Principal Engineer

Genomics England partners with the NHS to provide whole genome sequencing diagnostics. We also equip researchers to find the causes of disease and develop new treatments – with patients and participants at the heart of it all. Our mission is to continue refining, scaling, and evolving our ability to enable others to deliver genomic healthcare and conduct genomic research. 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. Are you passionate about nurturing innovation and empowering teams to solve difficult technical problems? At Genomics England, we are looking for a Principal Engineer to play a pivotal role in driving the technical excellence of our bio-pipelines service, where genomic data is processed to support clinical judgments. About the Role As a Principal Engineer, you will be a hands-on contributor with exemplary engineering skills, who also has an ability to think strategically to define architectural directions. You may have previously worked under a variety of different job titles within engineering and/or architecture, and you may have worked in a variety of organisational contexts. Whatever your past experience, it will have given you both technical breadth and depth. You will be a problem-solver who identifies risks, issues, gaps, and dependencies and brings people together to find solutions. You will do this through your supportive, empathetic, and collaborative behaviours – acting as coach, mentor, guide, or constructive questioner as the situation demands. You are pragmatic but also mindful of the big picture – consciously balancing the immediate goals of teams against the long-term direction for their products. About the Tech Stack Our bio-pipelines platform works across both on-premise High-Performance Compute clusters to AWS, and our workflows are orchestrated in Python / NextFlow. We leverage best-in-class tools like Dragen to do some of the heavy-lifting. We use things like Python, MongoDB, and DynamoDB to deliver RESTful services that provide authoritative data for use during processing. We are working to become interoperable with the wider NHS via open standards like FHIR and GA4GH APIs. We have a standard tool chain which includes Terraform for infrastructure-as-code, GitLab for source code and CI/CD, Artifactory for software artefacts, and DataDog for observability. Job Description Key Responsibilities Work alongside product managers, squad engineers, bioinformaticians, and other subject matter experts to continuously evolve a roadmap for change. Be the voice of technical excellence in any conversation, ensuring that the functional, safety, and operational characteristics of our products are continuously improving. Stay abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends, and incorporate them into our software development practices. Contribute to the wider conversation at Genomics England and help mature our technical practices. Qualifications While we recognise the value of relevant qualifications or certifications, we are primarily interested in your real-world experience. Essential Skills and Experience Strong software engineering skills and awareness of software design patterns (Python preferred, Typescript/React desirable, polyglot ideal) Knowledge of different database types and their applicability in a given context (Postgres/Aurora, MongoDB, and Elastic/OpenSearch are in use at Genomics England) Experience shaping and guiding architectural choices, both tactical as well as long-term architectural strategy and direction Experience of API schema design and evolution DevOps experience (CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, operational monitoring and alerting) Experience in at least one major public cloud (AWS preferred but not essential) Strong interpersonal skills with a temperament that builds trust and connection within and across squads through open, honest communication Comfortable engaging responsively with teams both remotely and in person when required Ability to navigate rapidly to effective solutions through engaged and inclusive listening, clarity of thought, clear documentation, and succinct presentation These skills are not essential but if you have any of them they may be an indicator that you would be well prepared to hit the ground running: Background in healthcare or bioinformatics Experience in regulated environments Familiarity with workflow technologies like Apache Airflow or NextFlow Proficiency in handling large, complex data-sets using tools like Hadoop/EMR or Spark If you’re an experienced technologist who thrives on fostering collaboration to deliver positive outcomes, we’d love to hear from you. Join us at Genomics England and make a meaningful impact in the world of genomics. Additional Information Salary from: £103,500.00 Being an integral part of such a meaningful mission is extremely rewarding in itself, but in order to support our people, we’re continually improving our benefits package. We pride ourselves on investing in our people and supporting them to achieve their career goals, as well as offering a benefits package including: 30 days’ holiday (plus bank holidays), with additional days for long service awards A generous pension scheme of up to 15% combined contribution Life Assurance (3 x salary) Individual learning budgets for every colleague, a Blinkist account, and a wide variety of courses on our portal A wide variety of wellness benefits including Gympass, a Headspace account, and free weekly Yoga classes Enhanced maternity & paternity benefits Blended working arrangements Talk to our Talent Team and find out how a career with Genomics England will benefit you. Genomics England is actively committed to providing and supporting an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion best practice both within our community and in any other area where we have influence. We are proud of our diverse community where everyone can come to work and feel welcomed and treated with respect regardless of any disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background. Genomics England’s policies of non-discrimination and equity will be applied fairly to all people, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, being pregnant or recently becoming a parent, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation, length of service, whether full or part-time or employed under a permanent or a fixed-term contract or any other relevant factor. Genomics England does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation, or bullying at work. Such behaviour is contrary to our virtues, undermines our mission and core values, and diminishes the dignity, respect, and integrity of all parties. Genomics England operates a blended working model as we know our people appreciate the flexibility. We expect most people to come into the office 2 times each month as a minimum. However, this will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that staff will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some of our roles require you to be on site full time e.g., lab teams, reception team. Our teams and squads have, and will continue to, reflect on what works best for them to work together successfully and have the freedom to design working patterns to suit, beyond the minimum. Our office locations are Canary Wharf, Cambridge, and Leeds. As part of our recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. We therefore require applicants to disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean we are unable to proceed with your application due to the nature of our work in healthcare. #J-18808-Ljbffr