Senior Platform Engineer - Developer Platform (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds & London)

Genomics England partners with the NHS to provide whole genome sequencing diagnostics. We also equip researchers to find the causes of disease and develop new treatments – with patients and participants at the heart of it all.

Our mission is to continue refining, scaling, and evolving our ability to enable others to deliver genomic healthcare and conduct genomic research.

We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody.

Passionate about automation, cloud technology, and solving tough engineering challenges? As a Senior Platform Engineer at Genomics England in our new Developer Platform team, you’ll focus on addressing the recurring challenges our product squads face and create scalable, practical solutions that make a real impact!

You will build reusable templates and components, help to make strategic tooling choices, establish Golden Paths, and work towards a minimum viable platform that developers can build upon. You will consciously balance the needs of the engineers in squads against the needs of the organisation. In other words, you will make solutions that are easy to adopt in disparate contexts, but that help us to achieve greater consistency in terms of security, auditability, efficiency, predictability and compliance.   

In this role, you’ll work in partnership with engineers in product squads to test and evolve common solutions. You will experiment with alternative strategies for solving problems and use data and analysis to make decisions. A curious and engaged listener, you will also be confident articulating why some convergence on tooling and process is necessary to meet business objectives. You will be a leader within the Platform team, helping your peers to grow and develop through pairing, coaching, mentoring and knowledge transfers. You are confident engaging with a range of stakeholders to understand organisational needs and bring them back to the team for consideration.

Everyday responsibilities include: 

• Work with engineers in the Developer Platform team to identify and develop components of the platform 
• Collaborate with engineers in product squads to test out possible solutions and refine based on evidence and feedback
• Support engineers in product squads to adopt part or all of the platform efficiently 
• Prioritise the needs of engineers in terms of self-service, automation, alignment and sympathy with ways of working etc.
• Troubleshoot and debug issues, ensuring seamless operations and minimal downtime of the platform
• Define clear solutions within the team which the group can execute against
• Act as a trusted mentor, coach and guide to your colleagues
• Advocate for compliance to engineering controls and wider regulatory constraints
• Lead on key engineering decisions in a collaborative and inclusive environment that values diverse perspectives

Essential skills and experience: 

• Proven experience with AWS, with certifications being a plus
• Strong knowledge of Terraform for infrastructure-as-code automation
• Familiarity with automation tools such as Ansible, Chef, or Puppet
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines (we use GitLab CI) and DevOps best practices
• Excellent Python skills for automation
• Experience collaborating in a DevOps or squad-based culture
• Strong interpersonal skills with a temperament that builds trust and connection within and across squads through open, honest communication

Desirable skills and experience:

• Familiarity with Developer Platforms and Developer Portals
• Knowledge of DevSecOps concepts and shifting security left
• Experience working in a regulated environment

Qualifications are not mandatory; however, AWS, Terraform, or Automation certifications are very welcome and highly beneficial

Closing Date: Sunday 26th October at 23:00 (UK time) 

Salary From: £76,500

Being an integral part of such a meaningful mission is extremely rewarding in itself, but in order to support our people, we’re continually improving our benefits package. We pride ourselves on investing in our people and supporting them to achieve their career goals, as well as offering a benefits package including: 

• Generous Leave: 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, additional leave for long service, and the option to apply for up to 30 days of remote working abroad annually (approval required).
• Family-Friendly: Blended working arrangements, flexible working, enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave benefits.
• Pension & Financial: Defined contribution pension (Genomics England double-matches up to 10%, however you can contribute more if you wish), Life Assurance (3x salary), and a Give As You Earn scheme.
• Learning & Development: Individual learning budgets, support for training and certifications, and reimbursement for one annual professional subscription (approval required).
• Recognition & Rewards: Employee recognition programme and referral scheme.
• Health & Wellbeing: Subsidised gym membership, a free Headspace account, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.

Equal opportunities and our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace 

Genomics England is actively committed to providing and supporting an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion best practice both within our community and in any other area where we have influence. We are proud of our diverse community where everyone can come to work and feel welcomed and treated with respect regardless of any disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background. 

Genomics England’s policies of non-discrimination and equity and will be applied fairly to all people, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, being pregnant or recently becoming a parent, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation, length of service, whether full or part-time or employed under a permanent or a fixed-term contract or any other relevant factor.  

Genomics England does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or bullying at work. Such behaviour is contrary to our virtues, undermines our mission and core values and diminishes the dignity, respect and integrity of all parties.  Our People policies outline our commitment to inclusivity. 

We aim to remove barriers in our recruitment processes and to be flexible with our interview processes. Should you require any adjustments that may help you to fully participate in the recruitment process, we encourage you to discuss this with us. 

Blended working model

Genomics England operates a blended working model as we know our people appreciate the flexibility that hybrid working can bring. We expect most people to come into the office a minimum of 2 times each month. However, this will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that people will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some of our roles require full time on site attendance e.g., lab teams, reception team. 

Our teams and squads have, and will continue to reflect on what works best for them to work together successfully and have the freedom to design working patterns to suit, beyond the minimum. Our office locations are: Canary Wharf, Cambridge and Leeds.

Onboarding background checks

As part of our recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.  We therefore require applicants to disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean we are unable to proceed with your application due to the nature of our work in healthcare.