Platform Engineering Head / Architect

Educational QualificationB.Tech./B.E. in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related engineering discipline (Must have; full-time regular course)MTech. /M.S. in Computer Science, Information Technology, or Software Engineering desirableCertifications (at least one required at deployment — Must have): AWS Solutions Architect Professional, AWS DevOps Engineer Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect, or CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator)Certifications (Desirable): CKAD, CKS, HashiCorp Terraform Associate, Certified Backstage Associate (if available), TOGAF 9, SAFe Architect, ITIL 4 FoundationExperience12+ years in software engineering, platform engineering, or DevSecOps, with minimum 4 years in a Lead Architect or Head of Platform role owning a production platform end-to-endMinimum 2 years of hands-on experience with an Internal Developer Platform (IDP) — Backstage or equivalent — covering plugin architecture, software catalogue, scaffolder templates, and SSO integrationDemonstrated experience architecting and operating cloud-native platforms at scale, serving 500+ developers across multiple business units or tenantsDemonstrated experience with source-code and DevSecOps platforms (GitLab, GitHub Enterprise, Bitbucket) as the CI/CD backbone, and with an OSS or licensed project management tool (OpenProject, Jira, Azure DevOps Boards)Prior experience delivering platform engineering initiatives for government, PSU, BFSI, or regulated enterprise programmes preferredPrior experience owning migration of a large SDLC / ALM estate — repositories, work packages, users, pipelines, audit logs — to a new platform desirableKey Responsibilities Platform Architecture & StrategyOwn the end-to-end reference architecture of the platform across the developer portal (IDP), source-code and CI/CD layer, project management layer, and observability, operations & security layerDefine and publish the platform's guiding principles — federated custody with central governance, end-toend traceability by default, policy enforcement as code, open-source preferred, and AI-integrated delivery with human-in-the-loop guardrailsApprove HLD/LLD, integration designs, IaC governance standards, GitOps workflows, Kubernetes reference designs, active-passive DR architecture, and network topologyOwn the platform's scalability baseline, NFR validation approach, and technology-obsolescence / refresh plans across the engagement lifecycleInternal Developer Platform OwnershipOwn the developer portal roadmap — software catalogue, golden path scaffolder, TechDocs, plugin strategy, SSO/MFA, superadmin and admin consoles, self-registration, and integration with enterprise tools (HRMS, KMS, document management, SharePoint)Define golden paths and platform patterns that consumer teams must adopt; approve tenant-specific customisationsApprove the plugin model for on-demand tool onboarding to the observability, operations & security layer without disruption to existing integrationsGovernance of the Implementation AgencyAct as the single point of technical authority for the implementation agency; review deliverables against contracted scope and phase-gate validation criteriaChair architecture review boards and technical acceptance sessions across all phases; recommend acceptance, conditional acceptance, or rework to leadershipTrack SLA adherence (uptime, RTO/RPO, incident resolution) and quality metrics; drive corrective actionMigration, Onboarding & Stakeholder InterfaceApprove the migration strategy from legacy platforms covering repositories, work packages, users, CI/CD pipelines, audit logs, wiki content, and attachments — with zero data loss and full auditabilityServe as the technical interface with consumer administrators, developer and vendor teams, external contributors, and the internal stakeholder community during discovery, onboarding waves, and hypercareApprove onboarding plans, dedicated / isolated deployment configurations, and tenant-specific integrations with external toolsAI & Emerging Technology IntegrationEvaluate and approve introduction of AI capabilities across developer productivity (AI code review, test generation, intelligent search), delivery intelligence (predictive risk, release summaries), security intelligence (AI-augmented vulnerability prioritisation), and operations (predictive alerting, capacity forecasting) — with appropriate governance, audit logging, and human-in-the-loop controlsKnowledge Transfer, Exit Management & SustainabilityEnsure the agency delivers complete runbooks, TechDocs, operational SOPs, and training to prevent lockin at exitOwn the exit and handover framework at the end of the engagement, including data / configuration handover and secure deletion by the agency; ensure core data and configurations remain exportable in open, documented formatsTechnical CompetenciesInternal Developer Platform (IDP): Backstage architecture, plugin strategy and development, catalogue model, scaffolder templates, TechDocs, permission framework; IDP design patterns and developerexperience principlesDevSecOps Platform: GitLab (or equivalent) architecture — Runners, CI/CD pipelines, SAST/DAST, container registry, releases; branch protection, merge request workflows, supply-chain security (SBOM, artefact signing)Project Management Layer: OpenProject, Jira, or equivalent — architecture and integration; workpackage-to-commit traceability; Agile boards (Kanban/Gantt); release and version planning Cloud & Infrastructure Architecture: AWS (EKS, IAM, ALB, Route 53, Secrets Manager, KMS, S3, CloudWatch) or equivalent hyperscaler; hybrid, on-premise, and sovereign-cloud deployment patterns; NIC / MeghRaj familiarity desirableContainer & Orchestration: Kubernetes (production-grade), Docker, Helm, service mesh basics, cluster capacity and health governanceIaC & GitOps: Terraform / OpenTofu, Ansible, Argo CD or Flux; GitOps deployment patterns and governanceIdentity & Access: SSO, OIDC, SAML, LDAP, MFA design; Keycloak, Auth0, AWS IAM Identity Center, Microsoft Entra IDProgramming & Runtime: Node.js, TypeScript, React, Express, PostgreSQL, YAML; ability to read and review production code (not required to code full-time)APIs & Integration: REST / OpenAPI, GraphQL basics, webhook design, event-driven integration, API gateway patternsObservability & SRE: Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, OpenTelemetry, Jaeger / Tempo; SLI/SLO/errorbudget methodology; RTO/RPO planning; incident managementSecurity & Compliance: OWASP Top 10, NIST CSF, Zero Trust Architecture, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, CIS controls, CERT-In guidelines, DPDP Act 2023AI/ML Understanding: Working understanding of LLMs, RAG architectures, MLOps, and AI-assisted developer tooling (not required to code, but must make platform-level trade-offs)Communication: Executive presentation to leadership and consumer stakeholders; ability to defend architectural positions in review boards; ability to translate technical trade-offs for non-technical audiences and build consensus across engineering, security, and business stakeholdersPlease Note: NeGD invites applications for the following position on a purely contractual basis, initially for a period of three (3) years, which may be extended subject to the requirements of the project.