Lead Platform Operations Engineer

Upwork Inc.’s (Nasdaq: UPWK) family of companies connects businesses with global, AI-enabled talent across every contingent work type including freelance, fractional, and payrolled. This portfolio includes the Upwork Marketplace, which connects businesses with on-demand access to highly skilled talent across the globe, and Lifted, which provides a purpose-built solution for enterprise organizations to source, contract, manage, and pay talent across the full spectrum of contingent work. From Fortune 100 enterprises to entrepreneurs, businesses rely on Upwork Inc. to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI & machine learning, software development, sales & marketing, customer support, finance & accounting, and more, the Upwork family of companies enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and transform their workforces for the age of AI and beyond.

Since its founding, Upwork Inc. has facilitated more than $30 billion in total transactions and services as it fulfills its purpose to create opportunity in every era of work. Learn more about the Upwork Marketplace at Upwork.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X; and learn more about Lifted at Go-Lifted and follow on LinkedIn.

As a Lead Platform Operations Engineer, you’ll build the technical foundation for Upwork’s new international office while helping bring our cloud and Kubernetes infrastructure into one consistent operating model. 

In your first months, you’ll stand up the office network, take ownership of local technical operations, and act as the on-site technical contact for workplace technology until a dedicated Workplace resource is in place. Over time, your focus shifts to Platform Operations, where you’ll partner with Kubernetes Platform, Reliability Engineering, Corporate Technology, Workplace, and Security to make our infrastructure more reliable, automated, and secure. This role requires hands-on work in the Lisbon office, especially during launch and for issues that need a local response.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, build, and operation of the office network, including switching, wireless, routing, DNS, firewalls, VPNs, and secure connectivity to Upwork’s cloud environments, with monitoring, change, and recovery practices documented from day one.
• Own local technical operations during office launch by diagnosing and resolving on-site infrastructure issues, coordinating with Corporate Technology and Workplace on employee connectivity and meeting room technology, and handing off workplace support cleanly once a dedicated resource is established.
• Operate and improve cloud infrastructure across providers, accounts, and environments, managing the full lifecycle from provisioning and patching to capacity planning, backup validation, recovery testing, and decommissioning, with attention to availability, security, scalability, and cost.
• Build reusable, well-tested infrastructure as code with Terraform Enterprise or Terraform Cloud, and use Chef, Ansible, or similar tools to keep systems consistent and reduce manual change. Use AI coding assistants to speed up module development, testing, and drift analysis, and review the output for accuracy and risk.
• Operate Kubernetes and Amazon EKS infrastructure, including cluster and node lifecycle, networking, ingress, storage integration, upgrades, and observability, partnering with Kubernetes Platform and Reliability Engineering to establish shared operational practices across cloud and runtime layers.
• Strengthen observability, alerting, runbooks, and incident response, join the production on-call rotation, and turn recurring issues into preventive controls and automation built in Python, Go, Bash, or a comparable language.
• Support security reviews, audits, and compliance controls through accurate documentation and repeatable processes, and share operational best practices with teammates as the team grows.

What It Takes to Catch Our Eye:

• Experience owning production cloud infrastructure, including reliability, maintenance, and recovery, with solid Linux skills and configuration management experience using Chef, Ansible, or similar tools.
• Strong hands-on enterprise networking experience across office networks, switching, wireless, routing, DNS, firewalls, VPNs, and cloud connectivity.
• Experience building and maintaining infrastructure with Terraform, including reusable modules, state management, upgrades, and drift remediation, plus scripting or software skills in Python, Go, Bash, or a comparable language.
• Hands-on experience operating Kubernetes or Amazon EKS, with the ability to troubleshoot across cluster, network, and underlying infrastructure layers, backed by sound judgment on monitoring, incident response, root cause analysis, security, and change management.
• Comfort using AI tools to speed up infrastructure and operations work, such as drafting runbooks, analyzing incidents, or generating automation, while validating results for technical accuracy and risk and sharing what works with your team.

Come change how the world works.

Upwork is establishing its first international operational hub in Lisbon, Portugal, and this role will require 3 days per week in office.

We’re proud to offer benefits that go beyond the basics, including healthcare coverage for you and your family, life insurance, meal allowance, mental health support, a wellness reimbursement program, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Upwork is committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law.

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To learn more about how Upwork processes and protects your personal information as part of the application process, please review our Global Job Applicant Privacy Notice