Head of Platforms

Job Introduction

Job Description for Head of Platforms:

There’s never been a more exciting time to be part of the nuclear sector. New opportunities are being created all the time. At UKNNL, you’ll be in the ideal place to capitalise on this momentum, face new challenges and develop a long, successful and meaningful career.

We’re an organisation that’s here to experiment and push the limits of what’s possible. So, if you’re keen to excel in your chosen field, this is the place to do it. Because at UKNNL, anything is possible.

The Head of Platforms is responsible for defining and delivering the enterprise platform strategy and ensuring the effective operation, security, resilience and lifecycle management of technology platforms.

The role provides leadership across cloud, infrastructure, networking, identity, end user computing and core technology services, ensuring platforms remain secure, compliant, available and fit for purpose.

Operating within a heavily regulated environment, the role ensures technology platforms support business operations through robust engineering standards, operational effectiveness and continuous improvement.

A key focus is maximising the value of existing technology platforms, reducing complexity and technical debt, and ensuring that the adoption of new platform capabilities delivers measurable business value while meeting regulatory, security and architectural standards.The role works closely with business leaders, risk and compliance functions, and technology partners to deliver secure, resilient and scalable platform services while maintaining strong governance and operational control.

Main Responsibilities for Head of Platforms:

• Platform Strategy & Engineering
  • Own the enterprise platform strategy and technology roadmap, ensuring platform capabilities support current and future business requirements.
  • Lead the design, engineering and continual evolution of enterprise platforms, including cloud, infrastructure, networking, identity, end user computing and collaboration technologies.
  • Drive platform modernisation, standardisation and automation initiatives to improve resilience, scalability, security and operational efficiency.
  • Establish engineering standards, reference architectures and governance controls to ensure platforms are delivered consistently and aligned with enterprise architecture principles.
  • Evaluate emerging technologies and platform capabilities, ensuring investment decisions deliver measurable business value and support strategic objectives.
• Platform Operations & Service Enablement
  • Provide senior accountability for the operation and performance of enterprise technology platforms.
  • Ensure platform services remain secure, available, compliant and fit for purpose through effective operational management and engineering oversight.
  • Lead the delivery and operation of cloud platforms, datacentres, server infrastructure, storage, networking, end user computing, collaboration technologies and identity services.
  • Work closely with service management functions to ensure platform services support business operations and meet agreed service levels.
• Reliability, Resilience & Technical Recovery
  • Ensure platform availability, resilience and recoverability meet business, regulatory and operational requirements.
  • Own platform capacity planning, performance management, backup and recovery capabilities, ensuring services can support current and future demand.
  • Lead disaster recovery planning, testing and continual improvement activities to maintain organisational preparedness.
  • Provide technical leadership during major incidents, including investigation, root cause analysis, engineering remediation and implementation of permanent corrective actions.
  • Drive continuous improvement through the identification and resolution of recurring platform issues and systemic weaknesses.
• Engineering Excellence & Continuous Improvement
  • Promote a culture of engineering excellence across the platform estate.
  • Drive adoption of automation, Infrastructure as Code and modern engineering practices to improve consistency, reliability and delivery speed.
  • Reduce technical debt through proactive lifecycle management, platform simplification and technology refresh activities.
  • Improve platform observability, monitoring and engineering insight to support proactive management and rapid issue resolution.
  • Champion continuous improvement initiatives that enhance platform performance, security, resilience and user experience.
• Risk, Security & Compliance
  • Ensure enterprise platforms comply with regulatory obligations, corporate policies and internal control requirements.
  • Partner with cyber security, risk and assurance functions to manage infrastructure, operational and technology risks.
  • Lead remediation activities arising from audits, reviews, vulnerabilities and compliance assessments.
  • Ensure security, resilience and operational control requirements are embedded throughout platform design, implementation and lifecycle management.
• Financial & Supplier Management
  • Manage platform budgets and technology investments, ensuring expenditure supports strategic priorities and delivers value for money.
  • Develop business cases and investment plans for platform enhancements, modernisation initiatives and technology refresh activities.
  • Manage strategic infrastructure suppliers and service partners, ensuring contractual obligations, performance expectations and service outcomes are achieved.
  • Drive cost optimisation initiatives across the platform estate while maintaining appropriate levels of service, resilience and security.Leadership & People Development
  • Provide leadership, direction and coaching to platform teams, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
  • Build and maintain the engineering capability required to support current and future technology needs.
  • Develop succession plans and talent pipelines to ensure long-term organisational resilience.
  • Promote safe, inclusive and high-performing teams aligned to organisational values and objectives.

