Senior Backend Engineer (Python) — Scale & Production Systems

Location: Birmingham, Leeds, London, Manchester, Reading, Lanarkshire

Virgin Media O2 is transforming how it uses data to run the business. Across pricing, network operations, customer care, and personalisation, we are building the products and services that help the company make better decisions, faster. As a Staff Software Engineer, you will be at the centre of that work. You’ll design and build backend systems that handle real scale and real consequences: services that shape how we invest in our network, how we retain and grow our customer base, and how we support millions of customers when things go wrong. Your code will run in production, and your judgment will shape the technical direction of the teams around you. This is a role for someone who wants to solve hard problems with good engineering. You’ll work across team boundaries, influence architectural decisions, and set the standard for how we build software. You’ll do this primarily by writing code, not by stepping away from it.

The must haves:

• Expert-level proficiency in Python, with a track record of building production systems that are testable, maintainable, and built to last.
• Strong architectural instincts. You design systems that balance scalability, reliability, and cost, and you explain the trade-offs clearly to both engineers and stakeholders.
• Hands-on experience with cloud environments. Our stack includes BigQuery, Cloud Run, Spanner and Vertex. You should be comfortable making infrastructure decisions, not just working within what exists.
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform), and modern CI/CD practices.
• End-to-end ownership of services: from design through to production operation, monitoring, and incident response. You build it, you run it.
• The ability to see past the immediate problem. You identify systemic issues, propose long-term strategies, and ensure the platform can support what comes next.
• A track record of raising the bar beyond your own team, through code review, architectural guidance, or establishing practices that others choose to adopt.
• Clear communication across audiences. You can translate technical complexity for non-technical stakeholders and bring clarity to ambiguous problems for the engineers around you.
• A natural instinct for developing the people around you, through pairing, constructive feedback, and leading by example.

The other stuff we are looking for:

• Experience with data-heavy applications, whether that’s ETL/ELT pipelines, data lakes, or working alongside data science and ML teams.
• Confidence working across multiple teams and stakeholders, turning business problems into well-defined technical solutions.
• Knowledge of Vertex AI or GCP's broader AI/ML services.
• Experience working in regulated or large-scale telecoms environments.

What's in it for you:

We know that benefits mean so much more than the ‘stuff’ we can give you, so we offer a wide range of support, rewards, and tools, all focused on helping you to prioritise what really matters. All work and no play just isn’t our style! We’re constantly evolving our approach to enable you to find a great work life balance.

Next steps:

If we feel like a place where you can belong, we’d love to learn more about you. Once you’ve submitted an application the next steps of the process, if successful, is likely to include a two-stage interview process. When you apply, you’ll be asked about any adjustments you might need to support the recruitment process. Let us know, and we’ll be sure to discuss it with you. Thanks for your patience in the meantime and for showing an interest in joining the Virgin Media O2 family.