scripts and manual procedures into reusable engineering assets with clear ownership and lifecycle management.

CI/CD, source control and quality

• Build and maintain Azure DevOps/GitHub pipelines for infrastructure validation, testing, security scanning, approvals, deployment and rollback.
• Use Git-based workflows, branching strategies, pull requests and peer reviews to manage automation code safely.
• Implement automated checks such as formatting, linting, unit testing, policy validation, secrets scanning and deployment verification.
• Promote automation artefacts through controlled environments and maintain traceability from change request to deployment outcome.

Job Responsibilities Continue

Cloud and hybrid platform enablement

• Automate services across Azure and AWS using native platform capabilities, approved modules and enterprise guardrails.
• Enable consistent automation across Windows and Linux estates in cloud and on-premise environments.
• Integrate automation with identity, access, networking, security, monitoring, Storage, service management, integration platforms and configuration management processes.
• Support platform engineering and self-service capabilities by publishing reusable templates, modules and golden paths.

Infrastructure marketplace and Internal Developer Platform

• Design, build and maintain an infrastructure service catalogue that exposes approved Azure, AWS and on-premise offerings through a consistent self-service experience.
• Develop and maintain software templates, scaffolding, golden paths and reusable automation that translate consumer inputs into validated infrastructure deployments.
• Integrate the IDP or marketplace with Terraform, Ansible, Azure DevOps, Git, cloud APIs, identity services, secrets management, policy engines, observability, CMDB and IT service-management tooling.
• Engineer platform APIs, event-driven workflows and orchestration services that support provisioning, updates, decommissioning and day-two operations.
• Implement tenancy, access control, approval workflows, quotas, policy as code, audit trails and cost-allocation controls within self-service journeys.
• Maintain service metadata including ownership, dependencies, documentation, versioning, service levels, support models and lifecycle status.
• Apply product thinking and platform engineering practices by gathering user requirements, prioritising platform capabilities and measuring adoption, usability and time-to-value.
• Create onboarding guidance, reference implementations and usage documentation that enable teams to consume platform services independently.

Operations, governance and improvement

• Troubleshoot failed deployments and automation defects, perform root-cause analysis and implement preventative improvements.
• Maintain technical documentation, support procedures, dependency records and operational handover artefacts.
• Embed security, regulatory and company standards into automation and participate in risk remediation activities.
• Monitor automation reliability, adoption, execution time, failure rates and realised efficiency benefits.
• Assess new automation technologies and contribute to enterprise patterns, standards and roadmaps.
• Provide technical guidance and knowledge transfer to infrastructure, operations and platform teams.

Experience requirements

• At least 2 years of relevant experience in infrastructure automation, cloud engineering, DevOps, systems engineering or platform engineering.
• Demonstrated delivery using Terraform and Ansible, supported by practical Python and PowerShell automation experience. (IaC and automation)
• Hands-on engineering experience in Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
• Experience with Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines and Git-based source control.
  Hybrid infrastructure (Delivery tooling)
• Experience automating infrastructure across cloud and on-premise Windows and/or Linux environments.   
• Experience applying security, change, testing and operational governance to infrastructure automation.(Enterprise controls)
• Practical experience contributing to an infrastructure marketplace, developer portal, self-service platform or Internal Developer Platform, including catalogue items, templates, workflows or platform integrations.
• Experience integrating automation with REST APIs, identity and access management, secrets, policy controls, observability, CMDB and/or IT service-management platforms.
• Experience gathering platform-user requirements, creating reusable golden paths and measuring adoption, reliability and user outcomes.

Qualifications and certifications

Essential qualification

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent recognised qualification in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Computer Engineering or a closely related field.
• Relevant qualification must meet the organisation’s applicable NQF and role-governance requirements.

Mandatory Certifications

• Microsoft Azure role-based certification at Associate level or above.
• AWS Associate-level certification or above.
• HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate or higher.
• Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform or Red Hat infrastructure certification.
• Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer or equivalent DevOps certification.

Preferred Certifications

• Linux or platform certification relevant to the supported estate.
• CNCF, Kubernetes or platform engineering training or certification is advantageous.
• API, security, service-management or cloud architecture certification relevant to platform integration is advantageous.

Engineering standards and ways of working

• Automation-first: treat repeatability and removal of avoidable manual work as default design principles.
• Everything as code: manage infrastructure definitions, configuration, pipeline logic, policies and documentation through version control where appropriate.
• Secure by design: protect credentials, apply least privilege, validate artefacts and preserve audit evidence.
• Quality built in: test before deployment, use peer review and define safe rollback or recovery mechanisms.
• Reuse before rebuild: favour approved enterprise modules, patterns and platform services over one-off scripts.
• Operational ownership: design for supportability, observability, resilience, cost awareness and long-term maintenance.
• Platform as a product: prioritise user needs, clear service ownership, measurable adoption and continuous feedback.
• Self-service with guardrails: make compliant infrastructure easy to consume without bypassing security, architecture or financial controls.
• API-first integration: use stable interfaces, reusable contracts and loosely coupled workflows wherever practical.

Role interfaces

• Cloud engineering and cloud platform teams
• On-premise compute, operating system, network and storage teams
• Platform engineering, DevOps and container platform teams
• Architecture, risk and compliance functions
• Service management, operations and site reliability teams
• Application delivery teams consuming infrastructure automation services
• Developer experience and internal platform product teams
• CMDB, service catalogue and IT service-management teams
• Identity, secrets, policy, observability and FinOps platform owners