Platform Engineer - Observability & Performance

Swissquote
Full_timeGland, Switzerland

📍 Job Overview

  • Job Title: Platform Engineer - Observability & Performance
  • Company: Swissquote
  • Location: Gland, Vaud, Switzerland
  • Job Type: Full-time
  • Category: DevOps Engineer
  • Date Posted: 2025-07-04
  • Experience Level: Mid-Senior level (2-5 years)
  • Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

  • Drive situational awareness via telemetry, detection, and forecasting for Swissquote's IT infrastructure.
  • Collaborate cross-functionally to collect actionable telemetry data and empower metric-driven decision-making.
  • Design, implement, and manage advanced telemetry solutions aligned with Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles.
  • 📝 Enhancement Note: This role requires a strong background in observability tools and a deep understanding of SRE principles to ensure high-performing and reliable IT systems.

💻 Primary Responsibilities

  • Develop and deploy telemetry frameworks using tools like ELK Stack, Grafana, and Prometheus to monitor system performance, availability, and reliability.
  • Design and implement alerting mechanisms with tools like PagerDuty to enable rapid anomaly detection and response.
  • Analyze telemetry data to identify trends, performance bottlenecks, and potential issues, providing actionable insights.
  • Enable teams to perform root-cause analysis and proactively detect performance issues through layman dashboards to enhance system resilience.
  • Support IT management in automating and tracking Service Level Objectives (SLOs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and error budgets in alignment with SRE principles.
  • Drive FinOps initiatives by optimizing observability-related costs for internal cloud and implementing self-service metrics, logs, and traces.
  • Generate comprehensive reports for IT management on system health, incident trends, compliance requirements, and regulatory needs.
  • Contribute to continuous improvement by recommending and implementing telemetry-driven enhancements to IT infrastructure.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field involving programming.

Experience: 2-5 years of experience in a similar role, with a strong focus on observability tools and SRE principles.

Required Skills:

  • Infrastructure as Code and GitOps principles, with tools like GitHub Actions, Ansible, or Terraform.
  • Observability tools, with tools like ELK, Grafana, Prometheus, or OpenTelemetry.
  • Alerting & on-call experience, with tools like Nagios, PagerDuty, or incident.io.
  • Strong knowledge of development, operations, networking, storage, or security.
  • Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Python, Go, Rust, Java, or Bash.
  • Systematic approach to problem-solving and a strong sense of ownership, accountability, and communication.

Preferred Skills:

  • Experience deploying and managing observability solutions in Kubernetes, containerized environments, or standalone VMs.
  • Understanding of modern IT infrastructure (Kubernetes, containers, service mesh, standalone VMs).
  • Expertise in defining and implementing SLOs, KPIs, and error budgets following SRE principles.
  • Familiarity with FinOps practices and tools like OpenCost for cost optimization.
  • Proficiency with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or Ansible for maintaining observability infrastructure.
  • Ability to quickly learn and adopt emerging technologies, methodologies, and solutions.
  • Knowledge of distributed tracing tools (e.g., APM, OpenTelemetry, Jaeger, Zipkin) and their application in complex architectures.

📊 Web Portfolio & Project Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

  • Demonstrate your proficiency in observability tools and alerting mechanisms through relevant projects.
  • Showcase your ability to analyze telemetry data and provide actionable insights with real-world examples.
  • Highlight your experience in driving FinOps initiatives and optimizing observability-related costs.

Technical Documentation:

  • Provide documentation on your approach to designing and implementing telemetry solutions.
  • Explain your methods for enabling root-cause analysis and enhancing system resilience.
  • Include any reports or presentations you've created for IT management on system health and incident trends.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: CHF 90,000 - 120,000 per year (based on experience and market research)

Benefits:

  • Competitive salary and bonus structure.
  • Comprehensive health insurance and pension plan.
  • Flexible working hours and remote work options.
  • Access to cutting-edge technologies and continuous learning opportunities.
  • A dynamic, innovative, and multicultural work environment.

Working Hours: Full-time (40 hours/week), with flexible working hours and maintenance windows as needed.

🎯 Team & Company Context

Company Culture

  • Industry: Financial Services and Technology.
  • Company Size: Medium (1,001-5,000 employees).
  • Founded: 1996.

