Manager, Platform Engineering

About the Role

The Manager, Platform Engineering role is responsible for guiding a team of platform engineers who design, build, and operate the infrastructure that underpins QTS data center technology platforms. This role sits at the intersection of infrastructure, automation, Kubernetes, and operational reliability, and focuses on execution, team development, and cross-functional delivery.

This manager will inherit an established Platform Engineering function that delivers consumable infrastructure (VMware, Kubernetes, observability, automation) for new and existing data centers, while supporting strategic initiatives such as cloud-native migration, telemetry platforms (QTaC), and large-scale lifecycle refreshes. The role reports into senior technology leadership and partners closely with Facilities Operations (FacOps), Systems Engineering, Network Engineering, and Security teams.

Responsibilities

• Directly manage a team of Platform Engineers, providing clear priorities, technical context, and day to day support.
• Foster a culture of ownership, documentation, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Translate high level strategy and roadmaps into clear, achievable work for engineers.
• Serve as an escalation point for technical and delivery issues while reinforcing engineer ownership of solutions.
• Oversee delivery and operation of consumable infrastructure platforms, including VMware ESXi/vSAN, public cloud platforms (AWS and Azure, including compute, container, and supporting services), Kubernetes platforms (Rancher, RKE2, SLE Micro), and core observability tooling.
• Ensure platform readiness for new data center builds across the portfolio.
• Own lifecycle management activities such as hardware refreshes, cloud platform upgrades and service deprecations, cluster upgrades, EOL migrations, and capacity planning across on prem and public cloud environments.
• Champion Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and GitOps practices using Ansible, Jenkins, Helm, and Git based workflows.
• Own the operational lifecycle of public cloud platforms, including account/subscription structure, baseline architecture, security guardrails, cost visibility, and platform reliability.
• Ensure repeatable, documented build processes for Windows, Linux, and Kubernetes environments.
• Drive platform consistency and standards across sites while accommodating site specific requirements.
• Partner closely with Facilities Operations, Systems Engineering, Network Engineering, and Security teams to align capacity, access, and delivery timelines.
• Communicate clearly with leadership and project stakeholders on status, risks, and dependencies.
• Translate hybrid infrastructure strategy into actionable platform capabilities spanning on prem data centers and public cloud environments.

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in infrastructure, platform engineering, SRE, or adjacent technical roles.
• Strong foundational understanding of virtualization, Kubernetes, and server platforms.
• Prior experience as a senior engineer, technical lead, or informal team lead.
• Experience supporting production environments with uptime and operational accountability.
• Ability to clearly communicate technical concepts in both written and verbal form.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading and managing systems engineers.
• Experience operating large scale, on prem or data center centric platforms.
• Hands on exposure to automation, Git based workflows, and infrastructure standardization efforts.
• Experience owning or operating public cloud platforms (e.g., AWS EC2/EKS, Azure VMSS/AKS) in a production environment.
• Experience working in environments with frequent parallel initiatives and evolving priorities.
• Familiarity with cross functional delivery models involving Facilities, Network, and Security teams.

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Working knowledge of modern infrastructure platforms including VMware ESXi/vSAN, public cloud infrastructure (AWS and Azure), Kubernetes clusters, Linux and Windows systems.
• Understanding of automation and configuration management concepts (e.g., Ansible, scripting, CI/CD pipelines).
• Ability to apply Infrastructure as Code and GitOps practices consistently across on prem and public cloud platforms.
• Familiarity with observability concepts such as metrics, logs, alerting, and operational telemetry.
• Strong prioritization and decision making skills in complex operational environments.
• Ability to lead without micromanaging and to build trust with highly autonomous engineers.
• Systems thinking mindset; understands how changes impact platforms, sites, and downstream teams.
• Incident and problem management orientation with an emphasis on root cause analysis and prevention.
• Documentation first approach to standards, runbooks, and operational procedures.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity while balancing delivery pressure and long term platform health.

Total Rewards

• This role is also eligible for a competitive benefits package that includes: medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance; 401(k) retirement plan; flexible spending and HSA accounts; paid holidays; paid time off; paid volunteer days; employee assistance program; tuition assistance; parental leave; military leave assistance; QTS scholarship for dependents; wellness program, and other company benefits.
• This position is equity eligible.

Skills (from Skills Library)

• VMware vSphere
• Windows Server
• AWS
• Azure
• Observability
• Linux
• DevOps
• CI/CD
• IaC
• Ansible
• Kubernetes
• Git
• Basic Networking
• Python
• Active Directory
• Agile Methodology
• MQTT
• Docker
• REST API