The Onyx Research Data Platform organization represents a major investment by GSK R&D and Digital & Tech, designed to deliver a step-change in our ability to leverage data, knowledge, and prediction to find new medicines. We are a full-stack shop consisting of product and portfolio leadership, data engineering, infrastructure and DevOps, data / metadata / knowledge platforms, and AI/ML and analysis platforms, all geared toward:

• Building a next-generation data experience for GSK’s scientists, engineers, and decision-makers, increasing productivity, and reducing time spent on “data mechanics”
• Providing best-in-class AI/ML and data analysis environments to accelerate our predictive capabilities and attract top-tier talent
• Aggressively engineering our data at scale to unlock the value of our combined data assets and predictions in real-time

The Physical Infrastructure team is accountable for the on-premises half of our hybrid cloud infrastructure strategy. They maintain and operate our current high-performance computing environments (multiple clusters consisting of 1,000 nodes, 40,000+ CPU cores, 600+ GPUs, and 40+ PB of storage that support 1,000 R&D users), while working to transition toward a “private cloud”-style edge computing framework. Ultimately, their goal is to ensure that we can run critical workloads on-premises (as a cost control, for performance reasons, or due to licensing restrictions) but that Onyx engineering teams and downstream customers never see a difference between developing for the cloud and developing for onprem. And, importantly, they deliver that capability using a site reliability approach through monitoring, auditing, and alerting to intercept potential issues before they reach the end user.

This role is responsible for building and leading a team of world-class infrastructure engineers focused on ensuring GSK has a leading capability in edge computing. They support the Head of Infrastructure, DevOps, and Support (and the entire Onyx leadership team) in building a strong culture of accountability and ownership in their team, as well as instilling best-in-class engineering practices (e.g., testing, code reviews, DevOps-forward ways of working). They work in close partnership with the Cloud Infrastructure and DevOps teams to ensure consistent Infrastructure-as-Code abstractions and operating principles, and with the Product Management, Data & Knowledge Platforms, and AI/ML, Analysis, and Computing Platforms teams to ensure that we have the right infrastructure components to power our platforms and services reliably and securely.

  Key responsibilities for the Director, Physical Infrastructure include:

• Build, lead, develop, and retain world-class infrastructure engineers
• Maintain and operate our extensive on-prem infrastructure that powers computation across the R&D organization
• Work to transition from classical HPC ways of working to a modern “private cloud” approach that focuses on Infrastructure-as-Code, DevOps-driven workflows, and containerization, and helps put site reliability engineering and automation at the core of every running Onyx service
• Serve as architect for the physical infrastructure platform, and contribute technical expertise to partner teams across Onyx to ensure a consistent, powerful, and professionally operated overall infrastructure capability
• Partner with leads of Cloud Infrastructure, DevOps, and downstream Platforms teams to architect an engagement model and optimal ways of working with the product management teams
• Manage vendor relationships and contracting; delegate these duties where it is advantageous to do so
• Design innovative strategy beyond the current enterprise way of working to create a better environment for the end users, and able to construct a coordinated, stepwise plan to bring others along with the change curve
• Standard bearer for proper ways of working and engineering discipline, including the QMS framework and CI/CD best practices and proactively spearhead improvement within their engineering area
• Serve as a technical thought leader and champion: e.g., speak at industry events, promote GSK as an attractive place to build a career and thrive as a data platform engineer, act as a key knowledge holder for the Onyx organization

Why you?

Basic Qualifications:

We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:

• PhD + 4 years, Masters + 6 years, or Bachelors + 8 years
• Experience in modern infrastructure management (networking, security, authentication, OS, storage, etc.) and site reliability practice.
• Experience with Python (or other language suitable for system automation), including toolchains for documentation, testing and operations/observability.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (e.g. AWS, Google Cloud, Azure Kubernetes) and Infrastructure-as-code.

Preferred Qualifications:

If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:

• Application experience of CI/CD implementations using git and a common CI/CD stack (e.g., Jenkins, CircleCI, GitLab, Azure DevOps) • Demonstrated excellence with agile software development environments using tools like Jira and Confluence
• Demonstrated excellence in managing high-stakes, business-critical infrastructure spanning multiple geographies and time zones
• Experience with establishing software engineering ways of working and best practices for a team (whether informally or as formal SOPs etc) • Experience recruiting top engineering talent
• Experience with agile planning and execution processes for software and/or infrastructure delivery

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together – so we can positively impact the health of billions of people and deliver stronger, more sustainable shareholder returns – as an organisation where people can thrive. We prevent and treat disease with vaccines, specialty and general medicines. We focus on the science of the immune system and the use of new platform and data technologies, investing in four core therapeutic areas (infectious diseases, HIV, respiratory/ immunology and oncology).

Our success absolutely depends on our people. While getting ahead of disease together is about our ambition for patients and shareholders, it’s also about making GSK a place where people can thrive. We want GSK to be a place where people feel inspired, encouraged and challenged to be the best they can be. A place where they can be themselves – feeling welcome, valued, and included. Where they can keep growing and look after their wellbeing. So, if you share our ambition, join us at this exciting moment in our journey to get Ahead Together.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we are open to all talent. In the US, we also adhere to Affirmative Action principles. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to neurodiversity, race/ethnicity, colour, national origin, religion, gender, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, disability, genetic information, military service, covered/protected veteran status or any other federal, state or local protected class*(*US only).

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on [email protected] or 0808 234 4391. 

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