Platform Engineering Director

Get to know us

Do you want to help us shape what the future of work will look like and how it will best embrace our life's aspirations? If this sounds like a journey you want to embark on, we may have the right role for you! PayFit is an intuitive software as a service payroll and HRIS solution designed specifically for SMBs. Since 2015, we have set ourselves a mission to simplify payroll for SMBs and enable employers and employees to grow together. We are a European company operating from 3 main countries (France, Spain, and the UK) where we are supporting over 18,000 clients.

Creating a fulfilling work environment and culture is also a core mission at PayFit, and our day-to-day work philosophy is reflected in our four values:

Care: We genuinely care for others whoever they are, whatever they think.

Excellence: We aim to improve and achieve better results every day.

Humility: Staying humble and exchanging transparent feedback helps us to grow and improve.

Passion: We are the architects of PayFit's success.

A key part of our culture , and essential for our success, is also improving the diversity of our teams and building an inclusive culture where you can be yourself at work.

This is why our recruitment focuses on the skills you demonstrate, and not only on your academic background or previous professional experiences. At PayFit we understand that you can gain applicable skills through a variety of life experiences and we are interested in knowing them, too.

Location:

The position is based in France .

Position Overview:

As Platform Engineering Director , you will lead the strategy, development, and evolution of PayFit’s core engineering platforms to support our overall transformation. Your mission: empower all product and engineering teams to move faster, safer, and at scale by providing reliable, secure, and developer-friendly foundations.

You’ll oversee PayFit’s platform domains such as Infrastructure & Developer Experience, Software Platform, Low-code Platform, Application Security, and Procurement), ensuring world-class execution and alignment with company priorities. This role is strategic : you’ll shape long-term technology direction, while building, mentoring, and scaling high-performing engineering teams.

You’ll partner closely with Product, Security, Finance, and other engineering leaders to align platform investments with business outcomes, challenge trade-offs, and deliver measurable impact.

This is a pivotal time to join, as we’re embracing a platform-as-a-product mindset, redesigning our systems around an event-driven architecture, and simplifying our overall ecosystem.

Strategic Focus Areas (in the next 12–18 months):

One Platform : reach faster time-to-market, lower TCO, stronger compliance and reliability.

• Scale the event-driven platform and evolve the low‑code engine to be stateless, agnostic and simpler.

• Simplify the toolchain to reduce lead time and cognitive load; elevate compliance, strengthen compliance systems, and reinforce identity/permissions framework.

One Environment : adopt a production-only operating model to ensure higher deploy frequency, lower failure rate/MTTR and reduced complexity.

• Streamline the developer journey (from code to production), ensure reliability of core infrastructure (DNS, EKS, landing zone), and simplify the toolchain.

• Rationalize/decommission non-prod environments to reduce drift and focus reliability investments.

One Team : align platform, product, and security around shared outcomes: predictable delivery, higher developer speed, optimized external spend.

• Joint OKRs on productivity, reliability, and unit economics; clear SLAs and ownership.

• Scale security-by-design practices and optimize vendor/licensing (AWS, GitHub, etc.) for ROI.

Key responsibilities:

Platform Vision & Strategy

• Define and execute the long-term engineering platform strategy, aligned with PayFit’s growth, scalability, and reliability objectives.

• Treat internal platforms as products: frame developer needs, prioritize roadmap, and deliver impactful outcomes.

• Anticipate technical and organizational scale challenges; define architectural north star and path to get there.

Leadership & Team Growth

• Build, grow, and lead multiple senior engineering teams across core platform domains.

• Attract and develop top engineering talent, with a strong focus on feedback, coaching, and performance management.

• Shape and drive the Engineering Leadership Group, fostering opinionated, aligned, and empowered leaders.

Execution & Impact

• Ensure operational excellence in PayFit’s infrastructure, developer experience, and security.

• Set and track KPIs/OKRs to measure platform efficiency, developer productivity, reliability, and cost control.

• Drive process improvements and embed lean, efficient ways of working across teams.

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Partner with Product and domain teams to ensure platforms directly unlock business and product outcomes.

• Collaborate with Security and Finance to proactively manage risks, compliance, procurement, and cost efficiency.

• Provide clear visibility on platform strategy, progress, and priorities to executive stakeholders.

Qualifications:

• Proven experience as a Senior Engineering Leader in SaaS or platform-focused environments.

• Strong technical expertise in modern platforms: event-driven architectures, developer experience, cloud infrastructure, security.

• Demonstrated success building and scaling multiple high-performing engineering teams.

• Product mindset: proven ability to treat internal platforms as products with users.

• Skilled in structured problem-solving, metrics-driven decision making, and operational efficiency.

• Strong ability to simplify complex technical concepts and gain buy-in from diverse stakeholders (engineers, product leaders, executives).

• Excellent communication skills in both French and English.

Interview process:

1. Interview with a recruiter - 45min

2. Interview with the hiring manager ( CTO ) - 45 min

3. Interview with 2 key Engineering Stakeholders - 60min

4. Business case with the Hiring Manager & 3 key Stakeholders - 60min

5. Final Interview - 45min

👉 Background Check (ISO27001 certification): identity, diploma, and past professional experiences will be checked after the offer.

What we offer

Flexibility : We believe it is key to produce your best work and to be fulfilled. We therefore offer the possibility to work away from our main offices, within France/UK/Spain; as well as abroad for a defined period. Further requirements may apply depending on the role and your overall experience.
Learning & Development: In PayFit we have a great learning platform where you can learn new skills every day with the support of our company. We also have English language courses to improve your business communication vocabulary and get to the next level.
Career Development: We want you to progress and be free to choose which direction you want to grow. There are also opportunities for internal moves.
Health promotion: A Gym at our Paris office and a GymLib subscription with preferential rates. 4 paid sessions with a mental health practitioner and online support with Moka.Care.
Health insurance: Mutuelle Henner (60% covered by PayFit).
Transportation: 50% covered for your public transportation card for those living within Ile de France. A budget to travel to the office for those who live outside of it.
Meals: A restaurant card with our partner Swile ( 9€ per workday).
Home office budget: 150€ per year to help you get set up in the best conditions. A MacBook is our standard working tool.
Parental support: 20 weeks maternity leave covered by PayFit and 4 weeks leave for the second parent.
Time off: 25 days of holidays + RTT days (depending on the contract).

Disability Inclusion: All of our positions are open to any person living with a disability. To guarantee equal treatment and opportunities, we will take, based on individual needs, appropriate measures to adapt the work conditions of PayFiters with disabilities, and if needed also during the recruitment process. Please let us know what you need and we will do our best to accommodate!