Engineering Leader, Infrastructure

About the role

At Benchling, we are pioneering an AI-driven platform aimed at revolutionizing the biotech research and development landscape. This pivotal leadership role is centered on guiding an infrastructure team dedicated to enhancing the scalability, security, and dependability of our cloud infrastructure. As an Engineering Leader, you will play a crucial part in shaping the future of our technology stack while fostering a culture of innovation and excellence within your team.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Lead and mentor a team of infrastructure engineers, focusing on their professional development and career progression.
• Direct the execution of platform initiatives that enhance cost efficiency, security measures, compliance adherence, and overall system performance.
• Introduce and implement Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) methodologies, including Service Level Indicators (SLIs), Service Level Objectives (SLOs), and automation processes to bolster system reliability.
• Optimize incident response protocols, which encompass on-call management and thorough post-incident evaluations to ensure continuous improvement.
• Manage and expand our AWS cloud infrastructure, ensuring robust configurations for compute and networking resources.
• Collaborate closely with teams in Security, Platform Engineering, and Product Engineering to synchronize on technical roadmaps and project goals.
• Ensure that all infrastructure processes comply with Good Practice (GxP) and relevant biotech regulatory standards, ensuring auditability and control throughout.
• Foster a culture of collaboration and innovation within the infrastructure team, encouraging the exploration of new technologies and methodologies.
• Drive initiatives to enhance the observability of systems, ensuring that operational tooling is effective and meets the needs of the organization.
• Act as a key liaison between technical and non-technical stakeholders, translating complex technical concepts into understandable terms.
• Participate in strategic planning sessions to align infrastructure capabilities with the broader business objectives of Benchling.
• Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies to ensure that Benchling remains at the forefront of biotech innovation.

Requirements

• A minimum of 3 years of experience in a managerial role, with a proven track record of leading engineers across various experience levels.
• Strong foundation in software engineering, with specific expertise in infrastructure or platform engineering.
• Hands-on experience with AWS services, including but not limited to EKS, ECS, RDS, VPC, EC2, and S3.
• In-depth knowledge of Kubernetes and service-platform patterns, including ingress, service discovery, and workload isolation techniques.
• Experience in developing observability frameworks and operational tools to monitor system performance.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and articulate technical concepts effectively.
• Proficiency in Python is essential, along with familiarity in TypeScript; experience with Go is considered a significant plus.

Nice to have

• Previous experience in leading incident management programs or Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams is advantageous.
• Familiarity with working in regulated environments such as biotech, finance, or healthcare sectors.
• Experience with cloud-native technologies and microservices architecture can be beneficial.

Skills & tools

• AWS (EKS, ECS, RDS, VPC, EC2, S3)
• Kubernetes
• Programming languages: Python, Go, TypeScript
• Observability tools (e.g., Datadog, FireHydrant, Sentry)
• Service mesh technologies like Istio

Practical notes

• Candidates will be required to complete an AI-focused exercise or engage in a discussion during the interview process to showcase their application of AI in their work.
• Benchling is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace and is an equal opportunity employer. We adhere to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, ensuring fair hiring practices for all candidates.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced engineering leader to join a forward-thinking company that is at the forefront of technological advancement in biotech. If you are passionate about infrastructure and eager to make a significant impact, we invite you to apply and be part of our mission to transform the future of biotech research and development.