Senior TechOps Engineer

We’re looking for a new TechOps engineer to join our little team as we continue to try and change how Pleo (and the wider industry) thinks about IT. This is an extremely open role where you can have huge impact on Pleo and learn huge amounts, a lot of opportunity ahead!

Problems you’ll be solving

Scaling identity - As Pleo continues to grow and change it’s becoming increasingly important to have a clear and well-defined approach to user identity at Pleo. We’re big users of Okta as the source of truth for this but there’s a lot still to do. From making clear processes for onboarding and offboarding contractors to ensuring we’re reflecting our org structure in the groups we push across our systems. We have made good ground but there’s so much left to cover!

Device management/attestation - We’ve begun to gain a good handle on our company owned devices but we still have far more we could do to make all our Pleoers safer. This can include better defined and telegraphed update schedules, gracefully handling personal device use and continuing to implement device and management attestation as a powerful next step in keeping Pleo secure.

Office networks/tech - We act as the technical partner for the Workspace team, helping both fit out and maintain Pleo’s wonderful offices across the globe. That means we own the networks and other in-office technical systems and the configuration that comes with these.

Asset classification and lifecycle - In both the physical and information world assets are a core part of how TechOps functions and as the business continues to mature we need to become far better at tracking, classifying and accounting for these assets at all points of their lifecycle.

Front line support - Every member of the team (management included) is expected to contribute equally to running front line interrupt-driven tasks on a regular basis. This lets you keep your finger in the pulse of what problems our fellow Pleoers are having and truly understand the outcomes of your work.

Requirements

Enthusiasm and ambition to learn! More than anything this is a role you can grow in to if needed but what can’t be taught is an insatiable desire to learn more and break apart problems to understand more about how they work. You don’t have to be a technical wizard but you do need to be desperate to become one and willing to put in the time to learn!

Confidence with technical subjects and how to consider them from new angles. More than most IT roles, you may be challenged here to consider new approaches to old problems. You need to feel confident in the vulnerability this will naturally bring up and open enough to share, even when you’ve lost the comfort of assumptions.

Ability to thrive in ambiguous environments with a high level of autonomy. We believe in allowing Pleoers the space and agency to shine.

A great match with our TechOps operating principles. These are explained in the “Specialisation Details” section but for a rough outline:

Transparency by default - Comfortable and capable with working transparently and in the open

Humans are our most precious asset - An automation-first mindset, with an ambitious approach to reducing manual workload

First principles first - Capable of breaking down problems and challenging presumptions before building a clear path based on well-understood reasoning

Immediate solves, eventual growth - Adept at both working iteratively whilst also maintaining a clear focus on long-term strategic goals and best-practice approaches

Desirables

Experience with a similar software stack always helps. We run:

A ~95% Macbook fleet managed by Kandji, ~5% Windows on Intune

Okta for IAM, Google Workspace for email/productivity

A large amount of Okta Workflows and open APIs for stitching together processes

Juniper Mist for office networking

Pleo-wide tools like Slack, Notion, Miro etc

A good understanding of what you want to learn next and why. We can help guide and show possible options but the role and team is extremely self-motivated and there’s an expectation that if you want to get the absolute best you can out of the team and your time at Pleo you come ready and willing to learn.

Team Details

This role is part of the TechOps team. To give an overview on this team:

This is the team that in a traditional role may be thought of as the “IT” team.

That means we look after user devices, office networks as well as the identities and methods of authentication a Pleoer might have throughout their time in the company. We’re one of the most common internal touchpoints every Pleoer will have during their time here. Specifically:

We handle a relatively large amount of inbound requests (around 300 per month) on a rota that ensures the entire team spends time on the frontline. There are no escalation channels that release your responsibility for helping, we believe in accountability and our fellow Pleoers getting the help they need first time.

We improve and build upon the evergreen problems IT functions are tasked with tackling. That means automating processes like onboarding and offboarding as well as identity changes around the company so we can provide the best experience we can whilst being as removed from the problem as possible.

We own a large portion of the implementation of security best practices when it comes to internal corporate practice. We do this with guidance and collaboration from our information security team.

The team is currently 4 people, 1 manager and 3 ICs. We’re small but mighty and close-knit. We believe in scaling our work not our team wherever possible but when there’s a clear need we’re excited to grow the team further!

Specialisation Details

This role operates within the TechOps specialisation. To give an overview of what our area deals with:

Our remit covers internal tooling that affects the entire company. This can be across multiple areas such as core HRIS/hiring tooling or endpoint/identity management/more “IT” tooling.

We work across different teams, right now those teams are:

The TechOps team where we take on the roles normally assigned to a traditional IT team. Think endpoint management, identity management, office tech and everything in between.

The Platform and Services team that works on the people tools and process that are used throughout the employee journey from hiring and onboarding through employee changes and performance tracking through to saying goodbye.

These teams report into different areas of the business but share a common specialisation where we can come together with rituals and best practices and work from a shared set of principles and visions.

Invisible when we can be, unmissable when we should be.

Fundamentally this means we believe as a supporting function for the business we do our best work when we get out of people’s way.

That means replacing manual work, thinking from first principles how we can streamline or change a process to make our role in the business as seamless and invisible as possible.

At the same time, there will always be reasons for people to need our help, in that scenario TechOps members should be unmissable. That means how to communicate a problem should be as simple and straightforward as possible. We shouldn’t be offloading our work (like categorising or prioritising tickets) back on to those needing help. If the process to get help is any more challenging than asking your friend for help that’s a failure of our approach.

Show me the benefits!

• Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!)
• Lunch is on us - with catering in our Lisbon, Copenhagen and London offices or a monthly lunch allowance paid directly together with your salary in other markets 🍜
• Private health insurance to ensure you’re fit in body and mind to do your best work
• Option to purchase 5 additional days of holiday through a salary sacrifice
• Wellbeing days - fully paid days off designed for a slower pace, allowing you to take time to recharge and prioritise self-care
• We’re trialling MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and wellbeing support with great success so far ❤️‍🩹
• Access to LinkedIn Learning - acquire new skills, stay abreast of industry trends and fuel your personal and professional development continuously
• Paid parental leave - we want to make sure that we're supportive of families and help you feel that you don't have to compromise your family due to work 👶