Senior Platform Engineer

UKAEA leads the way in realising fusion energy, partnering with industry and research organisations to bring fusion electricity to the grid. Its Computing Division supports this mission through digital capabilities spanning research, simulation, data, engineering, business systems and communications, and its Software Operations Group provides the infrastructure and expertise for secure software development and operations, promoting DevSecOps and MLOps practices across UKAEA. This Senior Platform Engineer works closely with scientists and engineers across UKAEA to deliver secure, robust and sustainable software and platforms, leading technical delivery, contributing to work planning, and helping modernise software operations through improved engineering processes and practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead significant technical projects and work packages, delivering secure, reliable and sustainable platforms and infrastructure
• Design and improve resilient solutions across cloud, DevSecOps, MLOps, software delivery and data workflows, identifying opportunities for innovation and automation
• Collaborate with scientists and engineers to understand their needs, provide technical advice, and deliver solutions that improve efficiency, reproducibility and delivery
• Develop the Software Operations team by shaping best practices, mentoring colleagues, improving processes and supporting the growth of technical capabilities
• Drive continuous improvement and operational excellence across UKAEA, managing stakeholders, promoting secure-by-design and SRE practices, and maintaining high standards of safety and quality

Requirements

Essential: technical qualification or equivalent experience in a scientific, engineering or technical environment, such as research, HPC or cloud infrastructure; substantial hands-on experience developing, deploying and maintaining production-grade systems or platforms, with proficiency in at least two programming or scripting languages such as Python, Bash, Go or C++; demonstrated expertise in modern software engineering and DevSecOps/MLOps practices, including Git, automated testing, CI/CD, containers, infrastructure as code and technical documentation, with experience across Linux and/or Windows environments; experience delivering software projects and managing the software lifecycle, with the ability to communicate effectively, collaborate and influence people from a range of technical and non-technical backgrounds; ability to learn and apply new technologies, with experience mentoring or supervising others and the motivation to develop leadership and people-management skills.

Desirable: working knowledge of NIST frameworks such as SP 800-53 or SSDF, or equivalents such as Software Cyber, the AI Cyber Security Code of Practice, ISO 27001, CIS or OWASP, and their application within software development and DevSecOps practices; familiarity with scientific, engineering or technical domains relevant to UKAEA’s mission; experience with data pipeline engineering, data visualisation, or monitoring dashboards; knowledge of UI/UX principles and web-based or GUI tool development, particularly for internal platforms, observability systems or scientific workflow interfaces; exposure to modern or emerging languages and ecosystems such as Rust, Julia or SYCL; experience mentoring, coaching or managing technical colleagues; practical knowledge of deploying and optimising workloads across scientific computing platforms, including on-premise clusters, HPC environments, public cloud platforms or hybrid architectures; leading SORG-related initiatives such as teaching and training, community, outreach or policy work.