Infrastructure Project Manager

EMBL-EBI - European Bioinformatics Institute

Hinxton, United Kingdom

About the Team

We are seeking an Infrastructure and Production Project Leader to lead the development and operation of the technical infrastructure supporting PDBe services and associated resources, including PDBe-KB and AFDB.

The role involves managing a team of software and infrastructure engineers while contributing to the strategic development of scalable, reliable, and sustainable data infrastructure. The successful candidate will ensure that PDBe’s data delivery systems and services continue to meet the needs of a rapidly growing global scientific user base.

Working Relationships

Internal:

PDBe team members, including software engineers, bioinformaticians, project coordinators, and other project leaders.
Other EMBL-EBI teams, including infrastructure, data resources, and platform services.

External:

Collaborators across EMBL-EBI resources, including UniProt.
Scientific organisations and infrastructure projects such as CCP4, CCPEM, and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
External collaborators from academia, research institutes, and industry.
Users and stakeholders from the global structural biology community.

Duties & Responsibilities

In this role you will:

Work with the PDBe Team Leader, Coordinator, and senior staff to define and implement the technical strategy for PDBe data infrastructure and services.
Lead and manage the Infrastructure and Production sub-team, including mentoring and supporting team members.
Design and operate robust infrastructure supporting the PDBe archive, PDBe-KB, and AFDB resources.
Oversee and continuously improve PDBe’s weekly data release pipelines.
Develop scalable mechanisms for data discovery, access, and distribution.
Collaborate with other EMBL-EBI teams, particularly the central IT services, to design and maintain sustainable infrastructure solutions.
Act as a technical mentor within the team, fostering best practices in infrastructure engineering, reliability, and maintainability.
Monitor emerging technologies and evaluate their potential application to PDBe services.

You have (Requirements)

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Bioinformatics, Data Engineering, or a related field. Equivalent professional experience in infrastructure engineering and technical leadership will also be considered.
A PhD is not essential but domain knowledge in structural biology or bioinformatics is desirable.
6+ years designing and operating large-scale data infrastructure in production environments.
Experience leading and mentoring infrastructure or software engineering teams.
Proven track record of delivering reliable and scalable data services.
Experience defining and implementing technical roadmaps aligned with organisational strategy.
Experience working within scientific or research data environments is desirable.

Technical Skills

Strong programming skills, particularly in Python.
Experience with large-scale data processing and data integration workflows.
Development and operation of RESTful APIs.
Experience with relational and/or NoSQL databases.
Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure).
Experience with containerisation and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code tools (e.g., Terraform).
Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and production monitoring/observability tools.
Understanding of cloud security, identity and access management, high availability, and disaster recovery practices.

Soft Skills

Strong leadership and mentoring capabilities.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
Ability to work effectively within interdisciplinary and international teams.

Professional Skills

Demonstrated ability to manage large-scale bioinformatics or data infrastructure projects.
Experience improving data infrastructure and access mechanisms within scientific research environments.