Staff Platform Engineer

About Solstice Analytics (hx) At Solstice Analytics, we're building the AI-powered platform that enables the world's most critical decisions in a £7 trillion industry, which risks to take, and how to price them. These are the decisions that shape real-world outcomes: whether rockets successfully launch into space, autonomous vehicles make it to market, or communities recover after major storms. Until now, insurance has been making billion-pound decisions using outdated tools. We're changing that. Our platform brings together data, AI, and human expertise to give insurers the fastest path from submission to decision - helping them move faster, act smarter, and take on more risk with confidence. Backed by a16z, Highland Europe, and Battery Ventures, we're scaling globally - already trusted by nearly 50 of the world's largest insurers, with zero churn and billions in premiums flowing through hx. What began as a single product in one market has rapidly evolved into a multi-product, multi-territory platform powering every stage of pricing and underwriting. AI is at the core of what we do - from building the world's first domain-specific AI peer programmer for insurance (think GitHub Copilot with a PhD in actuarial science) to shaping agentic workflows that reinvent how this industry operates. What makes hx different is the people who build it. Here, impact isn't tied to title or tenure; it's defined by the challenges you take on and the discipline you bring. Surrounded by peers who stretch you, you'll do the best, hardest work of your life in a company engineered to endure. If that sounds like you, join us in building what comes next. About the Platform team Platform at hx builds the foundation that enables engineering teams to ship secure, scalable applications at velocity. We're evolving towards an AI-first platform where self-service infrastructure, intelligent automation, and reusable components compound developer productivity and operational excellence. This isn't about maintaining the status quo; we're reimagining how modern software delivery works. As the Staff Platform Engineer , you will own the technical direction of this evolution. You will define the architecture and engineering standards that others build to, drive coherence across teams, and ensure the platform strategy is aligned to long-term business outcomes. You will shape how AI-first, self-service infrastructure is done at scale, not just by delivering capabilities yourself, but by creating the conditions for engineering teams across the organisation to move faster, more safely, and more autonomously. Check out our Engineering Candidate Hub for a behind the scenes look at the team you would be joining! What you'll be doing Establish a coherent 12–18 month technical direction for the platform, with clearly articulated trade-offs, milestones, and alignment across engineering leadership. The roadmap is understood, trusted, and actively referenced by stakeholders. Platform capabilities are adopted broadly across engineering, not because teams are told to use them, but because they are well-designed, well-documented, and genuinely reduce friction. Measurable reduction in Platform as a bottleneck for common provisioning and deployment tasks. Define the architectural patterns and standards that enable autonomous and AI-augmented workflows across the organisation. Other engineers can build AI-native capabilities without requiring Platform's direct involvement in every initiative. Platform defined standards for security, reliability, and operational excellence are embedded into how all teams build not enforced through gatekeeping, but adopted because they are the path of least resistance. Measurable reduction in misconfiguration, security exceptions, and operational incidents across the estate. Senior engineers are visibly stronger for having worked alongside you. The team develops better instincts for architecture, trade-offs, and platform thinking. You are sought out as a technical authority. What you'll need to have done Defined the architecture, standards, and patterns for the platform domain over a multi-quarter horizon. Makes high-judgement calls on foundational trade-offs such as build vs buy, depth vs breadth, short-term pragmatism vs long-term coherence and brings the organisation along on those decisions. Navigating disagreement across senior engineers, architects, and stakeholders to reach durable technical decisions. Comfortable holding a position under pressure, updating it when presented with better evidence, and ensuring decisions stick once made. Accountability for outcomes that span multiple teams and that they do not personally deliver. Designs systems, standards, and enablement approaches that multiply the effectiveness of the engineers around them, rather than being the primary hands-on contributor to every initiative. Defined how AI and automation are embedded into the platform at an architectural level not just experimenting with too