Apply for the Project R&D Engineer - EXTEND role at BBC.
Job Details:
* Job band: D
* Contract type: Permanent, Full-time
* Department: BBC Research & Development
* Location: Salford – 2 days a week Hybrid
* Proposed salary range: £48,500 - £58,500 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience.
* Interviews will be conducted in January
* Flexible working can be discussed at offer stage
This role is advertised as part of our BBC Extend programme for disabled people. To apply you should identify as deaf, disabled or neurodivergent and meet the definition of disability in the Equality Act (2010) or the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) if applying in Northern Ireland. You are broadly defined as disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that substantially and long‑term negatively affects your ability to carry out normal daily activities. This includes both apparent and non‑apparent conditions, and medical conditions such as cancer, HIV or multiple sclerosis.
We are committed to making the application process as accessible as possible. If you need adjustments or have questions about our Extend programme, contact extend@bbc.co.uk. The BBC provides workplace adjustments to help eliminate barriers in the workplace. If you are successful and require adjustments, we will work with you to implement them.
Purpose of the Role
BBC R&D has been at the forefront of broadcast technology innovation since the founding of public service broadcasting in the UK. As a Project R&D Engineer, you’ll join our Scaled Infrastructure Systems team to design, develop and test advanced server and networking software and hardware that underpin the BBC’s next generation of media production and delivery systems.
Why Join the Team
Scaled Infrastructure Systems is a small, friendly and collaborative research team where your ideas and contributions can have real impact. You’ll work in a modern, well‑equipped environment with hands‑on access to cutting‑edge pre‑release datacentre hardware. The role offers the chance to learn, experiment and grow while collaborating closely with colleagues on R&D projects that push the boundaries of public service broadcasting.
Your Key Responsibilities and Impact
* Design, develop, and maintain core features of BBC R&D’s innovative OpenStack cloud platform, supporting the department’s diverse research needs, including live uncompressed UHD video support, 400Gb/s networking and PTP timing.
* Contribute to research and prototyping activities, exploring emerging technologies such as Ampere CPUs, coherent optics, NVIDIA GPUs and DPUs, shaping the future direction of the BBC’s infrastructure strategy.
* Drive automation, scalability and security across infrastructure services using modern deployment, orchestration and configuration management tools.
* Implement robust monitoring, observability, and alerting solutions to ensure the ongoing health, performance and reliability of systems and services.
* Collaborate with cross‑disciplinary R&D teams, providing expertise, tooling and support to accelerate innovation and promote effective adoption of shared platform capabilities.
Essential Criteria
Your Skills and Experience
* Linux Knowledge: proficiency with Linux‑based environments, using command line tools (e.g., Ubuntu, Debian, Rocky Linux) and familiarity with containerisation, systemd.
* Networking Fundamentals: understanding IP networking concepts, IPv4 subnetting, Layer 2/Layer 3 protocols, LAN/WAN architectures.
* Software Development: experience with Python or similar languages; demonstrable interest in developing tools, automation scripts or system integrations.
* Version Control: competent use of Git for source code management within shared codebases.
* Debugging Experience: strong debugging skills using tools such as ping, tcpdump, gdb, ELK log collection, Grafana dashboards, etc.
Desired But Not Required
* Deployment Automation: experience with infrastructure automation and orchestration tools such as Ansible, Puppet, Terraform, or Kubernetes.
* Cloud & Virtualisation: experience operating cloud back‑end technologies and virtualization platforms, including OpenStack, libvirt, Ceph, LXC/LXD/Incus, or similar.
* Pre‑Release Technology: experience with pre‑release hardware and vendor collaboration.
* Kernel & Low‑Level Development: interest or experience in Linux kernel‑level programming (including BPF), device drivers, or performance tuning.
* Advanced Networking: routing and switching concepts, hands‑on experience with Arista or Cisco hardware, BGP, EVPN/VXLAN, multicast, PTP.
* Security & Secrets Management: infrastructure security practices, secrets storage, PKI management, credential handling.
* Monitoring & Observability: exposure to systems and network monitoring solutions such as SNMP, Prometheus, Grafana, metrics visualization and alerting.
* Systems Management: knowledge of core infrastructure services (TFTP, DHCP, DNS) and out‑of‑band management interfaces (Redfish, IPMI).
Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges in line with our Contracts of Employment policy. Failure to disclose may result in withdrawal of the offer.
Disclaimer
This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, its principal accountabilities, and the skills, knowledge, and experience required for satisfactory performance. It is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all duties.
Please note: If you are offered this role, the BBC will conduct employment screening checks including reference checks, eligibility to work checks, and, if applicable, safeguarding and adverse media/social media checks. Offers are conditional on satisfactory checks.
For any general queries, contact: bbchr@bbc.co.uk.
The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC and will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants.
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