Essential Criteria for Head of Platforms:

• Senior leadership experience managing enterprise platforms, infrastructure and technology services within a complex, regulated organisation.
• Proven experience defining and delivering platform strategies, technology roadmaps and platform modernisation initiatives.
• Strong technical understanding of cloud platforms, infrastructure, networking, end user computing, identity and access management, and core technology services.
• Experience leading large-scale platform operations with accountability for availability, resilience, performance and service continuity.
• Experience operating within regulatory, risk, security and compliance frameworks.
• Demonstrable ability to translate business strategy into technology capability and operational outcomes.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience influencing at executive level.
• Experience leading technical teams and driving engineering excellence, automation and continuous improvement.
• Ability to obtain SC level security clearance (this includes but is not limited to identity, employment, financial and criminal record checks plus 5 years’ worth of UK residency).

Desirable Criteria for Head of Platforms:

• Experience in sectors such as nuclear, energy, utilities, healthcare, public sector, financial services, or other highly regulated industries.
• Familiarity with enterprise architecture principles, technology governance frameworks and Infrastructure as Code practices.
• Experience leading geographically distributed technology teams.
• Experience delivering cloud transformation, infrastructure modernisation or workplace technology programmes.
• Relevant industry certifications such as Azure, AWS, ITIL, TOGAF, CISSP or equivalent.

Why join us?

UKNNL isn’t just a place where you can do career-defining work that makes a real-world impact. It’s also a place where you’ll feel appreciated and valued. We’re creating an inclusive workplace where everyone is free to be themselves and feel like they belong. We put your wellbeing first, we push you to reach your potential, and we do everything possible to help you feel safe, supported and inspired.

We also offer a range of employee benefits:

• Sector leading Family-Focused Policies: celebrate life events, including enhanced maternity and paternity leave and a week off for your marriage.
• UKNNL offers attractive pension plans. If you contribute 5%, UKNNL contributes 15%. Alternatively, if you choose not to contribute (0%), UKNNL will still contribute 10%.
• Annual Leave: Benefit from 25.5 days of leave, plus 4 extra days to be taken during Christmas shutdown, plus Bank Holidays.
• Reduced gym membership with discounts of up to 25% from 3,700 gym and leisure providers across the UK
• Company Bonus: Be rewarded for your contributions.
• Learning Opportunities: Enhance your skills through excellent development programmes.
• Employee Assistance: Access support for personal and professional challenges.
• Cycle to Work: Stay active and eco-friendly.
• Life Assurance: Ensure peace of mind for you and your loved ones.
• Enhanced Sick Pay Benefits: Receive support during illness or injury.
• Access to ‘Mydiscounts’ which has a range of special offers and discounts from more than 200 suppliers, including medical insurance and dental insurance. 
• Health Care: Health savings plan which allows you to claim money back on visits to the dentist, optician and/or physiotherapist (limits apply).

About The Company

UKNNL is an incredible place to work. A place where people do things that have never been done before. A place where people push boundaries to further themselves, the business and society as a whole.

This is a place where personal and professional opportunities are limitless. If you want to change the world, if you want to tackle climate change, if you want to help advance medical science, if you want to help put things in space, if you want to answer the big questions, if you want to work with extraordinary materials, if you want to meet great people, learn new skills, challenge yourself, work flexibly, and build a long successful career with the power to make a real impact… you can do it all here.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

UKNNL has a vision for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (ED&I) where UKNNL aims to be an inclusive workplace that attracts diverse talent through transparent and equal policies and procedures, providing reasonable adjustments as appropriate. We want you and the diverse mix of people that we employ, customers that we service and stakeholders that we influence to feel valued. We encourage a workplace culture where everyone can thrive with a sense of belonging and the ability to access to workplace in a way which works for you.

Recruitment Agency Notice

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List (PSL) for the provision of recruitment services. Only agencies on our PSL may provide CVs and only when the role is released to them by our recruitment team. We will not accept unsolicited CVs from suppliers not currently on our PSL. We explicitly reserve the right to add candidate details from unsolicited CVs from non-PSL agencies into our own candidate database and to pursue/hire such candidate(s) without any obligation, financial or otherwise, to the agency concerned.

United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory