Platform Engineer (CPT) (Contract) at Datafin Recruitment

ENVIRONMENT:

• Join a team of scientists, engineers, and computer scientists working on the world’s largest and most advanced radio telescope project, as they seek a Mid Platform Engineer to contribute to the development, integration, and daily operation of shared platform services that support scientific computing and complex software systems, with responsibilities spanning platform construction, automation, observability, service reliability, and operational readiness as the platform transitions from construction into steady-state operations.

REQUIREMENTS:

Qualifications:

• NQF Level 7 qualification in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Electronic Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.
• B.Tech/B.Sc. (Comp Sci) with 8+ years
• B.Eng./B.Sc. Hons (Comp Sci) with 5+ years
• M. Eng/M.Sc (Comp Sci) with 3+ years

Experience & Knowledge:

• 2+ years demonstrated technical hands-on experience in infrastructure automation, distributed systems, observability, CI/CD, container orchestration (e.g. Kubernetes), DevOps/SRE practices and cloud-native technologies.
• Experience working in teams or initiatives that intersect with data platforms, storage, networking, and systems engineering domains.
• Understanding of platform engineering practices, including infrastructure as code, observability stacks, and automated deployment pipelines.
• Knowledge of software systems architecture, microservices, service meshes, and distributed system design.
• Exposure to DevOps and SRE principles, including monitoring, alerting, incident response, and resilience engineering.
• Familiarity with networking and security in cloud or containerized environments.
• Understanding of storage systems (object, block, distributed), data lifecycle management, and backup strategies.
• Familiarity with agile methodologies and cross-functional team delivery processes.
• Exposure to control systems, data acquisition, or scientific computing platforms is advantageous.

Tooling Proficiency:

• Containerisation & Orchestration: Kubernetes, Docker, Podman, Helm, Containerd
• Hardware Acceleration: GPU, FPGA
• Automation: Ansible, Terraform, Bash, Python, Systemd, Packer
• CI/CD: GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, FluxCD
• Monitoring & Observability: Prometheus, Grafana, Zabbix, ELK stack, or related
• Cloud Platforms: AWS, GCP, Azure, or OpenStack

ATTRIBUTES:

• Problem Solving & Analytical Thinking: Root cause analysis, incident response, system optimization.
• Communication & Collaboration: Clear articulation of technical decisions, cross-functional stakeholder engagement, feedback integration.
• Planning and delivery: Proficient in backlog grooming, sprint planning, and technical delivery in Agile/DevOps environments.
• Documentation and knowledge sharing: Ability to produce high-quality technical documentation and share knowledge across engineering teams.
• Continuous learning and a passion for engineering excellence.