Platform Engineer

Engineering - Software (Information & Communication Technology)
Government - Federal (Government & Defence)

Full time

Total salary package up to $120K inc. 15.4% super

The Australian Bureau of Statistics is looking to fill the roles ofPlatform Engineer and Senior Platform Engineer to join our Data, Middleware and Analytics team in the Security and Infrastructure Branch. 

These are ongoing, permanent roles and the successful applicants can be located at either of our offices in Adelaide, Belconnen (Canberra) or Docklands (Melbourne), although a hybrid model of working from home and office applies.

About the business area

Our branch builds, delivers and maintains ICT infrastructure and platforms in support of ABS’ mission of collecting, collating, and disseminating official statistics to support decision making across Australia’s public and private sectors.

The Data, Middleware and Analytics (DMA) team are responsible for the design, implementation, administration and maintenance of ABS’ web, middleware, application and data hosting technology

stack. This stack includes:

• application load balancing and firewalling
• web application platforms
• data management and analytics platforms
• database management services/systems.

The team helps build integrated, secure and robust solutions while working with key stakeholders, including ABS technical and business teams, application development teams and strategic vendors.

About the roles

As a Platform Engineer or Senior Platform Engineer your responsibilities may include the following:

• respond to service requests and prioritise work
• provide technical advice and support on best practice for design, installation, deployment, configuration and, if applicable, hardening activities
• troubleshoot incidents, identify root cause, resolve and document problems and implement preventative measures
• work with team members, colleagues and key stakeholders to plan and deliver platform changes
• create and maintain good and current analytical tool knowledge in accordance with team policy
• establish and maintain a good working relationship with vendors and the wider user base
• escalate and manage resolution of major issues with vendor support channels
• implement the release of patches and updates in a timely fashion
• create and maintain technical and procedural documentation
• liaise with clients and vendors to troubleshoot and resolve critical issues.

Additionally, as a Senior Platform Engineer, your responsibilities may also include:

• manage service requests and plan priorities
• engage with business and technical stakeholders to provide technical advice and make recommendations based on requirements
• develop and maintain secure solutions in accordance with established good practices and patterns, including an awareness of cyber security threats and performing mitigative activities in a timely manner
• create and maintain good and current knowledge of middleware platforms and their management in accordance with team policy
• manage the release of patches and updates in a timely fashion
• staff management and mentoring.

What we are looking for (selection criteria)

To be suitable you should have most or all of the following skills, qualities and experience: 

• experience with the administration of application platforms and systems on a Windows or Linux Server environment, including but not limited to: 

o ability to design, test, deploy, integrate, operate and administer a range of off-the-shelf, custom and IaaS/PaaS/SaaS ICT systems

o undertake performance troubleshooting, platform testing and tuning

o develop policies and procedures

• technical capabilities in at least one or more of the following technology areas:

o Web, Middleware and Application Hosting Platforms

* web application platforms (JBoss, IIS, Tomcat) 

* application load balancing and firewalling (F5, AWS WAF) 

o Public Cloud Platform and Services Administration: 

* Amazon Web Services (Firewall Manager, EC2, CloudFormation, Elastic Container Service)

• good communication, negotiation and influencing skills, including providing technical advice and support relating to best practice for design, installation, deployment and configuration
• ability to establish, participate and maintain relationships with stakeholders, including escalating and managing resolution of major issues
• good technical and analytical / troubleshooting skills with the ability to work in an environment of ambiguity and constant technical change. 

The following will also be highly regarded for the Platform Engineer role: 

• an understanding of Infrastructure-As-Code, containerisation concepts and modern CI/CD solutions and tooling. 

The following will also be highly regarded for the Senior Platform Engineer role: 

• experience with/knowledge of containerisation tools and technologies (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS ECS/ECR/EKS).

The following will also be highly regarded for both roles:

• knowledge of security standards, mitigation strategies and Whole-of-Government compliance requirement
• capacity to participate in a roster to provide technical support for critical incidents outside of core business hours (on-call allowance provided).

How to apply

To apply, you will need to upload your current resume, provide referee details and respond to the following: 

Provide one or two examples of projects you have delivered, or major pieces of work that you have been involved in.

Refer to the selection criteria and attempt to incorporate all criteria in your response. Please limit your response to 500 words.

Applications close at 11:30 p.m. (AEST), Wednesday 22nd May 2024.

The ABS is Australia’s national statistical agency, providing trusted official statistics on a wide range of economic, social, population and environmental matters of importance to Australia.

The ABS also has an important leadership role, coordinating statistical activities and collaborating with official bodies in the collection, compilation, analysis and distribution of statistics. This assists in maximising the value of government investment on these activities, and ensures outputs are fit-for-purpose.

The ABS statistical programs are supported by service areas which deliver assistance and advice on statistical methods, data and metadata management, information technology, client management, dissemination, human resources and other corporate services. The ABS also has an important coordination function with respect to the statistical activities of other official bodies, both in Australia and overseas.

The ABS is Australia’s national statistical agency, providing trusted official statistics on a wide range of economic, social, population and environmental matters of importance to Australia.

The ABS also has an important leadership role, coordinating statistical activities and collaborating with official bodies in the collection, compilation, analysis and distribution of statistics. This assists in maximising the value of government investment on these activities, and ensures outputs are fit-for-purpose.

The ABS statistical programs are supported by service areas which deliver assistance and advice on statistical methods, data and metadata management, information technology, client management, dissemination, human resources and other corporate services. The ABS also has an important coordination function with respect to the statistical activities of other official bodies, both in Australia and overseas.

Don’t provide your bank or credit card details when applying for jobs.