Platform engineers are usually part of a Platform team to create an internal developer platform (IDP). Platform engineers develop, deploy, and maintain DevOps tooling and infrastructure to make the software delivery system run seamlessly. Individuals who pursue platform engineering most commonly work hands-on with software and cloud-native infrastructure, such as AWS, GCP, and Azure, and are experts in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and/or GitOps plus required tooling. Platform engineers typically work in teams that closely collaborate with technical services, developers, senior management, and more.

Platform engineering teams will build and maintain the infrastructure so the end-users can use them. Members of a platform engineering team may be asked to create infrastructure diagrams, define infrastructure as code, and deploy application pipelines.

Platform engineers search for big-picture solutions, and the job opens the door for innovation and creativity. Since platform engineering is a hands-on, fast-paced career, candidates must be able to jump into a team and begin working alongside the crew immediately.

Platform engineers are expected to learn new skills quickly and are often managing multiple tasks at once so they can keep up with their evolving IDP.