Staff Platform Engineer

About Hyperexponential (hx)

Hyperexponential is pioneering an AI-driven platform designed to support critical decision-making in the £7 trillion insurance industry, transforming how risks are assessed and priced. Our solutions enable faster, smarter underwriting to help insurers confidently manage risk and make impactful business decisions across insurance sectors, including aerospace, autonomous vehicles, and disaster recovery.

Our growth is fueled by prominent investors such as a16z, Highland Europe, and Battery Ventures, with an expanding global footprint and a client base including nearly 50 of the largest insurers who trust and rely on our platform for billions in premiums.

Originally starting with a single product, we've expanded to a comprehensive multi-product, multi-market platform that powers pricing and underwriting workflows with AI integration at its core. We innovate through cutting-edge tools, including a domain-specific AI programmer equivalent to a PhD-level assistant for actuarial science, reshaping industry workflows.

At hx, impact is measured by the challenges you choose and the discipline you exhibit, not by titles or seniority. You will collaborate with highly talented peers, experiencing professional growth while contributing to a company engineered for longevity.

Platform Team Overview

The Platform Team provides the foundational infrastructure that empowers engineering teams to deliver scalable, secure applications rapidly. Our vision is an AI-first platform emphasizing self-service infrastructure, intelligent automation, and reusable components to exponentially enhance developer productivity and operational quality. We challenge conventional software delivery models and lead innovation.

Role Overview

As a Staff Platform Engineer, you will steer the technical evolution of the platform, crafting architectural frameworks and engineering principles for others to follow. Your leadership will foster platform coherence, ensuring alignment with strategic business goals. Your influence will promote autonomous, AI-augmented infrastructure at scale, enhancing the efficiency and agility of engineering teams across our organization.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a clear 12 to 18-month technical roadmap for the platform, specifying trade-offs and milestones while securing consensus with engineering leadership and stakeholders.
• Design platform capabilities that are widely embraced due to superior design and documentation, significantly reducing bottlenecks in provisioning and deployment tasks.
• Define architectural patterns and standards facilitating autonomous and AI-enabled workflows, empowering engineers to build AI-native features independently.
• Embed platform standards for security, reliability, and operational excellence into all teams' workflows, encouraging adherence through ease and effectiveness rather than enforcement.
• Mentor senior engineers, improving their architectural judgment, decision-making skills, and platform mindset, serving as a respected technical authority.

Required Experience

• Proven track record of defining architectural strategies, standards, and patterns for platform domains over multiple quarters, balancing trade-offs such as build vs buy, immediate needs vs long-term coherence.
• Skillful in mediating technical disagreements among senior engineers and stakeholders to achieve sustained, well-supported decisions.
• Ability to oversee outcomes spanning multiple teams, focusing on designing systems and enablement methods that amplify engineering effectiveness instead of individual contribution.
• Experience architecting AI and automation integration in platform infrastructure, setting foundational patterns for AI-augmented engineering workflows at scale.
• Insightful about adoption challenges, user needs, and barriers to self-service; capable of guiding roadmap decisions based on data and user feedback to foster platform adoption by merit.
• Strong foresight in identifying security, architectural, and operational risks early, influencing overall engineering practices regarding reliability, security posture, and cost-efficiency.
• Proficient in communicating platform strategies to senior leadership, connecting technical constraints with business objectives and prioritizing initiatives accordingly.
• Dedicated to developing senior engineers through challenges, constructive feedback, and exposure to complex problems, embodying and promoting the desired engineering culture.

Characteristics Unsuitable For This Role

• Preference for tasks with clear instructions over ambiguous problem-solving requiring exploration and iterative approaches.
• Viewing platform engineering as isolated infrastructure work rather than customer-focused product engineering aimed at adoption and satisfaction.
• Resistance to rapid change and continuous improvement, favoring stability and traditional practices over data-driven evolution.

Compensation and Benefits

We emphasize transparency in salary discussions, providing early clarity during recruitment stages. Compensation packages are competitive and fair, integrating equity as a substantial component for all positions.

• £5,000 annual budget for training and conferences supporting personal and group development.
• 33 days of annual leave combining 25 vacation days and 8 public holidays.
• Enrollment in a company pension scheme via Penfold.
• Access to mental health therapy and support services through Spectrum.life.
• Wellbeing allowance available via Juno.
• Private healthcare coverage through AXA.
• Income protection and life insurance policies included.
• Cycle to Work Scheme to promote sustainable commuting.

Additional Perks

• Provision of state-of-the-art equipment, including laptops, monitors, and ergonomic desks.
• Regular events such as remote and in-person hackathons, educational sessions, social gatherings, and game nights.
• Office amenities featuring team meals, snacks, beverages, and a welcoming environment at The Ministry office.
• Outstanding opportunities for career development and growth in a collaborative, innovative setting.

Recruitment Process

• Initial discussion with the Talent team.
• Interview with the Hiring Manager.
• Technical assessment followed by an interview.
• Values-based behavioral interview.
• Meeting with the CEO.
• Offer extension.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We place diversity at the heart of our development efforts, fostering a workplace where differing perspectives drive innovation. Our aim is to cultivate an environment where all employees can thrive, contribute, and grow meaningfully. Diversity bolsters our collective ability to address complex challenges and build enduring solutions. Candidates motivated by complexity and development are encouraged to apply.

Additional Information

Background checks are conducted per governance policies, handled with sensitivity and full regulatory compliance, protecting applicant data according to data protection laws and organizational privacy policies.