Staff Engineer, Infrastructure Platforms
Other Engineering
Menlo Park, CA, USA
Staff Engineer, Infrastructure Platforms
Position Summary
The Staff Engineer, Infrastructure Platforms provides technical leadership for the engineering, automation, security, and operational excellence of PacBio's hybrid infrastructure platform supporting enterprise, research, and scientific computing workloads.
This role partners closely with Research, Bioinformatics, Software Engineering, Information Security, and IT Operations to design, build, automate, secure, and continuously improve infrastructure platforms spanning enterprise Linux, hybrid cloud, virtualization, enterprise storage, High Performance Computing (HPC), and modern platform services.
The ideal candidate combines deep operational expertise with a platform engineering mindset, balancing day-to-day operational ownership with long-term modernization through Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automation, infrastructure security, and engineering best practices.
Responsibilities
Infrastructure Strategy & Platform Engineering
- Provide technical leadership for PacBio's enterprise infrastructure platforms.
- Define infrastructure architecture, engineering standards, and operational best practices.
- Lead infrastructure modernization initiatives focused on automation, scalability, resiliency, and operational excellence.
- Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend improvements that enhance operational efficiency, security, scalability, and resiliency.
- Develop reusable infrastructure services and engineering standards supporting long-term platform evolution.
Infrastructure Operations
- Own the operational lifecycle of enterprise infrastructure platforms, including planning, deployment, maintenance, lifecycle management, modernization, capacity planning, disaster recovery, and continuous improvement.
- Engineer and support enterprise Linux infrastructure supporting production, engineering, and scientific computing environments.
- Design, implement, and support hybrid cloud and on-premises enterprise infrastructure.
- Support enterprise storage, virtualization, networking, and High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms supporting research and enterprise workloads.
- Serve as the senior technical escalation point for complex infrastructure issues.
- Lead incident response, root cause analysis, and operational improvement efforts.
Automation & Infrastructure Engineering
- Lead Infrastructure as Code (IaC) initiatives using modern automation and configuration management practices.
- Develop automation that reduces manual operational effort while improving consistency, recoverability, and operational resiliency.
- Implement GitOps and infrastructure CI/CD practices where appropriate.
- Continuously improve operational efficiency through automation and engineering best practices.
Security & Operational Excellence
- Design infrastructure following Secure-by-Design principles.
- Partner with Information Security to ensure infrastructure aligns with enterprise security standards and regulatory requirements.
- Improve operational resiliency by reducing manual processes and eliminating single points of failure.
- Develop and maintain infrastructure documentation, operational runbooks, engineering standards, and knowledge-sharing materials.
- Support business continuity, disaster recovery, and operational readiness initiatives.
Technical Leadership & Collaboration
- Partner closely with Research, Bioinformatics, Software Engineering, Information Security, and IT Operations.
- Mentor engineers while promoting collaboration, cross-training, and operational excellence.
- Lead architecture reviews, infrastructure roadmaps, and technology evaluations.
- Provide technical leadership when working with strategic vendors, consultants, and professional services organizations.
- Foster a culture of documentation, automation, operational ownership, and
- continuous improvement.
Required Experience
- 10+ years of progressive enterprise infrastructure engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership across complex production environments.
- Deep experience engineering and supporting enterprise Linux environments.
- Extensive experience supporting hybrid cloud and on-premises enterprise infrastructure.
- Strong experience supporting enterprise storage, virtualization, networking, and High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms.
- Experience implementing Infrastructure as Code, automation, scripting, and configuration management.
- Strong scripting experience using Python, Bash, PowerShell, or equivalent technologies.
- Experience with enterprise monitoring, logging, and observability platforms.
- Strong troubleshooting, communication, documentation, and mentoring skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting life sciences, genomics, bioinformatics, AI/ML, or other scientific computing environments.
- Experience with Platform Engineering, GitOps, Infrastructure CI/CD, Kubernetes, or enterprise container platforms.
- Experience implementing enterprise infrastructure security frameworks and best
- practices.
- Experience supporting regulated environments including ISO 27001, SOX, HIPAA, or GxP.
- Experience with backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity planning.
- Experience leading enterprise infrastructure modernization initiatives.
What Success Looks Like
The successful candidate will:
- Deliver secure, scalable, highly available infrastructure platforms supporting enterprise and scientific computing workloads.
- Improve operational efficiency through automation and Infrastructure as Code.
- Reduce operational risk through documentation, cross-training, and shared ownership.
- Improve platform reliability, resiliency, observability, and operational readiness.
- Build an engineering culture focused on automation, security, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
- Serve as a trusted technical leader driving the long-term evolution of PacBio's infrastructure platforms.
Candidates must have current authorization to work in the United States without the need for present or future sponsorship.
Non-Field Based Employees are required to be onsite Monday-Thursday (Friday work from home). Depending on the role, some employees may be required to be 100% onsite.
You may be required from time to time to visit and work at PacBio locations and for such times as the Company considers necessary for the proper performance of your duties.
All listed tasks and responsibilities are deemed as essential functions to this position; however, business conditions may require reasonable accommodations for additional tasks and responsibilities.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
#LI-Onsite
Salary Range:
$148,200.00 - $222,200.00
To all Staffing and Recruiting Agencies: Our Careers Site is only for individuals seeking a job at PacBio. Staffing and recruiting agencies and individuals being represented by an agency are not authorized to use this site or to submit profiles, applications or resumes, and any such submissions will be considered unsolicited. PacBio does not accept unsolicited resumes or applications from agencies. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, PacBio employees or any other company location. PacBio is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/applications.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or are limited in the ability or unable to access or use this online application process and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact us at 650-521-8000, or careers@pacificbiosciences.com for assistance.
Visit our following pages for more information on: