Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges.

Join our Human Genetics Informatics team at the Wellcome Sanger Institute as a permanent Systems Administrator & Software Developer (Grade 3), or Junior Systems Administrator & Software Developer role (Grade 4) if you're at an earlier career stage.

About Us:

Our mission is to streamline data pipelines and deliver ground-breaking data.

We achieve this through:

• Creating Reproducible Software Environments: We empower researchers with environments that are easy to use, share, and discover: https://github.com/wtsi-hgi/softpack-docs
  
• Managing Resources Efficiently: We keep track of storage and compute usage for all our scientific projects. Our active data management services and reporting interfaces ensure optimal resource utilization: https://github.com/wtsi-ssg/wrstat, https://github.com/wtsi-hgi/ibackup
  
• Harnessing the Power of the Cloud:
  
• Trusted Research Environment: We provision and administer a GCP-based Trusted Research Environment: https://github.com/wsi-hgi-tre
  
• Infrastructure-as-code: We provision and troubleshoot Spark clusters and other apps in OpenStack: https://github.com/wtsi-hgi/cluster-launcher
  

What you'll be doing

This dynamic role offers a mix of independent work and team collaboration, directly engaging with scientific researchers. You'll work on both systems administration (Linux environments, automation, cloud platforms) and software development (scripting, testing, and integrating tools), helping to enable efficient access to state-of-the-art analysis methods.

Systems Administrator & Software Developer (Grade 3):
In this role, you will play a central part in enabling Human Genetics Informatics (HGI) by ensuring the availability and reliability of scientific software in a reproducible way. You will take ownership of creating and maintaining software installation recipes, independently debugging and automating system processes, and ensuring uptime through code-controlled automation. Alongside your systems administration expertise, you will apply your software development skills to test, debug, and integrate new tools, as well as contribute to team-wide problem-solving discussions.

Junior Systems Administrator & Software Developer (Grade 4):
In this role, you will help support Human Genetics Informatics (HGI) by ensuring that scientific software is available, reliable, and reproducible for researchers. You will contribute to creating and updating software installation recipes, debugging installations, and automating operational tasks under guidance. While the role is rooted in Linux systems administration, you will also gain hands-on experience with coding through testing, debugging, and paired development.

About You:

If you're interested in learning about and gaining experience with a wide variety of interesting technologies, this opportunity is for you. You'll work with High-Performance Computing, OpenStack, Google Cloud Platform, Singularity, Github/Gitlab CI, Terraform/Ansible, and Spack regularly. You'll also have exposure to massive data scales: think petabytes of data.

Apply now or reach out to Sendu Bala (#removed#) for more information.

Essential skills:

• Awareness of software compilation and installation on Linux systems
  
• Experience with Git and GitHub
  
• Knowledge of at least 1 programming language, with a willingness to learn Python and Go if these are not already known
  
• Excellent communication skills, ability to interact across multi-disciplinary team to develop and maintain good working relationships
  
• Have the capacity and enthusiasm for learning new skills and technologies
  
• Ability to work as part of a team in a friendly and collegiate environment
  
• Willingness to think creatively and solve problems, with the ability to find practical solutions even when faced with challenges
  

Additional Skills for the Systems Administrator and Software Developer:

• Experience with software compilation and installation on Linux systems
  
• Experience of at least 1 programming language, with a willingness to learn Python and Go if these are not already known
  
• Highly developed analytical, problem solving and creative thinking skills with the ability to deliver value and overcome challenges in the face of uncertainty
  
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team in a friendly and collegiate environment
  

Additional Information:

Salary per annum (dependent upon skills and experience):

Systems Administrator and Software Developer- (Grade 3) £33,155-£39,388

Junior Systems Administrator and Software Developer - (Grade 4) - £28,247-£33,557

Application Process:

Please apply with your CV and a Cover letter outlining how you meet the criteria set out above.

Closing Date: 7th September 2025

Hybrid Working at Wellcome Sanger:

We recognise that there are many benefits to Hybrid Working; including an improved work-life balance, with more focused time, as well as the ability to organise working time so that collaborative opportunities and team discussions are facilitated on campus. The hybrid working arrangement will vary for different roles and teams. The nature of your role and the type of work you do will determine if a hybrid working arrangement is possible.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

We aim to attract, recruit, retain and develop talent from the widest possible talent pool, thereby gaining insight and access to different markets to generate a greater impact on the world. We have a supportive culture with the following staff networks, LGBTQ+, Parents and Carers, Disability and Race Equity to bring people together to share experiences, offer specific support and development opportunities and raise awareness. The networks are also a place for allies to provide support to others.

We want our people to be whoever they want to be because we believe people who bring their best selves to work, do their best work. That's why we're committed to creating a truly inclusive culture at Sanger Institute. We will consider all individuals without discrimination and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, where everyone can thrive.

Our Benefits:

We are proud to deliver an awarding campus-wide employee wellbeing strategy and programme. The importance of good health and adopting a healthier lifestyle and the commitment to reduce work-related stress is strongly acknowledged and recognised at Sanger Institute.

Sanger Institute became a signatory of the International Technician Commitment initiative In March 2018. The Technician Commitment aims to empower and ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines.