Who are we?

Mistral Data is part of FirstGroup, the largest rail operator in the UK and second largest bus operator in the UK outside London.  FirstGroup operates services throughout the UK and Ireland, with over 30,000 employees providing services that make travel smoother and life easier.  FirstGroup works hard to reduce its impact on the environment, introducing cleaner and more environmentally responsible methods of transport.

About the job

The Head of Platforms owns the design, strategic development, and operational excellence of our cloud platforms which underpin all our SaaS products. The role is responsible for ensuring our platforms provide an outstanding experience for our customers, and are well positioned for further development and growth, optimising our return on investment.

The role has overall responsibility for our technical architecture, both within and across our cloud platforms. Collaborating across Mistral Data and with external stakeholders, the role ensures an appropriate balance of performance and resilience with commercial imperatives appropriate to each product.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Ownership of Cloud Platforms - working with development teams and architects to ensure appropriate and optimised designs for each product, and coherence and compatibility across our platforms. Perform (or delegate) regular reviews to identify where gaps or improvements can be made in existing products, work with product teams to address these in roadmaps.
• Technical Oversight – Through regular meetings with internal and outsourced technical teams, agree the design and standards, and review ongoing development to ensure we continue to deliver excellence.
  • Resilience – ensure our platforms are resilient to common causes of failure, leverage cloud platform capabilities where available, and make commercial judgement when this can be deployed at additional cost.
  • Disaster Recovery – own the DR program across our products, approving DR plans and managing DR testing schedule.
  • Collaboration with Head of Cloud Operations and Security – to ensure agreed security standards are applied consistently through our platforms, and working together to ensure shared awareness of current and future platform positions and developments that are relevant to operations or security.
  • Team leadership and management – lead the Mistral Data teams of Architects and Engineers working across our products, managing individuals and providing technical leadership and personal development.
  • Cloud Excellence – Stay ahead of emerging cloud technologies and best practices, actively sharing insights to elevate Mistral Data's cloud capabilities.
  • Research and Development – Lead on initiatives, to identify how cloud capability can best support emerging customer needs.
  • Cost Optimisation – owning the overall cost effectiveness of our platforms, the role is responsible for reporting platform costs, identifying risks to exceeding platform budgets, identifying opportunities to reduce costs, and working with product teams to implement those changes.
  • Networking – Own the networking that inter-connects our products, with external systems and with our technical staff. Ensuring the highest levels of security, with change processes and transparency necessary to deliver for future requirements. 

  Additional Responsibilities

   

  • Work with Technical Director to agree priorities.
  • Set the prioristation of work and ensure team members are focused on deliverables that improve the strategic direction of our platforms.
  • A deep awareness of Mistral Data's commercial landscape and opportunities, ensuring our platforms are best positioned to enable supporting development.
  • Steer the R&D strategy to focus on those areas with the greatest future opportunities for Mistral Data.
  • Provide advice and guidance to all Mistral Data employees on technical architecture and designs.
  • Participate in Incident Response and Review processes.

You'll need to be:

• Strategic and Analytical Mindset – A proactive problem-solver who leverages data and trends to anticipate issues, designing solutions that are both scalable and sustainable.
• Customer Centric – Able to contextualise complex technical challenges within business priorities, aligning technical decisions with customer impact and value.

• Decisive and collaborative - Confident in making informed decisions while actively engaging and aligning with stakeholders.

• Adaptable and resilient - Experience handling critical incidents or high-pressure situations, maintaining a calm, measured approach and adjusting as needed without compromising the strategy.

• Transparent communicator - Practices an open, transparent communication style that fosters trust and motivates technical teams; demonstrates the ability to influence at all levels.

• Growth oriented - Demonstrates enthusiasm for continuous learning and challenges, especially regarding new technologies, and exhibits a desire to coach and develop talent across the team.

• Results driven - Sets clear objectives, holds oneself and the team accountable, and focuses on outcomes that align with the company's vision and goals.

As a minimum, you will need to have:

• • Technical Expertise – Over 15 years of hands-on software development experience, with a solid foundation in software engineering, architecture, and cloud computing.
  • AWS Specialisation – In-depth knowledge and extensive experience (over 5 years) with AWS, including designing and optimising performant, highly available, scalable, and cost-efficient cloud solutions. Ideally AWS certified Architect
  • A proven record of success in architecture and engineering roles, demonstrating technical leadership and successful project outcomes.
  • Industry Knowledge – Comprehensive understanding of the Rail industry with over 5 years of experience, offering insights into specific technical and regulatory challenges.
  • Project and risk management experience, has delivered complex projects in a high pressure environments, balancing risks with commercial imperatives
  • Strong Communication and Presentation Skills – Proficient in articulating complex technical concepts to varied audiences, with an appreciation for balancing diverse interests and meeting regulatory requirements.
  • An appreciation of the demands of conflicting interests and of meeting statutory requirements.
  • Excellent leadership and organisational skills.
  • Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills – Excellent analytical skills, with a proactive approach to identifying and solving engineering challenges

We all belong at Mistral Data. FirstGroup's vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, across its group of businesses, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below.  We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/