Senior Manager/Associate Director, Software, Platform Engineering

Pacific Biosciences•Menlo Park, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

PacBio (NASDAQ: PACB) is a premier life science technology company that designs, develops, and manufactures advanced sequencing solutions to help scientists and clinical researchers resolve genetically complex problems. Our mission is to enable the promise of genomics to better human health. Genomics is core to all biological processes, and our advanced genomics tools provide scientists and clinical researchers the insights to better understand biology and health. We are now entering the century of biology and genomics is at the heart of the next revolution. Become part of the new paradigm in gene sequencing and help shape the future of genomic study by joining the PacBio team. Position Summary: This role requires extensive hands-on DevOps experience deploying and updating software on complex physical hardware systems. Ideal candidates have led DevOps and platform teams responsible for software that runs on instruments, robotics, or other embedded systems that process real-world data. As the Senior Director of Platform Engineering at PacBio, you will lead the team that owns the platform infrastructure that powers our next-generation sequencing systems. Your mission is to enable reliable, scalable, secure, and high-performance software delivery across the organization. You will oversee Platform Engineering, ensuring delivery of world-class software. You will collaborate cross-functionally with development, verification/validation, manufacturing, and IT teams to ensure software quality, security, reproducibility, and operational excellence. Your leadership will directly impact the efficiency, reliability, and performance of PacBio’s sequencing instruments - empowering scientists and researchers worldwide. Critical Role Requirement (Please Read Carefully): Successful candidates must have extensive experience deploying software directly on physical hardware systems, including: Software delivery pipelines that target instruments, devices, or robotic systems Managing OS images, updates, and configuration on deployed hardware Supporting systems that interact with sensors, actuators, or data collection hardware Debugging failures across hardware, OS, middleware, and application layers Candidates whose DevOps experience is limited to cloud-native services, SaaS platforms, or purely virtualized environments will not be a fit for this role.

Requirements

Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related discipline
Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and release engineering
5+ years of hands-on experience deploying and updating software on complex hardware systems (e.g. scientific instruments, robotics platforms, medical devices, or similar)
5+ years of engineering experience, including 3+ years in a leadership role (Manager, Senior Manager, Associate Director, or equivalent)
Strong understanding of software architecture and development best practices
Track record of delivering high-quality software systems in complex, multidisciplinary environments
Familiarity with regulatory compliance frameworks relevant to software development and experience working with Quality & Regulatory teams
Experience in Linux systems administration on deployed hardware systems, including OS image management, device provisioning, performance tuning, and field diagnostics
Familiarity with secure development practices and testing and tools for vulnerability detection and remediation
Proficiency in one or more programming languages (e.g.; C++, Python, C#)
Familiarity with containerization and orchestration tools (Docker/Podman, Singularity)
Strong problem-solving, analytical, and cross-functional communication skills
Experience in debugging hardware and software issues in complex computer systems with a deep understanding of system-level interactions.
Strong communication skills and ability to work closely with other teams and stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Understanding of automation, infrastructure-as-code, and configuration management tools (e.g., Ansible, Puppet, Chef)
Experience developing software for scientific instrumentation, robotics platforms, or other hardware-based systems, ideally in regulated environments (biotech, medical devices, life sciences)
In-depth knowledge of Linux internals and distributed systems
Experience leading platform modernization or cloud transformation initiatives
Demonstrated success in improving software delivery, platform reliability, and quality practices

Responsibilities

Own and evolve software delivery pipelines for deployment onto physical sequencing instruments, including build systems, packaging, deployment, and release management
Implement and optimize CI/CD pipelines that support hardware-in-the-loop testing, instrument simulation, and deployment to physical devices
Define and execute the vision and roadmap for platform engineering in alignment with company and R&D goals
Provide technical leadership and strategic direction across platform, infrastructure, DevOps, QA, and secure software development functions
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of platform engineers
Drive continual improvement in software delivery efficiency, reliability, and scalability
Establish and enforce secure development practices, vulnerability management, and compliance with internal security standards
Define and enforce best practices for source control, build orchestration, and environment management
Collaborate with development, IT, V&V, and manufacturing teams to streamline handoffs and enhance integration processes
Oversee OS configuration, performance tuning, and system-level optimization for sequencing instruments and supporting platforms