About the position
ENVIRONMENT:
Our client is a prominent organisation focused on supporting research advancement and human capital development through funding programmes, research infrastructure, and science outreach initiatives across a broad range of disciplines. The Platform Engineer forms part of the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) team within the Computing & Software division, contributing to the development, integration, and day-to-day operation of shared platform services that support scientific computing and complex software systems. Working alongside senior engineers and cross-functional teams, the role supports platform build activities while contributing to automation, observability, and service reliability initiatives. The position also plays a key role in operational readiness as the platform transitions from the construction phase into stable, steady-state operations.
DUTIES
- Contribute to the development and improvement of platform services supporting engineering and operational teams.
- Support integration of platform services with application and infrastructure systems.
- Contribute to platform automation, monitoring, and operational reliability efforts.
- Develop expertise in platform engineering while contributing to continuous improvement and innovation.
REQUIREMENTS
Qualification:
- National Diploma in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Electronic Engineering or equivalent qualifications coupled with 7 years of experience; OR
- BTech in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Electronic Engineering or equivalent qualifications coupled with 6 years of experience; OR
- BENG/MTech in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Electronic Engineering or equivalent qualifications coupled with 4 years of experience; OR
- MENG in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Electronic Engineering or equivalent qualifications coupled with 3 years of experience; OR
- PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Electronic Engineering or equivalent qualifications coupled with 1 year of experience.
Experience:
- 2+ years of demonstrated technical hands-on experience in infrastructure automation, distributed systems, observability, CI/CD, container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes), DevOps/SRE practices, and cloud-native technologies.
- Experience working in teams or initiatives that intersect with data platforms, storage, networking, and systems engineering domains.
- Experience with platform engineering practices, including infrastructure as code, observability stacks, and automated deployment pipelines.
- Exposure to DevOps and SRE principles, including monitoring, alerting, incident response, and resilience engineering.
Knowledge:
- Knowledge of software systems architecture, microservices, service meshes, and distributed system design.
- Familiarity with networking and security in cloud or containerized environments.
- Understanding of storage systems (object, block, distributed), data lifecycle management, and backup strategies.
- Familiarity with agile methodologies and cross-functional team delivery processes.
- Exposure to control systems, data acquisition, or scientific computing platforms is advantageous.
ATTRIBUTES
Core Competencies (Essential):
- Hands-on experience (2+ years) in platform or systems engineering, preferably in infrastructure-heavy or scientific computing environments.
- Solid understanding of distributed systems and the ability to implement scalable, resilient platform components.
- Proficiency with containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and Helm.
- Practical experience with CI/CD pipelines and automation tools (e.g., GitLab CI, ArgoCD, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
- Working knowledge of infrastructure as code, monitoring/observability tools, and modern DevOps/SRE practices.
- Strong skills in Linux systems administration, including basic tuning, troubleshooting, and scripting.
- Ability to contribute to technical planning, deliver scoped work in Agile teams, and collaborate across engineering disciplines.
- Demonstrated problem-solving ability with a focus on root cause analysis, operational reliability, and continuous improvement.
Skills:
- Problem Solving & Analytical Thinking: Root cause analysis, incident response, system optimization.
- Communication & Collaboration: Clear articulation of technical decisions, cross-functional stakeholder engagement, feedback integration.
- Planning and delivery: Proficient in backlog grooming, sprint planning, and technical delivery in Agile/DevOps environments.
- Documentation and knowledge sharing: Ability to produce high-quality technical documentation and share knowledge across engineering teams.
- Continuous learning and a passion for engineering excellence.
- Teamwork: Collaborates within their team and with cross-functional teams alongside partners.
Tooling Proficiency (this is not an exhaustive list; additional relevant experience or skills will be viewed favourably):
- Containerisation & Orchestration: Kubernetes, Docker, Podman, Helm, containerd
- Hardware Acceleration: GPU, FPGA
- Automation: Ansible, Terraform, Bash, Python, Systemd, Packer
- CI/CD: GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, FluxCD
- Monitoring & Observability: Prometheus, Grafana, Zabbix, ELK stack, or related
- Cloud Platforms: AWS, GCP, Azure, or OpenStack
Organisational Values:
The Platform Engineer will be expected to demonstrate the following values and to work actively to instil those behaviours in all their colleagues in South Africa:
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Excellence
- Collaboration
- Creativity and Innovation
- Sustainability
- Passion for Excellence
- World-class service
- People-centred approach
- Respect
- Integrity and Ethics
- Accountability
Desired Skills:
- Communication
- Delivery Management
- Planning
- Solving Problems
About The Employer:
Our client supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.