Team Structure:

  • The IT Observability & Performance team is responsible for delivering situational awareness via telemetry, detection, and forecasting.
  • The team collaborates cross-functionally with IT management and other teams to collect actionable telemetry data and empower metric-driven decision-making.
  • The team follows SRE principles outlined in the SRE Handbook to ensure high-performing and reliable IT systems.

Development Methodology:

  • The team follows Agile/Scrum methodologies for development and deployment.
  • They use GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines and Git for version control.
  • The team employs a collaborative approach to code review, testing, and quality assurance.

Company Website: www.swissquote.com

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Web Technology Career Level: Mid-Senior level (2-5 years) Platform Engineer, responsible for designing, implementing, and managing advanced telemetry solutions to ensure the reliability and efficiency of financial systems.

Reporting Structure: Reports directly to the IT Observability & Performance Team Lead and collaborates with IT management and cross-functional teams.

Technical Impact: This role has a significant impact on the reliability, performance, and cost-efficiency of Swissquote's IT infrastructure. The Platform Engineer's work enables data-driven decision-making, enhances system resilience, and optimizes observability-related costs.

Growth Opportunities:

  • Technical Growth: Develop expertise in emerging observability tools and SRE best practices, with opportunities to lead projects and mentor junior team members.
  • Leadership Growth: Gain experience in defining and implementing SLOs, KPIs, and error budgets, with potential career progression into a team lead or architecture role.
  • Career Transition: Build a strong foundation in observability and SRE principles, opening up opportunities to transition into related roles such as Site Reliability Engineer or DevOps Engineer.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Modern, open-plan offices with collaborative workspaces and state-of-the-art technology.

Office Location(s): Gland, Vaud, Switzerland.

Workspace Context:

  • The office provides multiple monitors, testing devices, and development tools to support observability and performance analysis.
  • The workspace encourages collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members and cross-functional teams.
  • The work environment is dynamic, innovative, and multicultural, with a flexible dress code and work-life balance.

Work Schedule: Full-time (40 hours/week), with flexible working hours and maintenance windows as needed. Some on-call responsibilities may be required.

📄 Application & Technical Interview Process

Interview Process:

  1. Technical Phone Screen (30 minutes): Discuss your experience with observability tools, alerting mechanisms, and SRE principles. Prepare for questions on your approach to problem-solving and system analysis.
  2. Technical Deep Dive (60 minutes): Demonstrate your proficiency in designing and implementing telemetry solutions. Be prepared to discuss your experience with data analysis and performance optimization.
  3. Behavioral and Cultural Fit Interview (30 minutes): Discuss your approach to collaboration, communication, and continuous learning. Prepare for questions on your experience working in a dynamic, multicultural environment.
  4. Final Interview with Hiring Manager (30 minutes): Discuss your long-term career goals and how this role can help you achieve them. Prepare for questions on your understanding of Swissquote's business and industry trends.

Portfolio Review Tips:

  • Highlight your experience with observability tools and alerting mechanisms.
  • Showcase your ability to analyze telemetry data and provide actionable insights.
  • Include any reports or presentations you've created for IT management on system health and incident trends.
  • 📝 Enhancement Note: Tailor your portfolio to demonstrate your understanding of Swissquote's business and the specific challenges faced by the IT Observability & Performance team.

Technical Challenge Preparation:

  • Brush up on your knowledge of observability tools, alerting mechanisms, and SRE principles.
  • Familiarize yourself with Swissquote's tech stack and industry trends.
  • Prepare for questions on your approach to problem-solving, data analysis, and performance optimization.

