Platform Engineer (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds and London) London

Genomics England is a global leader in enabling genomic medicine and research, focused on creating a world where everyone benefits from genomic healthcare. Building on the 100,000 Genomes Project, we support the NHS’s world‑first national whole genome sequencing service and run the growing National Genomic Research Library, alongside delivering numerous major genomics initiatives. By connecting research and clinical care at national scale, we enable immediate healthcare benefits and advances for the future. Our mission is to provide the evidence and digital systems so that by 2035 genomics could play a role in up to half of all healthcare interactions, whilst securing the UK’s position as the best place to discover, prove and benefit from genomic innovations. 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. Behind the Healthcare and Research outcomes, Genomics England delivers through designing, developing and operating complex healthcare software systems. We’re on the cusp of big changes with the real prospect of genomics becoming the fabric of everyday healthcare through the lifetime - from birth to old age.

Responsibilities

• Designing, building and maintaining infrastructure across AWS, and hybrid environments, for use across bioinformatics pipelines and teams.
• Designing, building and maintaining platform capabilities that enable orchestration and execution of large‑scale genomic pipelines.
• Working closely with bioinformatics engineering squads to support Nextflow native workflows and pipeline modernisation.
• Automating deployment, infrastructure provisioning and operational processes using Terraform, Python, Bash and similar tools.
• Design, build and maintain new container management capabilities, with a goal of providing secure container builds on demand for Nextflow processes (for example using tooling like SeqeraWave).
• Re‑imagining our CI/CD pipelines and tooling, providing them as‑a‑service to the bioinformatics teams that leverage the platform.
• Implementing monitoring, logging and alerting capabilities and patterns to improve observability across distributed bioinformatics workflows that run on the platform.
• Configure and manage HPC compute environments, both AWS and on‑prem, through tooling such as SeqeraPlatform.
• Troubleshooting platform and workflow issues across multiple layers, driving long‑term fixes.
• Supporting cost optimisation, performance tuning and capacity planning across AWS and on‑prem systems.
• Producing clear documentation and sharing knowledge across engineering teams.
• Helping embed DevOps ways of working across squads and enabling teams to operate with more independence.

Qualifications

• Strong experience with AWS across compute, storage, networking and security.
• Solid Terraform experience for building and maintaining repeatable infrastructure.
• Strong scripting ability in Python, Bash or similar.
• Experience designing, implementing and supporting platform patterns & capabilities for consumption by stream/business‑aligned teams.
• Experience operating production grade platforms in complex distributed environments.
• Understanding of CI/CD tooling and DevOps practices such as GitLab CI or Jenkins.
• Comfortable working in data heavy, high throughput systems.
• Collaborative approach with confidence working across teams and influencing technical direction.
• Nice to have – but not required: Familiarity with workflow orchestration tools such as Nextflow, SeqeraPlatform, SeqeraWave or equivalents.
• Exposure to HPC environments or large scale scientific compute workloads.
• Understanding of regulated or security sensitive environments, particularly Software as a Medical Device.
• Experience working in a Platform Team as defined in Team Topologies.
• Experience contributing to platform modernisation or evolution programmes.

Salary and Benefits

• Salary From: £71,300 pa
• Generous Leave: 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, plus additional leave for long service, and also 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.

Genomics England is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion best practice within the community and beyond. We pride ourselves on treating all people with respect regardless of disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background.