Wag Walking
Lead Platform Engineer
Join us as a Lead Platform Engineer to take charge of our core platform, infrastructure, and cutting-edge developer tooling behind our innovative products. This role combines hands-on execution with strategic oversight: you will design and implement critical systems, craft the platform roadmap, and collaborate with engineering teams to ensure we maintain a secure, reliable, and scalable foundation.
In this position, you will report directly to the CTO and will be empowered to identify problems, set project directions, and implement solutions with minimal oversight. You will partner with engineering managers across PHP, Python, and mobile/web platforms, holding responsibility for the architectural vision and execution across the entire organization.
Responsibilities
Design and implement complex backend systems such as payment processing and authentication for the Wag backend application.
Create cross-platform and cross-team system architectures.
Establish and enhance efficient build and deployment pipelines, utilizing containerization (Docker, Gitlab CI/CD), and develop tooling to optimize productivity.
Integrate AI-powered solutions to elevate platform quality and boost developer productivity.
Outline and manage the platform roadmap, balancing reliability, developer productivity, technical debt, and cost effectiveness.
Design and implement bug detection and triage tools and procedures.
Contribute to infrastructure as code through Terraform.
Develop and lead incident response procedures, focusing on observability and on-call operations.
Act as a trusted technical owner for essential backend systems.
Mentor engineers on best practices related to infrastructure and platform development.
Ensure Security and Compliance in platform design in collaboration with the Security Manager.
Oversee the design of data engineering and analytics platforms.
Engage in on-call incident response for critical systems.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Code and Application Quality: Monitor bug regression rates, application quality, and platform performance.
System Reliability: Ensure high uptime and minimal mean time to recovery (MTTR).
Velocity Enablers: Track CI/CD speed and developer productivity metrics.
Technical Hygiene: Focus on reducing systemic debt and progress on the platform initiatives roadmap.
Cross-team Alignment: Measure the percentage of projects that conform to established standards.
Qualifications
Willingness to actively engage in both planning and execution with a dedicated team.
Extensive backend software development experience.
Familiarity with PHP and Python is essential.
Strong experience with containerization technologies (specifically Docker) and CI/CD pipeline design.
Expertise in designing and managing cloud infrastructure, particularly within AWS.
Proficient in Terraform (or equivalent Infrastructure as Code tools) for infrastructure management.
Demonstrated ability to design complex and dependable systems independently.
Experience in leading cross-team initiatives and influencing technical direction.
In-depth understanding of reliability engineering, monitoring, and incident management.
Exceptional communication skills and capability to collaborate with diverse engineering teams.
Wag! Group Co. aims to be the leading platform addressing the service, product, and wellness needs of modern U.S. pet households. Since pioneering on-demand dog walking in 2015 with the Wag! app, we now offer access to five-star dog walking, sitting, and personalized training from a network of over 500,000 Pet Caregivers nationwide. Additionally, Wag! Group Co. operates Petted, one of the nation's largest pet insurance comparison marketplaces; Dog Food Advisor, a highly trusted source for pet food reviews; WoofWoofTV, engaging a large audience with delightful pet content across social media; and maxbone, a top digital platform for modern pet essentials.