Senior Platform Engineer

Level : 4 Salary band : £70,000 - £80,000 Location : Hybrid - 3 days per week in London Office (Angel, Islington) At Automata , we're on a mission to transform how scientists work by making automation accessible to every lab in the world. We believe that by giving labs the power to automate, we can unlock discoveries that will shape the future of life sciences—from diagnostics and drug discovery to synthetic biology. But we’re more than just a company disrupting the industry—we're a team of innovators, problem-solvers, and creators passionate about empowering scientists. Our LINQ platform combines hardware and software to streamline workflows, making lab automation fast, flexible, and affordable. This means our customers can focus on groundbreaking research, while we take care of the rest.

Why Work at Automata? Impact : Your work will directly contribute to advancements in science and medicine, supporting labs around the globe as they push boundaries in research and innovation. Innovation : You’ll be part of a team solving complex problems (seriously, no one else has figured out how to do this yet), using cutting-edge technology (we have robots). Growth : We invest in our people . Whether through hands-on experience, professional development, or collaborative projects, you’ll grow both professionally and personally. Community : Join a diverse, passionate team that values collaboration (golf on a Thursday, Soccer once a month, movie nights whenever we fancy it). We are looking for a Senior Platform Engineer to help build, scale, and operate the foundational infrastructure powering Automata’s LINQ platform. You will play a critical role in designing and maintaining robust, secure, and compliant systems that support deployments across cloud and on-premise (including bare-metal environments). You will collaborate closely with product, software, and field teams to define golden paths that accelerate developer productivity while maintaining high operational standards. Why is this role important for Automata? As a Senior Platform Engineer, you will ensure that Automata’s platform is reliable, scalable, and compliant , enabling successful deployments in highly regulated environments. Your work will directly impact customer success, internal velocity, and the platform's long-term maintainability. In this role, you will be responsible for Designing, building and operating Kubernetes platforms across AWS and bare-metal environments Managing and optimising Postgres databases , ensuring performance, resilience, and data integrity Developing and maintaining Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi, Crossplane, or similar) Implementing and managing GitOps workflows (ArgoCD) for consistent and repeatable deployments Supporting Windows OS provisioning and hybrid infrastructure environments Building and improving observability systems (OpenTelemetry, metrics, tracing, logging) Contributing to network architecture and operations , including physical networking (Juniper/Mist) Supporting deployments in regulated environments (ISO27001, SOC2, GxP) Collaborating with field and customer teams on on-site deployments and troubleshooting Developing automation and internal tooling using Python, Go, Rust, or .NET Participating in building orchestration workflows using tools like Temporal Help define and maintain golden paths for developers to improve productivity and reliability Contribute to documentation, onboarding materials, and operational runbooks What it takes 5+ years of experience in platform engineering, SRE, or infrastructure roles Strong experience with Kubernetes in production , including bare-metal clusters Solid understanding of cloud platforms (AWS) and hybrid deployments Experience managing databases (Postgres/DBA-level knowledge preferred) Familiarity with GitOps and modern IaC practices Experience with observability tooling and distributed systems debugging Understanding of networking fundamentals , including physical infrastructure Experience working in regulated environments or with compliance frameworks Proficiency in at least one programming language ( Python, Go, Rust, or .NET ) Strong communication skills and ability to work cross-functionally Willingness to travel to customer sites when needed Experience with automation/AI-assisted development workflows (e.g., Claude Code) Nice to haves Experience with Juniper/Mist networking Exposure to Temporal or similar workflow orchestration systems Background in supporting life sciences or GxP environments Why You’ll Want to Join Us You want to operate at the edge of your capability - where expectations are high and impact is real You’re motivated by ownership and autonomy - not hierarchy or process You want to build and scale something meaningful - our product directly saves lives You’re currently under-leveraged, moving faster than your environment allows You want to work with people who are equally driven, pragmatic, and focused on outcomes UK Team