Platform Engineer - SKA-Low Telescope
The SKA-Low project is part of the SKA Observatory’s global mission to build the world’s largest and most advanced radio telescope. In Australia, SKA-Low is being developed on Wajarri Yamaji Country in remote Western Australia, combining high-performance computing, advanced networking and cutting-edge software systems to process vast volumes of scientific data. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a globally significant, next-generation scientific infrastructure.
The Computing and Software Group delivers the core platforms and systems that underpin SKA-Low operations, including integrated control systems managing millions of variables, high-performance data processing capabilities, and large-scale distributed networks operating at extraordinary speeds. Within this broader group, the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) team ensures these platforms are reliable, secure and scalable, supporting the long-term operation of a system designed to evolve over decades.
As a Platform Engineer, you will play a key role in the deployment, configuration, maintenance and operational support of core computing platforms and services across multiple environments, including the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Perth, the Integration Test Facility in Geraldton, and the SKA-Low observatory site at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. You will work closely with Observatory Architects, Platform and DevOps Engineers, Network Engineers, Project Managers and other domain specialists to ensure platforms and services are fit for purpose, highly available, secure and supportable.
You will apply strong platform engineering and site reliability principles to manage complex infrastructure, resolve operational challenges, improve service sustainability and contribute to technology platforms designed to evolve and operate in the long-term. This role offers the opportunity to work with high-performance computing environments, large-scale distributed systems and globally collaborative engineering teams, while helping to deliver one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever undertaken.
The ideal candidate will bring strong technical expertise, experience supporting and maintaining complex computing platforms or infrastructure environments, and a proactive approach to problem-solving and continuous improvement. Success in this role will also require strong collaboration skills, a focus on operational excellence, and the ability to work effectively across a diverse and geographically distributed stakeholder network.
If you’re passionate about building and supporting large-scale technology platforms and want to apply your expertise to a globally significant scientific project, this is a unique opportunity to be part of a team powering the future of radio astronomy – and we’d love to hear from you!
Your high-level duties will include:
- Deploying, configuring, and maintaining a consistent, integrated and unified set of computing and software platforms and services that support the operation of the SKA-Low telescope.
- Working with the SKAO SAFe® Platform and System teams to develop and maintain a globally consistent and integrated SRE response system.
- Actively contributing to the general design and implementation of the SKA-Low Technology platforms, feeding into and implementing the observatory wide platform design roadmap.
- Investigating, diagnosing and resolving platform incidents and problems, ensuring timely restoration of services and identification of root causes.
- Monitoring platform health, availability, capacity and performance, proactively identifying risks and implementing corrective actions to minimise operational impact and maximise service continuity and performance.
- Developing and maintaining operational documentation, support procedures, training materials and knowledge resources to ensure ongoing maintainability and supportability of platform services.
- Contributing to the ongoing improvement of platform engineering practices, automation capabilities, monitoring solutions and service support processes.