ATS Keywords: Observability, Telemetry, FinOps, SRE, Infrastructure as Code, GitOps, ELK Stack, Grafana, Prometheus, Alerting, Python, Go, Rust, Java, Bash, Kubernetes, Agile, Scrum, Git, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, Code Review, Testing, Quality Assurance, Site Reliability Engineering, Incident Management, Performance Optimization, Cost Optimization, Data Analysis, Reporting, Teamwork, Collaboration, Communication, Problem-Solving, System Analysis, Continuous Learning, Dynamic Environment, Multicultural Team.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Platform Engineer - Observability & Performance position:

  1. Update Your Resume: Highlight your experience with observability tools, alerting mechanisms, and SRE principles. Emphasize your problem-solving skills and approach to data analysis and performance optimization.
  2. Prepare Your Portfolio: Tailor your portfolio to demonstrate your understanding of Swissquote's business and the specific challenges faced by the IT Observability & Performance team. Include relevant projects and case studies that showcase your technical skills and achievements.
  3. Research Swissquote: Familiarize yourself with Swissquote's business, industry trends, and tech stack. Prepare for questions on your understanding of the company and its mission.
  4. Prepare for the Interview: Brush up on your knowledge of observability tools, alerting mechanisms, and SRE principles. Prepare for questions on your approach to problem-solving, data analysis, and performance optimization. Practice your communication and collaboration skills to ensure a strong cultural fit.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.


Content Guidelines (IMPORTANT: Do not include this in the output)

Web Technology-Specific Focus:

  • Tailor the role summary, primary responsibilities, and skills & qualifications sections to highlight the Platform Engineer's focus on observability, telemetry, and SRE principles.
  • Include specific observability tools, alerting mechanisms, and programming languages relevant to the role.
  • Address the Platform Engineer's impact on Swissquote's IT infrastructure, system resilience, and cost-efficiency.
  • Provide detailed guidance on portfolio requirements, technical interview preparation, and ATS keywords specific to observability and SRE roles.

Quality Standards:

  • Ensure no content overlap between sections and maintain a consistent, professional tone throughout the document.
  • Only include Enhancement Notes when making significant inferences about the role, company culture, or web technology industry standards.
  • Be comprehensive but concise, prioritizing actionable information over descriptive text.
  • Strategically distribute web technology and SRE-related keywords throughout all sections naturally.
  • Provide a realistic salary range based on location, experience level, and market research for observability and SRE roles.

Industry Expertise:

  • Include specific observability tools, alerting mechanisms, and SRE best practices relevant to the role.
  • Address the Platform Engineer's role in driving FinOps initiatives and optimizing observability-related costs.
  • Provide tactical advice for portfolio development, live demonstrations, and project case studies specific to observability and SRE roles.
  • Include web technology-specific interview preparation and coding challenge guidance for observability and SRE roles.
  • Emphasize the Platform Engineer's role in enhancing system resilience, performance, and cost-efficiency through data-driven decision-making.

Professional Standards:

  • Maintain consistent formatting, spacing, and professional tone throughout the document.
  • Use observability, SRE, and web technology industry terminology appropriately and accurately.
  • Include comprehensive benefits and growth opportunities relevant to observability and SRE professionals.
  • Provide actionable insights that give observability and SRE candidates a competitive advantage.
  • Focus on the Platform Engineer's role in driving IT forward with resilience, transparency, and data-driven decision-making.

Technical Focus & Portfolio Emphasis:

  • Emphasize the Platform Engineer's role in designing, implementing, and managing advanced telemetry solutions.
  • Include specific portfolio requirements tailored to observability and SRE roles, such as demonstrating proficiency in observability tools, alerting mechanisms, and data analysis.
  • Address the Platform Engineer's role in enabling root-cause analysis, enhancing system resilience, and optimizing observability-related costs.
  • Focus on problem-solving methods, performance optimization, and scalable IT architecture.
  • Include technical presentation skills and stakeholder communication for observability and SRE projects.

Avoid:

  • Generic business jargon not relevant to observability, SRE, or web technology roles.
  • Placeholder text or incomplete sections.
  • Repetitive content across different sections.
  • Non-technical terminology unless relevant to observability, SRE, or web technology roles.
  • Marketing language unrelated to observability, SRE, or web technology roles.

Generate comprehensive, web technology-focused content that serves as a valuable resource for observability and SRE professionals seeking their next opportunity and preparing for technical interviews in the web development industry.

Application Requirements

Candidates should have a BS/MS in Computer Science or a related field, along with hands-on experience in observability tools and Infrastructure as Code principles. Proficiency in at least one programming language and a systematic approach to problem-solving are essential.