Platform Engineer

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is a unique global partnership of five institutions driven by a bold vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, we help solve the world’s greatest development challenges. When you join the World Bank Group, you become part of a dynamic, diverse organization with 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide. We work with public and private sector partners, invest in groundbreaking projects, and use data, research, and technology to bring tangible and transformative change around the globe. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

VPU Context:

The Information and Technology Solutions (ITS) Vice Presidential Unit (VPU) enables the World Bank Group to achieve its mission of ending extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet by delivering transformative information and technologies to its staff working in over 150+ locations. For more information on ITS, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=VTFGffa1Y7w

Department Context

The World Bank Group Technology Office (ITSTO) defines and executes the technology strategy for the World Bank Group, ensuring that technological investments and standards deliver secure, resilient, and efficient platforms to support global operations. Through strategic planning, enterprise architecture, platform engineering, and core infrastructure management, ITSTO aligns technology initiatives with the Bank Group’s mission and business objectives.

ITSTO drives technology-enabled innovation, modernizes infrastructure, and enhances organizational agility. By fostering collaboration across all World Bank Group entities—including IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, and ICSID—ITSTO leverages technology as a catalyst for accelerating development impact and advancing digital transformation. Its leadership ensures that technology serves as a strategic enabler for achieving the Bank Group’s development goals, empowering the institution to address emerging challenges and opportunities with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Unit Context

The Technology Platforms Team (ITSPL) is anchored in the Chief Technology Officer (ITSTO) division in ITS. ITS Technology Office (ITSTO) drives technology-enabled innovation and delivers the digital backbone for WBG's mission. It develops future-ready technology strategy, modernizes infrastructure, manages innovation, and fosters agility. The unit collaborates across the organization to leverage technology as a force multiplier, accelerating development impact and digital transformation globally.

ITSPL delivers secure, cloud-first IT platforms with automation, self-service, and Platform Engineering (IaC). It manages databases, integrations, & cloud ops to ensure reliable, scalable, & cost-effective alignment with enterprise standards. The primary programs that the ITSTO unit is responsible for is providing a wide range of technical infrastructure services to meet the institution's computing needs, from mid-range servers, large scale servers, and the respective system, network, and supporting software on those platforms. It provides engineering, integration, and system administration services for Server Administration, Server Security, Backup/Restore, Storage, Virtual infrastructure (on premise and in cloud) and Data Center Management.

Duties and accountabilities: 

The role will work as part of the Developer Experience (DevEx) team within the Shared Services Platform Engineering team in ITSPL. The role is responsible for designing and evolving developer-facing platforms that reduce cognitive load, minimize delivery friction, and provide consistent self-service experience for application teams. The role focuses on platform product engineering, including the Internal Developer Portal (IDP), standards, and golden paths, rather than operational execution or production support.

The role requires a hands-on approach in a multicultural environment which supports diversity, continuous learning, enhancing skillsets and collaboration. The ideal candidate must demonstrate excellent communication skills as the position requires frequent interaction with multiple cross-functional teams. The candidate must possess a strong sense of curiosity, adaptability, and the drive to learn and innovate. 

We provide a meaningful, open, and collaborative environment. We have many interesting problems to solve, providing you an opportunity to develop your skills while contributing to the mission of the bank. We value teamwork, openness, curiosity, and persistence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, engineer, and evolve developer-facing platform services that improve developer experience by reducing cognitive load and unnecessary complexity.

• Identify friction points across the application delivery lifecycle and translate them into platform capabilities, abstractions, and self-service workflows.

• Define and maintain golden paths, templates, and standards that guide developers toward secure, compliant, and efficient delivery patterns.

• Design and operate an Internal Developer Portal (IDP) that serves as the primary interface for platform capabilities, documentation, and workflows.

• Build and maintain shared platform services using Infrastructure as Code and reusable automation components.

• Design platform-level CI/CD capabilities as standardized services rather than application-specific implementations.

• Implement governance-by-design through automated guardrails, policy-as-code, and embedded controls that do not burden developers.

• Partner with cloud, security, architecture, and observability teams to ensure platform services are cohesive and aligned with enterprise standards. Continuously evaluate platform adoption, usability, and effectiveness, refining services to reduce bespoke engagement and manual coordination.

Selection Criteria

• Bachelor’s degree with 7 years of relevant experience, or a Master’s degree with 5 years of relevant experience.

• Demonstrated experience in DevEx, platform engineering, or internal platform product roles, distinct from operational or support-focused positions.

• Proven experience designing platforms that measurably improve developer experience, adoption, or delivery efficiency.

• Experience identifying and addressing friction across the software delivery lifecycle.

• Strong technical communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence across multiple engineering teams.

• Demonstrated experience in delivering platform engineering solutions within an Agile/ SAFe Agile environment, applying iterative design, continuous refinement, and alignment with enterprise architecture and security standards.

Technical Proficiencies

• Deep experience designing and delivering developer experience or platform engineering solutions.

• Strong expertise in reducing developer cognitive load through abstraction, standardization, and opinionated defaults.

• Proven capability designing and operating an Internal Developer Portal (IDP) or equivalent developer-facing platform.

• Strong expertise in Infrastructure as Code, reusable automation, and self-service workflows.

• Solid knowledge of CI/CD platform design and developer tooling ecosystems.

• Hands-on experience implementing governance, security, and compliance controls

• Strong understanding of developer workflows, feedback loops, and platform consumption models.

• Strong scripting and automation skills to support platform integrations and workflows

WBG Culture Attributes:

1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC including our values and inspiring stories.