Senior Systems Lead Engineer

Recruiter: Daniel McCarthy  

Career Grade: C 

Internal Closing Date: 13th March 2025

About us

BT is part of BT Group, along with EE, Openreach, and Plusnet.

Millions of people rely on us every day to help them live their lives, power their businesses, and keep their public services running. We connect friends to family, clients to colleagues, people to possibilities. We keep the wheels of business spinning, and the emergency services responding. 

We value diversity and celebrate difference. ‘We embed diversity and inclusion into everything that we do. It’s fundamental to our purpose: we connect for good.’

We all stick to the same values: Personal, Simple, and Brilliant. From day one, you’ll get stuck in to tough challenges, pitch in with ideas, make things happen. But you won’t be alone: we’ll be there with help and support, learning and development.  

This is your chance to make a real difference to the world: to be part of the digital transformation of countless lives and businesses. Grab it.

Why this job matters
The purpose of this role is to technically lead on all development of systems for Global/UK Fabric.
The successful candidate will provide engineering leadership, will drive technical solutions and learning culture transformation within the team.

• Specifically, this role is accountable for:
• Overall technical accountability for all systems development of SDN/NAAS ecosystem (inc OSS, BSS, compute, underlay).
• Driving efficiency and scalability through the re-use of code both from a system design but also from a test perspective.
• Typically leading a matrix (virtual) team of technical experts/contractors to deliver system features/integration solutions and provide technical thought leadership to a larger matrix team. The sphere of influence for the matrix team will be from a technical perspective.
• Acting as a technical ambassador for the company and providing expert technical consulting to customers at a platform and/or overall solution level.
   

What you’ll be doing – your accountabilities
The purpose of the Senior Systems Engineer role is to be the technical lead for systems development across Global/UK Fabric. 
Specifically, this role is accountable for:

• Engaging as a Systems Technical Lead for a hybrid (open-source, in-house) SDN/NAAS ecosystem (OSS, BSS, compute, underlay)
• Ensures, engages in and improves (inc. hands on) the whole lifecycle of solution—from architecture and design, through to deployment, operation and refinement
• Establishes technical direction and oversees system and automation quality 
• Leads feature level technical planning and technology development 
• Ensures successful integration of a variety of automation and orchestration systems/endpoints 
• Tracks progress, resolves dependencies, evaluates risks and communicates status to stakeholders
• Ensures optimal technical resources utilisation and provides input on optimisations

The skills you’ll need to succeed
Mandatory

• Engineering leadership and excellence
• Systematic problem-solving approach, coupled with effective verbal and written communication skills
• Expertise in designing, configuring, analysing, integrating and troubleshooting highly available distributed systems underpinned by Kubernetes
• Expertise in automating all operational aspects of systems in production 
• Expertise in developing frameworks for and automating test cases for systems in production
• Expected
• Ability to debug, optimize code, and to automate routine tasks
• Experience with data modelling with Yang (with a vendor neutral landscape in mind)
• Solid experience with RESTful, gRPC APIs and JSON/Protobuf
• Open-source software experience and engagement with open-source development practices (e.g. Netbox, Elastic, Kafka, gNMIc, Kong, fluentd, Prometheus)
• Experience with CICD methodologies (Robot, Gitlab, BDD)
• Experience with Software Defined Networking, Service Provisioning, fault management, inventory management, performance management
• Understanding of Life-Cycle Management (devices, services, resources)

Desirable

• Experience with Juniper Paragon Automation 
• Experience with Itential(IAP/IAG) expertise
• Awareness of TM Forum API framework
• Awareness of Incident Management Systems (SNOW)
• Experience with agile delivery
• Experience with developing databases (Postgres, InfluxDB, MongoDB, ArangoDB)
• Member of a professional body e.g. Institution of Engineering and Technology
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or equivalent experience 
• Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) or equivalent experience.
• Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer (PCEP) or equivalent experience.
• ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level – Test Automation Engineering
• Robot Framework Certified Professional (RFCP) or equivalent
• AWS  Solutions Architect Associate
• Prometheus Certified Associate (PCA) or equivalent

A FEW POINTS TO NOTE:

Although these roles are listed as full-time, if you’re a job share partnership, work reduced hours, or any other way of working flexibly, please still get in touch.

We will also offer reasonable adjustments for the selection process if required, so please do not hesitate to inform us.

DON'T MEET EVERY SINGLE REQUIREMENT?

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate for this or other roles in our wider team.