The platform engineering landscape is evolving rapidly, moving beyond its DevOps roots into a mature discipline that's reshaping how organizations deliver software. The latest State of Platform Engineering Report reveals surprising trends in compensation, organizational maturity, and the emergence of specialized platforms that challenge conventional wisdom about what platform engineering should look like.
Main Insights
- Platform engineering salaries have decreased as the discipline democratizes, with more junior engineers entering the field
- Organizations are shifting from monolithic platforms to multiple specialized platforms serving different domains like AI, data, and security
- Budget constraints remain significant, with nearly 50% of platform initiatives operating on less than $1 million, signaling the industry is still in its growth phase
- Platform product managers are becoming essential, with adoption jumping from near zero to 35% in just one year
- A critical gap exists between perceived improvement and actual measurement, with 5% of organizations claiming success without tracking metrics
Sam Barlien, community organizer for the Platform Engineering Community and co-host of PlatformCon, presented findings from surveying 518 platform engineering professionals worldwide. His analysis draws from platform engineers, DevOps practitioners, SREs, architects, consultants, and technical leaders across the globe.
You can watch the full discussion here if you missed it: State of Platform Engineering in 2026.
The democratization of platform engineering: What salary trends reveal
One of the most striking findings challenges the perception that platform engineering is an elite, highly compensated specialty. Platform engineering salaries in North America dropped by nearly $33,000 year-over-year, while European salaries decreased by approximately $20,000. This isn't a sign of declining value but rather evidence of the field's maturation and accessibility.
"When we did our survey last year, platform engineering was still niche enough that really only very senior people called themselves platform engineers," Barlien explained. The data shows a dramatic shift in experience levels, with the 0-2 years category nearly doubling and the 16+ years category declining by almost 6%.
This democratization mirrors what happened with DevOps. The platform engineering title is no longer exclusive to senior practitioners. Fresh graduates are entering the field directly, applying for platform engineering roles and building careers from the ground up. While this may seem concerning for compensation, it actually signals healthy industry growth and the establishment of clear career paths.
Platform engineering is eating the world: Expanding beyond application developers
The scope of platform engineering has exploded beyond its original focus on application developers. In 2022, the primary customer profile was straightforward: build a platform for your app developers. Today, platform teams serve data scientists, ML engineers, MLOps professionals, data engineers, business analysts, AI researchers, and numerous other personas.
"The fundamental definition of platform engineering is not building a platform for an application developer," Barlien emphasized. "It's building a platform for a customer, an internal customer, and treating that internal platform like a product."
This expanded definition means platform engineering principles can serve almost every domain within IT organizations. The reference architecture has evolved to reflect this reality, with observability and security now positioned as cross-cutting concerns spanning the entire lifecycle rather than isolated components.
The rise of specialized platforms: Moving beyond the monolith
Perhaps the most significant architectural shift is the move toward multiple specialized platforms within organizations. In 2023, having more than one platform typically indicated organizational immaturity and siloed teams. Today, 56% of organizations operate multiple platforms, and this is increasingly a sign of maturity rather than dysfunction.
"We are opening the doors to more specialized platforms, more specialized platform teams focusing on different things," Barlien noted. Organizations are building dedicated platforms for AI/ML workloads, data operations, security workflows, and other specific domains.
This doesn't mean every organization needs multiple platforms immediately. The key is understanding that the "super monolith platform where everything and anything needs to run through it" is no longer the default model. Specialized platforms allow teams to optimize for specific use cases, technologies, and customer needs without forcing everything through a one-size-fits-all solution.
Budget realities and maturity progression
The financial landscape for platform engineering reveals an industry still finding its footing. Nearly 50% of platform initiatives operate on budgets between $0 and $1 million, with only 2.8% exceeding $50 million. This distribution reflects organizations in various stages of maturity, many still proving value through MVPs before securing larger investments.
