Hybrid Backend Software Engineer – Pathogen

at Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford

• Job title: Backend Software Engineer – Pathogen
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Mid level, Senior
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: AWS, Cloud, Django, Docker, GraphQL, Kafka, Kubernetes, Node.js, Oracle, Postgres, Python, SQL
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Oxford, United Kingdom

About the role

• Backend Software Engineer at EIT developing resilient backend services and APIs. Collaborating on cloud infrastructure for innovative bioinformatics solutions in healthcare.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain highly performant, scalable, and secure backend services and APIs using technologies such as Python and NodeJS.
• Collaborate with science teams, full-stack engineers, and data engineers to understand data requirements and integrate user needs into backend data services.
• Develop and maintain RESTful APIs to make platform data findable and accessible in line with FAIR principles.
• Build APIs that support interoperability and federation for pathogen clinical diagnostics, epidemiology monitoring, and research.
• Work with data engineers to create pipelines and processes for storing and transforming platform data for easy consumption.
• Implement and manage data storage solutions, including data lakes, data warehouses, and databases (e.g., object storage, Oracle Autonomous Database, PostgreSQL).
• Support innovation by exploring new technologies such as vector databases for search and AI use cases.
• Work with big data technologies like Kafka, Iceberg, and Parquet, as well as managed database technologies such as PostgreSQL and Oracle vector databases.
• Operate, monitor, and maintain Oracle Cloud infrastructure to ensure backend services are highly available, scalable, and secure.
• Collaborate with DevSecOps engineers to automate deployments and adopt best-practice CI/CD.
• Document and communicate APIs to engineers and bioinformaticians so they can build pipelines and user-facing data products effectively.
• Provide technical standards for backend engineers to deliver clean, standardized, maintainable, testable, and reusable code.
• Ensure solutions are documented and aligned with defined architecture governance processes.
• Implement monitoring, logging, and alerting systems to maintain platform health and performance.

Requirements

• **Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Experience**
• Proven experience as a backend cloud engineer, data engineer, or similar role.
• Proficiency in backend programming languages and API frameworks (Python, NodeJS, Django, FastAPI).
• Experience building flexible APIs using GraphQL.
• Expertise in at least one cloud platform and its related managed data services.
• Familiarity with big data technologies (Parquet, Iceberg) and streaming platforms (Kafka).
• Strong knowledge of database systems, SQL data model design, and query optimization.
• Experience with containerization (Kubernetes, Docker).
• Ability to deliver scalable, performant data services using microservice architectures.
• Proven experience developing architectures using containerization and serverless approaches (Oracle Functions, AWS Lambda).
• Experience managing teams and fostering a high-performance, collaborative culture.
• Understanding of Agile practices and sprint-based methodology.
• Ability to actively contribute to knowledge sharing.
• **Desirable Knowledge, Skills, and Experience**
• Knowledge of genomics.
• Experience with Oracle OCI.
• Understanding of federation standards for genomics (GA4GH).
• Experience with healthcare clinical data and associated standards (OMOP, SNOMED).
• **Key Attributes**
• Strong collaboration skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.
• Willingness to learn and upskill in new technologies.
• Hands-on approach to exploring new technologies and developing POCs

Benefits

• **We offer the following benefits:**
• Enhanced holiday pay
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electrical Car Scheme
• **Why work for EIT:**
• At the Ellison Institute, we believe a collaborative, inclusive team is key to our success. We are building a supportive environment where creative risks are encouraged, and everyone feels heard. Valuing emotional intelligence, empathy, respect, and resilience, we encourage people to be curious and to have a shared commitment to excellence. Join us and make an impact!
• **Terms of Appointment:**
• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary.
• You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford.
• During peak periods, some longer hours may be required and some working across multiple time zones due to the global nature of the programme.