Lead Platform Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 15, 2026. First seen by Alion on Nov 13, 2026.
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.