Principal Platform Engineer
Abbott
Summary
The Principal Platform Engineer is responsible for designing, building, and operating secure, scalable, and compliant cloud-native platforms that support digital health, medical software, data, and AI/ML solutions. This role provides technical leadership across AWS cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes platforms, automation, cybersecurity, and software delivery. The successful candidate will establish platform standards, drive engineering excellence, and mentor teams while remaining hands-on with platform design and implementation.
Job description
What You’ll Work On
- Lead architecture, design, implementation, and operation of cloud-native platforms on AWS.
- Design and operate Kubernetes platforms using Amazon EKS.
- Define platform standards, reference architectures, and engineering best practices.
- Build and maintain cloud infrastructure using Terraform and Infrastructure-as-Code.
- Implement GitOps and CI/CD practices to automate infrastructure and application delivery.
- Develop reusable platform services, automation, and self-service capabilities for engineering teams.
- Design secure cloud solutions using modern identity, access control, encryption, and secrets management practices.
- Partner with Cybersecurity, Privacy, Quality, and Regulatory teams to ensure compliance and audit readiness.
- Drive reliability, scalability, observability, and operational excellence across platform services.
- Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership across multiple teams.
- Participate in architecture reviews, technical planning, and engineering governance activities.
- Support development of regulated healthcare and medical software solutions.
- Comply with FDA regulations, quality processes, cybersecurity standards, and other applicable regulatory requirements.
Skills and Competencies
- Cloud & Platform Engineering: AWS, Amazon EKS, Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, Distributed Systems
- Infrastructure Automation: Terraform, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), GitOps, ArgoCD or Flux, DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, GitHub Actions, CI/CD Pipelines, Automated Testing, Release Automation
- Security: AWS IAM, OIDC Federation, Workload Identity, Secrets Management, Container Security, DevSecOps
- Leadership: Technical Strategy, Architecture & Design Reviews, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Mentoring & Coaching, Communication & Influencing
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
- (16+ Bachelors OR 10+ Master’s Degree) years of experience in cloud architecture and enterprise-scale systems.
- Hands-on experience with Amazon EKS, Kubernetes, Terraform, GitOps, and modern CI/CD practices.
- Experience designing secure, highly available, scalable distributed systems.
- Experience leading technical initiatives across multiple teams and influencing engineering decisions.
- Proficiency in relevant software and system development tools (e.g., Java, C#, C++, Python, NodeJS).
- Strong experience with DevOps/CI-CD, containerization and orchestration (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes), IaC (e.g., Terraform), and observability.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in healthcare, digital health, medical device, life sciences, or other regulated industries.
- Experience supporting AI/ML and data platform workloads.
- Experience with healthcare interoperability standards such as FHIR, HL7, and DICOM.
- Experience designing and implementing secure cloud-native platforms.
- Experience supporting FDA-regulated software development environments.
- Strong understanding of cybersecurity principles, secure software development, and cloud security best practices.
- Experience supporting compliance initiatives and audits including: ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA / HITECH, FedRAMP, NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
- AWS, Kubernetes, security, or cloud certifications preferred.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
- 16+ years with Bachelor's OR 10+ years with Master's in cloud architecture and enterprise-scale systems.
- Hands-on experience with Amazon EKS, Kubernetes, Terraform, GitOps, and modern CI/CD practices.
- Experience designing secure, highly available, scalable distributed systems.
- Experience leading technical initiatives across multiple teams and influencing engineering decisions.
- Proficiency in relevant software and system development tools (e.g., Java, C#, C++, Python, NodeJS).
- Strong experience with DevOps/CI-CD, containerization and orchestration (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes), IaC (e.g., Terraform), and observability.
Benefits
- Medical coverage
- Retirement savings plan
- Tuition reimbursement
- Student debt program
- Education benefit
Company overview
Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare leader with a 135-year legacy of innovation, dedicated to helping people live healthier, fuller lives through life-changing technologies and products. Headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, the company operates in more than 160 countries with a workforce of approximately 114,000 professionals. Abbott's diversified portfolio spans four core business segments: medical devices, diagnostics, nutrition products, and branded generic pharmaceuticals. The company is particularly renowned for its groundbreaking medical devices including cardiovascular technologies, diabetes management systems like the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitor, neuromodulation devices for chronic pain, and the AVEIR DR dual chamber leadless pacemaker system. In diagnostics, Abbott has been instrumental in developing critical tests, including the first licensed HIV test in 1985 that helped secure blood supply safety. The company's nutrition division produces leading infant formulas like Similac, while its pharmaceutical business provides quality branded generic medicines. Abbott consistently ranks among Fortune's Most Admired Companies and maintains a strong commitment to sustainability and corporate responsibility, making it a trusted partner in advancing global healthcare.