Platform Engineering Lead

Location: GlobalWorking Arrangement: Remote/HybridTimezone: CST hoursAbout Plutus21Plutus21 is a global technology, investment, and operating platform focused on building and scaling businesses through technology and AI.Recognized on the AI 75, Dallas 100, and Inc. 5000, Plutus21 has grown to more than 200 professionals across eight countries. We are now building the leadership team for our next stage of global growth.We are seeking a Platform Engineering Lead to architect and build the foundational technology platform behind how Plutus21 develops and deploys technology across our organization and the businesses we work with.This is a hands-on engineering leadership role. You will architect and build the platform while developing a team of Forward Deployed Engineers who deploy it against real business problems. You will be expected to remain deeply involved in architecture, coding, technical problem-solving, and production delivery as the team grows.The objective is to create reusable infrastructure that allows Plutus21 to connect enterprise data, model business processes, develop operational software, and deploy AI systems across multiple businesses with increasing speed, consistency, and reliability.ResponsibilitiesPlatform Architecture & Engineering Lead the architecture and development of our core technology platform Build a unified data layer connecting databases, APIs, documents, applications, and real-time data sources Develop an ontology and semantic layer that models business objects, relationships, actions, and permissions Build reusable frameworks for rapidly developing operational applications and internal tools Develop workflow and automation infrastructure for complex business processes Build infrastructure that allows AI agents to securely access business context, use tools, and take approved actions Design APIs and integration frameworks for connecting business applications and third-party systems Establish scalable cloud architecture, deployment standards, observability, and reliability practices Make thoughtful build-versus-buy decisions across the technology stack Forward Deployed Engineering Work directly with executives, operators, and customers to understand complex business problems Translate business processes into data models, software applications, workflows, and AI systems Deploy technology into real operating environments and remain involved through production and adoption Turn successful customer-specific solutions into reusable platform capabilities Develop repeatable deployment patterns that allow Plutus21 to move from problem to production quickly Build and lead a team of Forward Deployed Engineers as the platform scales Establish engineering standards, development practices, and technical training for the team AI & Modern Development Use AI coding agents and modern development tools as a core part of the software development lifecycle, including coding, debugging, testing, documentation, and code review Design systems using large language models, tool calling, retrieval, structured outputs, evaluations, and agentic workflows Evaluate emerging AI models, frameworks, infrastructure, and development tools Build reusable infrastructure for deploying AI safely across different businesses Develop systems where AI works alongside people rather than operating as an isolated application Maintain a strong bias toward experimentation while ensuring successful prototypes can scale into production systems Enterprise Security & Compliance Design security, privacy, and governance into the platform from the beginning Implement enterprise identity, single sign-on, role-based and attribute-based access controls, and least-privilege architecture Maintain appropriate customer and tenant data isolation Implement encryption, secrets management, audit logging, data lineage, and monitoring Establish secure software development and vulnerability management practices Design appropriate permissions and human approval controls for AI agents Build with enterprise compliance requirements in mind, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and other applicable standards Partner with security, legal, and compliance teams as the platform expands into regulated environments Qualifications 6+ years of software engineering experience, including significant ownership of production software architecture Experience leading the architecture and development of complex software platforms Experience designing ontologies, knowledge graphs, or object-based enterprise data models Strong full-stack engineering background Experience with modern frontend and backend development, including technologies such as TypeScript, Python, React, APIs, and cloud infrastructure Strong understanding of relational databases, data modeling, distributed systems, and enterprise integrations Experience building data platforms, semantic layers, knowledge graphs, ontologies, workflow systems, or similar foundational infrastructure Experie