Hire a Platform & Cloud Forward Deployed Engineer
AX3 platform and cloud forward deployed engineers embed with your engineering organisation to build the platform your teams actually deploy on: landing zones, CI/CD, Kubernetes, observability, cost control and developer experience. Engagements typically start within two to three weeks and are measured by deployment throughput and reliability, not by architecture slides.
Talk to usWhat a platform & cloud forward deployed engineer actually does
Platform work only pays off when product teams adopt it. A platform FDE treats the internal platform as a product: they talk to the teams who ship, remove the friction that makes them bypass the golden path, and automate the guardrails so security and cost control stop being manual gates.
Typical work spans landing zone and account design, Terraform modules, Kubernetes and service templates, pipeline standardisation, observability baselines, and the migration or modernisation programme that started it all.
Landing zones & IaC
Multi-account cloud foundations, Terraform modules, policy as code and environment provisioning.
CI/CD & golden paths
Standardised pipelines, service templates and self-service scaffolding that teams choose to use.
Kubernetes & runtime
Cluster design, workload onboarding, autoscaling, resilience patterns and release strategies.
Observability & FinOps
Metrics, logs, traces, SLOs and cost visibility built in rather than retrofitted.
Four ways to engage — with pricing model and speed to start.
| Model | Best for | Pricing model | Speed to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single Platform FDE | Fixing deployment friction or a stalled migration | Monthly engineer rate | 2–3 weeks to start |
| FDE + Platform Pod | Building an internal developer platform end to end | Fixed monthly pod cost | 3–4 weeks to a running team |
| Outcome-scoped | A defined migration wave or platform capability | Milestone-based commercial model | Scoped in 1–2 weeks |
| Contract-to-Hire | Establishing a permanent platform engineering team | Engagement rate, then an agreed conversion fee | 2–4 weeks |
Swipe the table sideways to see all columns.
Placed where AX3 already delivers.
Financial Services
Regulated cloud foundations with auditable change control.
View skillsSemiconductor & Hi-Tech
High-throughput compute, data platforms and engineering tooling.
View skillsManufacturing
Edge-to-cloud architectures across plants and OT boundaries.
View skillsHealthcare & Life Sciences
Validated environments and controlled deployment pipelines.
View skillsHire a Platform & Cloud Forward Deployed Engineer — frequently asked questions
What does a platform and cloud FDE deliver?
A working platform: landing zones, infrastructure as code, CI/CD golden paths, Kubernetes runtime, observability and cost controls, adopted by real product teams rather than documented in a design.
Which clouds do your engineers work in?
AWS, Azure and GCP, including hybrid and edge patterns where manufacturing or industrial systems are involved.
Can you help with a cloud migration already in progress?
Yes. Engineers commonly join mid-programme to fix migration throughput, automate repeatable waves and stabilise what has already moved.
How do you avoid building a platform nobody uses?
Adoption is the success metric. Engineers work with the product teams from day one, migrate real services onto the golden path, and remove friction rather than mandating compliance.
Talk to AX3 about platform & cloud forward deployed engineering
Tell us what slows your teams down between commit and production. We will embed engineers who can remove it.