Application Guide

How to Apply for Platform Engineer II

at Octopus Energy

🏢 About Octopus Energy

Octopus Energy is a UK-based energy supplier that uses AI and technology to provide transparent, renewable energy at competitive prices. They are known for their strong engineering culture, focus on developer experience, and commitment to reducing CO2 emissions. Working here means contributing to a mission-driven company that values innovation and sustainability.

About This Role

As a Platform Engineer II, you will build and improve internal platform services that enable other engineering teams to deploy and operate applications efficiently. Your work will directly impact scalability, reliability, and developer productivity at Octopus Energy. This role offers the opportunity to work with modern cloud infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines while collaborating with cross-functional teams.

💡 A Day in the Life

You'll start your day with a stand-up meeting with your team to discuss ongoing work and any incidents. After that, you might work on implementing a new feature for the internal developer platform, review a pull request from another engineer, or triage alerts from monitoring systems. Later, you could participate in a design review for a new service or join a retrospective to discuss a recent incident and identify improvements.

🚀 Application Tools

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Interview Prep

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🎯 Who Octopus Energy Is Looking For

  • Has hands-on experience with AWS (or another major cloud provider) and can demonstrate building scalable infrastructure using automation tools like Terraform or CloudFormation.
  • Understands security best practices and can implement them in cloud environments, such as IAM policies, encryption, and network security.
  • Has experience operating production systems, including incident response and on-call rotations, and can contribute to post-mortem retrospectives.
  • Communicates effectively and collaborates well in a remote team, with a willingness to learn from senior engineers and mentor others.

📝 Tips for Applying to Octopus Energy

1

Tailor your resume to highlight specific AWS services you've used (e.g., ECS, Lambda, RDS) and automation tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible). Use quantifiable achievements.

2

In your cover letter, mention your experience with incident response and how you've contributed to system reliability improvements.

3

Showcase any open-source contributions or side projects related to platform engineering, especially if they involve CI/CD or cloud infrastructure.

4

Research Octopus Energy's engineering blog (e.g., 'Octopus Energy Tech Blog') and reference a specific post or technology they use in your application.

5

Prepare a brief example of a time you improved a deployment process or reduced incident response time, as this aligns with the role's focus on developer experience.

✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

["Emphasize your experience with AWS and automation, and how you've used those to improve reliability or developer productivity.", 'Highlight your collaborative approach and ability to work in a remote team, as the role is remote and requires communication.', "Mention your interest in renewable energy and how your engineering skills can contribute to Octopus Energy's mission.", 'Demonstrate your understanding of platform engineering principles, such as building internal tools that abstract complexity for other teams.']

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🔍 Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • → Read Octopus Energy's tech blog (https://octopus.energy/blog/tech/) to understand their engineering culture and technology stack.
  • → Look into their Kraken platform, which powers their energy operations and is a key part of their innovation.
  • → Check their GitHub repositories (https://github.com/octoenergy) to see open-source contributions and code quality.
  • → Understand their mission around renewable energy and how they use AI to optimize energy usage.

💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 Describe a time you designed or improved a CI/CD pipeline. What tools did you use and what were the outcomes?
2 How do you approach incident response? Walk us through a recent incident you handled and what you learned from the retrospective.
3 Explain how you would secure an AWS environment with multiple microservices and sensitive data.
4 What is your experience with Terraform or similar IaC tools? How do you manage state and versioning?
5 How do you balance reliability with speed of delivery? Give an example of a trade-off you made.
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⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Don't focus solely on your own projects without connecting them to platform engineering or developer experience improvements.
  • Avoid generic statements about 'passion for technology' – instead, show specific interest in Octopus Energy's work and values.
  • Don't neglect to mention remote work experience or your ability to work asynchronously, as this is a remote role.

📅 Application Timeline

This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.

Typical hiring timeline:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

✓

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to Octopus Energy !

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