Director of Platform Engineering, Thinkific

• Has 10+ years of experience in software, infrastructure, or platform engineering, including at least 3 years as an Engineering Director
• Has proven success defining and executing platform or infrastructure strategy in a fast-scaling Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environment
• Has demonstrated experience leading or partnering closely with Quality Assurance or Test Engineering functions
• Has experience setting front-end and design system direction to accelerate product delivery and adoption of the design system
• Has strong understanding of Kubernetes, AWS, and infrastructure as code (Terraform)
• Has experience in distributed, event-driven architectures and large language models (LLMs)
• Brings practical experience with observability, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices, and frameworks like DORA and SPACE
• Has a deep understanding of cloud architecture, developer experience, and platform scalability principles
• Is familiar with secure software supply chains, Cloudflare, or advanced CDN/load balancing strategies
• Communicates clearly and effectively, articulating platform strategy and value to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Has a proven ability to build and nurture high-performing, psychologically safe, and inclusive teams
• Loves to learn and grow. They’ve found (and keep looking for) ways to level up their skills in this field, whether that’s through formal education, gaining professional experience, or maybe even building their own business

Desirable

• Are you an experienced engineering leader with a passion for building scalable platforms, empowering teams, and driving reliability and developer excellence? We’re looking for a Director of Platform Engineering to join us at Thinkific
• As the Director of Platform Engineering, you will oversee infrastructure, site reliability, developer experience, front-end design systems, and quality assurance, ensuring that Thinkific’s platform is resilient, performant, and secure
• You’ll lead a team of Engineering Managers and Engineers to evolve our cloud-native platform, drive technical strategy, and foster a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement
• You’ll report to the VP, Engineering, and play a key role in shaping the multi-year platform strategy that supports Thinkific’s growth, innovation, and customer success
• Your goal will be to deliver a secure, scalable, and reliable platform that accelerates developer productivity and supports Thinkific’s growth. Here’s how you’ll accomplish this:
• Define and execute the long-term technical strategy for Thinkific’s platform, including infrastructure, cloud architecture, delivery pipelines, and core services
• Align Platform Engineering methods and measures with the broader company and engineering strategy
• Champion initiatives that improve scalability, availability, security, and developer velocity across Thinkific’s ecosystem
• Partner with senior leadership, Finance, and Security to manage budgets, vendor relationships, and cost efficiency for cloud and infrastructure systems
• Identify emerging technologies and industry best practices to continually enhance Thinkific’s technical foundation
• Lead, mentor, and develop Engineering Managers and Engineers across core services, infrastructure, operations, and QA teams
• Build a culture of collaboration, reliability, and learning, emphasizing blameless postmortems, proactive incident management, and continuous improvement
• Support career growth and leadership development through coaching, feedback, and succession planning
• Drive recruitment efforts to attract and retain exceptional engineering talent
• Oversee Thinkific’s Kubernetes and AWS-based infrastructure (EKS, RDS, IAM, ALB, S3), ensuring strong performance, reliability, and scalability
• Champion modern observability practices, leveraging tools like New Relic to define and measure Service Level Objectives (SLOs), Service Level Indicators (SLIs), and error budgets
• Guide the evolution of our continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) systems and infrastructure as code (Terraform), promoting automation and secure-by-default principles
• Define and track Developer Experience (DevEx) metrics using frameworks such as SPACE, DORA, and CORE4 to drive productivity and satisfaction across engineering teams
• Partner with Product, Security, and Data teams to ensure cohesive platform enablement across all domains
• Provide strategic direction and leadership for Thinkific’s Quality Assurance (QA) team, ensuring quality practices are embedded throughout the software development lifecycle
• Oversee the evolution and optimization of automated testing frameworks, CI/CD validation pipelines, and release quality standards
• Foster a quality-first mindset across engineering and product teams, balancing delivery velocity with reliability and customer trust
• Partner with Engineering and Product leaders to define testing strategies for performance, security, and end-to-end user experience
• Evolve and drive key quality metrics (defect escape rate, test coverage, release stability, regression detection) to continuously improve product quality and developer feedback loops
• Drive initiatives that align QA automation with infrastructure and DevEx improvements, ensuring cohesive delivery and rapid iteration
• Oversee the lifecycle of platform, core services, and QA initiatives from concept through delivery, ensuring outcomes are measurable, secure, and aligned with company goals
• Manage platform-wide risk mitigation, production readiness, and incident response processes
• Support the tracking and reporting of technical research and development initiatives (Scientific Research & Experimental Development, SR&ED; Industrial Research Assistance Program, IRAP), ensuring documentation and compliance requirements are met