Lead Platform Engineer

ABOUT THE ROLE

Lead platform engineering for the compute, data, AI, and security infrastructure behind a biotechnology sequencing operation. You will work across software and scientific teams to build reliable systems that support lab operations and large-scale bioinformatics.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Own services that orchestrate lab devices, including robots, sequencers, and on-premises Linux servers, as well as the data ingestion pipeline.
• Build cloud infrastructure and data pipelines to store, process, and deliver large volumes of sequencing data.
• Design systems for orchestrating bioinformatics tasks, including queues, workflow orchestration, and scheduling.
• Develop infrastructure and internal tools for AI agents that monitor operational quality, coordinate logistics, and support adaptive bioinformatics analysis.
• Lead cross-functional projects from problem definition through production, while contributing hands-on to implementation.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• At least 5 years of platform, backend, or infrastructure engineering experience, including ownership of production systems at a scaling startup.
• Strong AWS orchestration experience with ECS, Batch, or Step Functions, plus Python backend development using frameworks such as FastAPI or Django.
• Experience designing reliable distributed systems, including queues, workflow orchestration, and state machines, and operating Linux servers and task queues such as Celery or SQS.
• Experience leading or mentoring engineers, or a strong individual-contributor track record, with hands-on work making up a substantial part of your role.
• Ability to lead broad, cross-functional projects and connect architecture decisions to business impact.
• Experience building LLM or agent systems, including tools, evaluation, permissions, prompts, or workflows, is beneficial.
• A degree in computer science, engineering, math, physics, or equivalent technical experience, and curiosity about scientific or biotech domains.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Base salary: $205,000 to $235,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is available.

LOCATION

Hybrid in South San Francisco, California, United States.