At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and improve a complex technical platform, ensuring stability and performance.
- Company: Join a forward-thinking university with a focus on digital innovation.
- Benefits: Open-ended contract, competitive salary, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic work environment with a clear mission towards digital futures.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on research and teaching through cutting-edge technology.
- Qualifications: Experience in managing technical platforms and leading engineering teams.
The predicted salary is between 56700 - 69300 £ per year.
We’re looking for a Technical Manager who will take ownership and evolve ‘The Sheds’ platform, bringing structure, clarity, and control to a complex environment spanning cluster infrastructure, networks, and backend services. You will lead a focused platform stabilisation effort, identifying technical risks, rationalising assets, and establishing clear ownership, dependencies, and operational standards across the platform. This includes addressing single points of failure, improving resilience, and coordinating specialist input across multiple domains including AV, networking, and compute.
Beyond initial stabilisation, you will drive ongoing platform delivery and governance, shaping how work is prioritised, sequenced, and executed. You will define and run structured intervention projects, implement robust intake and triage processes, and ensure all changes are delivered in a controlled and repeatable way. Working closely with stakeholders across ITS and the wider university, you will ensure platform changes are adopted smoothly, while embedding strong engineering practices, clear documentation, and continuous improvement into the core of the platform.
What will you be doing?
You will take ownership of the HPC platform and associated backend services, leading a small core engineering team while coordinating specialist input from audio-visual, networking, and academic stakeholders. The role will not directly own all adjacent services but will need to work closely with those teams where platform delivery depends on them. Your initial focus will be to stabilise the platform, clarify ownership, reduce technical risk, and establish clear operating standards across infrastructure, services, and environments. You will drive the ongoing evolution of the platform, shaping and prioritising a pipeline of improvement work, and delivering targeted interventions to enhance resilience, performance, and usability. This includes working closely with academics and technical teams to ensure the platform meets real research and teaching needs, while enforcing a disciplined approach to change, delivery, and documentation.
Alongside this, you will provide strong technical leadership — setting direction, defining standards, and supporting engineers to deliver high-quality outcomes. You will be comfortable operating at both a strategic and hands-on level, stepping into detail when needed, but maintaining a clear view of how the platform develops over time.
You should apply if:
- Owning, operating, and improving complex technical platforms across HPC, software and hardware infrastructure, backend services, and user-facing delivery.
- Leading small engineering teams and coordinating across specialist groups, including networking, AV, research teams, vendors, and central IT.
- Stabilising existing systems by identifying risk, reducing complexity, improving documentation, and introducing clear ownership.
- Designing and evolving HPC platform architecture with a focus on resilience, scalability, maintainability, and secure operation.
- Using software development and DevOps practices to support automation, integration, CI/CD, monitoring, release control, and incident management.
Additional Information:
Please note that this role is internally recognised as a ‘Technical Manager.’ Contract type: Open ended with fixed funding for 3 years. Work pattern: Full time/35 hours per week. Grade: K. School/Unit: Centre for Digital Futures. This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on 25/08/2026.
Our strategy and mission: We recently launched our strategy to 2030 tying together our mission, vision, and values.
Technical Manager(Platform Lead) employer: City of Bristol College
The University of Bristol is an exceptional employer, offering a vibrant work culture that prioritises collaboration and innovation within its catering and hospitality services. Employees benefit from professional development opportunities, a supportive environment, and the chance to make a meaningful impact on the university community. Located in a dynamic city, the university provides a unique setting for personal and career growth, making it an attractive place for those seeking rewarding employment.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Technical Manager(Platform Lead)
✨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 City of Bristol College 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 City of Bristol College.
✨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 City of Bristol College.
✨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 City of Bristol College 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 Technical Manager(Platform Lead)
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 City of Bristol College.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at City of Bristol College 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 City of Bristol College
✨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 City of Bristol College 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.
