Senior RSE (Automation and DevOps) - IT Services - 107061 - Grade 8 at University of Birmingham

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK 

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £47,389 to £56,535 with potential progression once in post to £63,606

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to March 2031

Our offer to you

• Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. 

Role Summary

• The Senior Research Software Engineer (Automation and DevOps) plays a central and highly technical role in designing, delivering and supporting the services that ARC manages. The post is located in the BEAR Applications team (part of the Research Software Group) but also works closely with the Architecture, Infrastructure and Systems Group. The role focuses on the systems and integrations that themselves support the operation of our headline services, including the Baskerville NCR HPC system and the University’s Tier 3 (local) high-performance computer. This dedicated post will allow us to proceed faster towards more and better automation in our drive to continuously improve quality and efficiency.
• The role is primarily technical, however a minority of the RSE’s time will be spent line managing a DevOps Engineer in collaboration with the BEAR Applications management team. In addition to the relevant managerial training courses available, the BEAR Applications management team will guide and advise the successful applicant in the line management aspects of this role.

Main Duties

• Development, maintenance and support of Python-based middleware libraries that integrate and control aspects of our headline HPC services.
• Design, development, maintenance and support of the web applications that support ARC’s headline Baskerville NCR and BEAR computing services.
• Reporting to the BEAR Applications team management, line manage a DevOps Engineer.
• Deployment and support for web applications running on BEAR Cloud virtual machines, including the use of containerisation technologies.
• Workflow development and automation with systems and services both internal-to-ARC (e.g. GitLab) and within the wider IT Services context (e.g. ServiceNow).
• Continual improvement of our testing, automation and continuous integration (CI) pipelines.
• In collaboration with colleagues, prioritise and plan the development of these projects. Help to allocate tasks to others and enable good communication between colleagues in this area. 
• Review code written by other team members for these and other projects, helping improve code quality and also timeliness of delivery.
• Respond to user tickets related to these systems and troubleshoot incidents and problems, in collaboration with both researchers and with infrastructure colleagues.
• Maintenance of the associated user and technical documentation.
• In addition to University-provided training and development, you will undertake sufficient personal and professional development as required, ensuring skills and knowledge are up to date so that the role is performed to the required level.
• Actively manage equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenge unacceptable behaviour. 
• Support the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working. 
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade. 

Person Specification

• Educated to degree level or equivalent qualification preferably in a subject with a strong software engineering component, plus substantial work experience in a relevant technical/scientific and/or management/supervisory role in a specialist area.  A higher degree may also be held.  Where no equivalent qualification is held a proven track record of extensive and substantial work experience in a series of progressively more demanding and relevant roles will be required.
• Broad and deep knowledge of Python, including working with medium or large codebases.
• Experience developing software on Linux.
• Significant experience supporting live services running on Linux.
• Experience of integrating different systems together using APIs.
• Knowledge and experience of up-to-date good practice for developing and maintaining Django applications.
• Broad experience of using Git to provide version control for Python projects.
• Experience with developing continuous integration pipelines.
• Experience doing detailed code reviews.
• Experience line managing a small team is desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex problems.
• Experience with version control in Git using GitHub or GitLab is desirable.
• Experience of producing accessible technical documentation (or similar) is desirable.
• Proven ability to work as part of a team.
• Proven ability to build constructive relationships with customers (or similar).
• A self-motivated learner with a track record of continually updating skills.
• Excellent organizational/project management skills.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
• Good broad knowledge of C&IT, including latest technology industry trends.
• Knowledge of Higher Education, Research and its environment is desirable. 
• GCSEs to a minimum of grade C/4 in English and Mathematics (or equivalent qualifications). 
• Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area. 
• Ability to monitor and evaluate the extent to which equality and diversity legislation, policies, procedures are applied. 
• Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action. 

Role context

• Roles at this level will either be technical specialists operating at a very high specialist level as expert contributors or experienced functional/technical professionals with a broader knowledge across their discipline with managerial responsibility for the delivery or ownership of a service.

Core competencies/transferable skills

• Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully demonstrate the core competencies/transferable skills outlined in each of the areas shown below.  You will be expected to take ownership for getting things done, including calling on or joining others to assist.  You will be expected to be flexible as required in supporting your department and wider University. 

Planning and organising 

• lead and manage a technical/IT/specialist team to deliver a service, balancing short term delivery with longer term planning horizons.
• determine priorities and allocate resources to meet planned objectives and requirements.
• monitor performance standards, taking appropriate actions to ensure service delivery is uniformly excellent
• ensure health and safety of the area and equipment/hardware.
• carry out project work including planning and delivering programmes of work to budget and deadline.
• advise on future requirements of, for example, equipment, apparatus, furniture and fittings, space.
• make a major contribution to the development of policies and procedures to ensure that all legislative and University requirements are met within the laboratories/workshops and work areas.
• make significant contributions to the design/development/application of services, techniques, specialist equipment or materials.
• design, plan and deliver programmes of specialist work.
• operate as a high-level specialist – initiating and developing ideas/approaches, promoting and delivering innovative solutions.
• Problem solving and decision making
• use analytical and problem-solving skills to resolve specialist and technical issues; may be one of the few able to provide solutions in a specialised field;
• provide comprehensive advice and make innovative contributions.

Organisational understanding 

• has an excellent understanding of own working area and a broad understanding of the contribution other areas make to the success of the University.  
• has an excellent understanding of how the University operates, together with an understanding of how academia operates in the UK;
• demonstrates empathy with the academic endeavour and seeks to encourage others to do so.

Relationships and communication

• communicate clearly on technical or professional issues to non-specialists and senior level audiences and command their respect.
• represent the department at internal and external meetings/events/network with colleagues in other institutions to share best practice. OH/DBS required 

 
Pre-employment DBS 

• The University is committed to safeguarding, and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.

End Date: 12th April 2026