DevSecOps Engineer - Pathogen in Oxford

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we are on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you will join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society.

Welcome to the Pathogen Project: within this ecosystem, the Pathogen Project exemplifies EIT's dedication to ground-breaking science. It seeks to transform pathogen risk management, detection and response by leveraging Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS)-based metagenomic and pathogen-specific analytical tools. The goal is to power metagenomic devices using long-read sequencing technologies by building a comprehensive database of pathogen information to inform response. Enabled by Oracle Inc.'s cloud-computing scale and security, the Pathogen Project is advancing toward certified diagnostic tools for deployment in laboratories, hospitals, and public health organisations worldwide.

At EIT we are seeking an experienced and detailed orientated DevSecOps Engineer to join the Pathogen Programme. This is an excellent opportunity to help build a secure, automated data platform that supports critical research. In this role, you will focus on automation across the development lifecycle, enabling engineers and bioinformaticians to deploy data pipelines and product features efficiently.

You will design and maintain infrastructure, create secure automation pipelines, manage cloud environments, and ensure compliance. Working closely with cross-functional teams, you will help deliver solutions that are reliable, scalable, and secure.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain secure cloud infrastructure using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
• Develop and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions with tools such as Terraform, ensuring secure and repeatable deployments
• Implement and manage CI/CD pipelines with automated security testing, deployment, and monitoring
• Ensure all components of the data platform—OCI infrastructure, data ingest pipelines, tool deployments, access controls, and monitoring tools—are developed, tested, and deployed using automated best practices
• Collaborate with bioinformaticians to ensure pipelines are secure by design, version-controlled, and deployed through automated processes
• Work closely with engineering teams to integrate security throughout feature development and deployment
• Automate vulnerability assessments to identify and mitigate risks across systems and environments
• Partner with the security function to embed best practices into new and existing features
• Ensure compliance with security standards and regulations (e.g., ISO 27001, SOC2)
• Implement monitoring solutions to detect and respond to security incidents in real time
• Perform root cause analysis and troubleshoot infrastructure and security issues in production
• Collaborate with technical leads to continuously improve security processes and workflows

Essential Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Strong hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure, ideally Oracle Cloud, including provisioning, configuration, and service management
• Proficiency in Terraform or similar infrastructure automation tools
• Experience implementing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions) with automated security testing
• In-depth knowledge of containerization technologies (e.g., Docker) and orchestration tools like Kubernetes
• Solid understanding of cloud security best practices, including IAM, network security, and encryption
• Experience with monitoring and alerting tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack)
• Proficiency with Git or other version control systems

Desirable Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Certifications in Oracle Cloud (OCI) or other platforms (AWS, GCP)
• Hands-on experience with security tools (e.g., OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite)
• Familiarity with project management tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence)
• Knowledge of compliance frameworks and standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, ISO27001, ISO13485)
• Previous experience in start-up or scale-up environments

Key Attributes

• Strong collaboration and communication skills
• Willingness to learn and upskill in new technologies
• Hands-on approach to exploring new tools and developing POCs
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical abilities, with a critical approach to security challenges
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• Attention to detail and commitment to security and quality assurance
• Flexibility to adapt and contribute to a rapidly scaling organisation

Benefits

• Enhanced holiday pay
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electrical Car Scheme

You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).