"We are still really in the middle of growing and learning and building this in many organizations," Barlien observed. The platform engineering maturity model shows incremental improvements across adoption, interfaces, planning, operations, and measurement, but the pace is gradual rather than explosive.
The platform product manager imperative
One of the most dramatic year-over-year changes is the adoption of dedicated platform product managers. Last year, this role was so rare it wasn't worth reporting in the data. This year, approximately 35% of organizations have a dedicated platform product manager, representing a three-way split in approaches:
- Organizations with a dedicated PPM who don't expect product thinking from the wider team
- Organizations with a PPM where each engineer also maintains a product mindset
- Organizations with no PPM where engineers are expected to think like product managers
"The most mature platform engineering organizations and many of the most successful ones have a dedicated platform product manager," Barlien stated. Organizations without this role tend to lag behind in maturity and outcomes.
This shift recognizes that platform as a product isn't just a mindset but a discipline requiring dedicated expertise. While platform engineers must understand their users and think about product principles, having someone focused entirely on product management, user research, roadmap prioritization, and stakeholder communication significantly improves platform success rates.
The trend is expected to accelerate, with the percentage of organizations lacking any product approach likely to shrink to 4-5% by next year. The question is no longer whether to adopt platform as a product but how to implement it effectively through dedicated roles and team-wide mindsets.
The measurement gap: Perception versus reality
While 61.5% of organizations report that their metrics have improved since introducing their platforms (26.3% significantly, 35.2% slightly), a concerning gap exists in measurement practices. Nearly 30% of organizations don't measure platform success at all, yet only 24.2% admit they don't know whether metrics have improved.
This 5% gap represents organizations claiming improvement based on gut feeling rather than data. "You absolutely cannot do that," Barlien warned. "You need to think about real quantifiable metrics. You need to find things that you can measure, quantify them."
Commonly used frameworks in higher-maturity teams include DORA metrics, SPACE, and time-to-market measurements. The ability to map platform improvements to developer productivity and business outcomes is becoming a decisive factor in securing ongoing investment.
Time to value: The MVP advantage
Organizations are seeing varied timelines for demonstrating platform value. Approximately 35% achieved value within six months, with 13% succeeding within three months. However, 40.9% either haven't measured value yet or have taken more than two years.
The fastest successes likely come from organizations that started small, focused on proving value quickly rather than building comprehensive solutions. "Start small and fail fast," as Pankaj from Broadcom advised during the presentation. "You can learn from the mistake but you also keep in mind that the platform team whole initiative is about the scalability of operationalization."
Organizations that leapt into platform engineering trying to solve every problem simultaneously often built overly complicated monolithic platforms that nobody adopted. With 25 different goals and no clear measurement strategy, these initiatives struggled to demonstrate value and are now adjusting their approaches.
If you enjoyed this, find here more great insights and events from our Platform Engineering Community.
If you want to dive deeper, explore our instructor-led Platform Engineering Certified Leader course and connect with peers from large-scale enterprises who are driving cultural transformation.
Key takeaways
- Embrace the democratization of platform engineering: The field is becoming more accessible to professionals at all experience levels. Organizations must focus on building clear career paths and mentorship programs rather than viewing salary normalization as a negative trend.
- Consider specialized platforms for different domains: Moving beyond a single monolithic platform allows you to optimize for specific use cases like AI/ML, data operations, or security workflows. Evaluate whether your organization would benefit from multiple focused platforms rather than forcing everything through one system.
- Invest in a dedicated platform product manager: With 35% of organizations now employing PPMs and showing better outcomes, this role is becoming essential rather than optional. If you're serious about platform as a product, dedicate resources to proper product management rather than expecting engineers to fill this gap.
- Implement rigorous measurement from day one: Don't fall into the 5% gap of claiming success without data. Choose appropriate metrics (DORA, SPACE, time to market) before launching your platform initiative and track them consistently to demonstrate ROI and guide improvements.
