Senior Platform Engineer | S4 | Chief Information & Resilience Office | Milton Keynes & Glasgow

Senior Platform Engineer | S4 | Chief Information & Resilience Office | Milton Keynes & Glasgow

Country: United Kingdom

IT STARTS HERE

Santander ( www.santander.com ) is evolving from a global, high-impact brand into a technology-driven organisation , and our people are at the heart of this journey. Together , we are driving a customer-centric transformation that values bold thinking, innovation , and the courage to challenge what’s possible.

This is more than a strategic shift. It’s a chance for driven professionals to grow, learn, and make a real difference .

Our mission is to contribute to help more people and businesses prosper . We embrace a strong risk culture and all our professionals at all levels are expected to take a proactive and responsible approach toward risk management.

Santander Digital Services is the team of technology and operations at Santander. We are convinced of the importance of technology that is aligned with the requirements of the business and that out work not only brings value to users, people and communities but also fosters individual creativity. Our team of over 7,000 people in 8 countries (Spain, Portugal, Poland, UK, USA, Mexico, Chile and Brazil) develops and/or implements financial solutions across a broad spectrum of technologies (including Blockchain, Big Data and Angular among others) on all kinds of on-premises and cloud-based platforms.

THE DIFFERENCE YOU MAKE

Santander UK is looking for a Senior Platform Engineer based out of Milton Keynes/Glasgow .

The purpose of this role is responsibility for leading the design, implementation, optimisation, and maintenance of complex technology platforms within the organisation. They provide technical leadership to a team of platform engineers, guiding them in designing, implementing, and troubleshooting platform solutions, collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure the successful delivery of platform projects.

We’re shaping the way we work through innovation, cutting-edge technology, collaboration and the freedom to explore new ideas. To succeed in this role, you will be responsible for:

A Leading and managing IT infrastructure work and resource demands supplying necessary resources for new projects and work requests, ensuring that solutions proposed are aligned with the applications strategy.

Consulting with leadership in IT providing high level advice on the strategic direction and priorities for the infrastructure function that underpins the IT estate.

Strategic planning, day to day operations, delivery of new services and solutions and capacity planning to ensure IT infrastructure meets the current and future requirements of the organisation.

Participating in incident response efforts, diagnosing, and resolving platform related issues and implementing preventative measures to minimise downtime.

Full-service delivery. Undertakes structure planning to ensure sufficient system capacity is made available, that renewal plans to replace obsolete or at-risk technologies are timely and that SLAs are being met and/or exceeded.

Resolving complex technical issues and provide senior technical leadership in response to performance bottlenecks in the platform infrastructure and applications to enhance efficiency and user experience.

Communicating platform related updates, recommendations and roadmap plans to stakeholders, including leadership, product managers and other teams.

Actively managing relationships with vendors acting as the liaison between the business, IT Senior Management team and key vendors, and maintain key relationships.

Proving technical leadership, mentoring, and promoting a culture of innovation, collaboration, and accountability within the platform engineering team.

Manage appropriate contracts and monitor the performance of third-party contractors.

Internal budget management responsibilities

Managing teams tasked with developing and maintaining the significant estate of IT infrastructure that underpins IT services across Santander.

Promotes and encourages good culture and behaviours personally and across the Team, in line with I AM Risk.

Identifies, assesses, manages, and reports risks, taking initiative-taking personal responsibility for ‘doing the right thing’ in compliance with regulatory requirements and our frameworks and policies.

Proactively supports the bank in meeting its business, legal, regulatory and stakeholder obligations in respect of Financial Crime Compliance. Including identifying, deterring, detecting, and disrupting money laundering, sanctions non-compliance, terrorist financing, bribery, corruption, and tax evasion risks that arise by way of its activities.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

Our people are our greatest strength. Every individual contributes unique perspectives that make us stronger as a team and as an organisation. We’re enabling teams to go beyond by valuing who they are and empowering what they bring.

The following requirements represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities essential for success in this role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Professional Experience

Extensive experience in designing, implementing, and supporting large-scale IT infrastructure and platform environments. (Required)

Proven track record of leading complex technology projects and platform engineering initiatives. (Required)

Strong experience in incident management, including ownership of major incidents and driving root cause resolution. (Required)

Demonstrated experience in capacity planning, performance optimisation, and infrastructure scalability. (Required)

Experience providing technical leadership, mentoring engineers, and guiding engineering best practices. (Required)

Solid background in server operating systems, distributed systems, and platform architecture. (Required)

Experience working with cross-functional teams to deliver technology solutions aligned to business strategy. (Required)

Proven ability to manage and prioritise competing workloads and resource demands in a fast-paced environment. (Required)

Experience engaging with senior stakeholders, translating complex technical concepts into business language. (Required)

Strong experience in vendor and third-party management, including performance oversight and contract engagement. (Preferred)

Experience contributing to strategic planning, roadmaps, and transformation programmes. (Required)

Working knowledge of Agile delivery methodologies and technology development lifecycles. (Required)

Demonstrated experience in driving process improvement and operational efficiency within platform teams. (Required)

Experience operating within regulated environments, with awareness of risk, compliance, and governance requirements. (Required)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field, or equivalent and relevant work experience supported by professional certifications/licences. (Preferred)

Languages

English (Required)

Hard Skills

Experience managing large-scale technology deployments and incident management. (Required)

Understanding of technology development lifecycle and of agile methodologies. (Required)

Ability to explain to senior management complex technical concepts. (Required)

Broad and comprehensive understanding of the concepts and principles within systems infrastructure and platforms. (Required)

Is knowledgeable in all stages and major activities of the incident life cycle. (Required)

Knowledge of tools, approaches, and practices for determining production demand; ability to plan and manage resources needed to provide satisfactory levels of service. (Required)

Knowledge of computer architecture and system software interaction; ability to design and build a fundamental architecture of operating systems, database management systems, communications protocols, compil