At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the optimisation of data platforms and enhance audience personalisation across BBC products.
- Company: Join the BBC, a trusted brand delivering content to millions daily.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working, 25 days leave, and professional development opportunities.
- Other info: Embrace a culture of innovation and mentorship while shaping the future of media tech.
- Why this job: Make an impact with cutting-edge technology in a dynamic and inclusive environment.
- Qualifications: Extensive experience in DevOps/DataOps and strong AWS skills required.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 87000 £ per year.
CONTRACT TYPE: Perm
DEPARTMENT: BBC Media Tech, Platforms
LOCATION: London / Salford / Glasgow - Hybrid working
PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: £80,000 - £87,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights. We're happy to discuss flexible working.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
Step into the world of the BBC, one of the UK's most iconic and trusted brands, where technology plays a critical role in delivering content to millions of people every day. Our Software Engineering teams build and operate innovative products and platforms that help keep the BBC at the forefront of the industry.
WHY JOIN THE TEAM
Core Data Platform is part of Data Platform, providing trusted, fast, and reliable access to audience and business data that enables a more data-informed and personalised BBC. We support personalised experiences across BBC products, including iPlayer and Sounds, while providing a platform used by 140+ weekly active users across our data community, including analysts, scientists, and engineers. This role offers the opportunity to work with data at scale and build highly scalable data platforms and ingestion pipelines.
YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT
- Lead the optimisation, performance, and evolution of the organisation's data lake and data warehouse platforms, ensuring scalable, cost-effective data services while enabling future architectural improvements and modernisation initiatives.
- Support and enhance the platforms and services that underpin audience personalisation and data access across the organisation, enabling stakeholders to efficiently query, analyse, and consume data while maintaining the performance, reliability, and operational support of business-critical services.
- Partner with architects, product leaders, and stakeholders to shape the long-term technical vision, technical goals and system architecture, support architectural decisions for scalable and maintainable systems.
- Guide the use of Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices with AWS CDK and CloudFormation to provision and manage secure and maintainable cloud environments.
- Design and support CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, AWS CodePipeline, Jenkins, and other tools, with an emphasis on reliability, reusability, and performance.
- Contribute to the design and integration of monitoring and observability solutions (CloudWatch, Grafana) to ensure infrastructure and Warehouse health.
- Champion software engineering excellence through Test-Driven Development (TDD), rigorous test automation, and continuous quality assurance practices across team and wider department.
- Cultivate a high-performing engineering culture through mentorship, knowledge sharing, and thought leadership via deep dives, brown bags, internal tech talks, and cross-team collaboration, advocate for security best practices across the software development lifecycle using AWS-native tools and DevSecOps principles.
YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Essential
- Extensive experience in DevOps/DataOps roles with demonstrated impact in building, scaling, including progressive delivery strategies, resilience engineering, and performance optimisation.
- Expertise with databases (Database: DynamoDB, Redis, Aurora, Athena) and strong experience with AWS services such as S3, EC2, SQS, Lambda, IAM, Managed Airflow, Athena etc, VPC, with a strong command of cloud solution architecture.
- Advanced proficiency in Infrastructure-as-Code practices using AWS CDK, CloudFormation with CI/CD best practices with hands-on expertise in GitHub Actions, Jenkins, and GitOps workflows.
- Deep understanding of cloud security, governance, and compliance, with the ability to define and implement scalable security frameworks with a track record designing and developing software with scale, security and reliability in mind.
- Extensive experience in at least one of the programming languages such as Python.
If you can bring some of these skills and experiences, along with transferable strengths, we'd love to hear from you and encourage you to apply.
Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges, in line with our Contracts of Employment policy. This allows us to discuss any support you may need and assess any risks. Failure to disclose may result in the withdrawal of your offer.
Disclaimer: This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, with its principal accountabilities, incorporating a note of the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of performance. This is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all aspects of the duties involved.
Please note: If you were to be offered this role, the BBC will conduct Employment screening checks which include Reference checks; Eligibility to work checks; and if applicable to the role, Safeguarding and Adverse media/Social media checks. Any offer made is conditional on these checks being satisfactory.
For any general queries, please contact: bbchr@bbc.co.uk
Redeployment: The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants.
Information at a Glance: This is your BBC. At the BBC you can create and innovate in an inclusive environment while contributing to some of the world's best loved content, and the BBC's mission to inform, educate and entertain.
Life at BBC: Fair pay and flexible benefits including a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week, 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care and gym. Excellent career and professional development. Support in your working life, including flexible working which you can discuss with us at any point during the application, selection or offer. A values-based organisation where the way we do things is important as what we do.
Benefits may vary if you are joining on an FTC basis or on an orchestra conditions contract. Learn more about life at the BBC and our values in our candidate pack.
You belong: We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, so all our employees feel that they can belong, thrive and achieve their full potential. We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to join us. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity. We welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief.
Find out more about diversity, inclusion and belonging in our strategy below.
Diversity, inclusion & belonging strategy: Disability confident. We are a disability confident employer. If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process, or to carry out this role, please contact us via email and we'd be happy to discuss: reasonable.adjustments@bbc.co.uk
Principal Software Engineer employer: BBC UK
At BBC Studios, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer, offering a collaborative and inclusive work culture that empowers our employees to thrive. Located in the vibrant heart of Cardiff, our finance team provides ample opportunities for professional growth, with a flexible working environment, generous annual leave, and a commitment to sustainability. Join us to make a meaningful impact while enjoying a supportive atmosphere that values diversity and innovation.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Software Engineer
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at BBC UK or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to BBC UK.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like BBC UK.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like BBC UK that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Software Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at BBC UK.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at BBC UK and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at BBC UK
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If BBC UK uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
