Software Development Engineer in Test

Sky; Brentwood; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free Sky TV

Pension 9%

Private healthcare

GP and dental insurance

Sky product discounts

Sharesave & Tech schemes

Sky VIP rewards

Job summary

Sky is seeking a senior engineer to join the Release Engineering team, delivering reliable software releases across Broadband and Entertainment devices. You will coordinate release planning, build management, readiness, deployment and risk, collaborating with Development, QA, Product and Operations to support stable customer experiences.

You will design and develop AI/LLM-powered diagnostics and data pipelines, enabling scalable telemetry analysis and proactive issue resolution across devices

Qualifications

• Significant hands-on experience in Software Engineering, Backend Engineering, Platform Engineering, or Distributed Systems.
• Proven experience designing and developing scalable backend services, APIs, distributed systems, and data-processing solutions.
• Strong programming experience in Python, Java, Scala, Go, C, or C++.
• Strong experience working with large-scale data, telemetry, logs, events, and operational datasets.
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms, system scalability, reliability, performance, observability, and production operations.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across technical and cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and enhance an AI-powered device diagnostics platform analyzing large-scale telemetry to identify issues and provide actionable recommendations.
• Build scalable backend services and data-processing pipelines for device, account, fleet, and release-level diagnostics.
• Develop AI/LLM-powered diagnostic workflows combining telemetry, device events, and operational data.
• Create data correlation across devices, accounts, network signals, and software releases to identify complex patterns.
• Optimize AI workflows for accuracy, reliability, latency, and cost.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Product, Data Science, QA, and Operations to deliver production-ready solutions.
• Design for scalability, reliability, observability, and operational excellence across the platform.
• Troubleshoot complex production issues across applications, data pipelines, AI workflows, and telemetry.
• Participate in architecture, technical design, code reviews, and mentoring of other engineers.

Skills

Software engineering

Backend engineering

Distributed systems

Python

Java

Scala

Go

C

C++

Tools

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Elasticsearch/OpenSearch

Databricks

Spark

Athena

Job description

We don’t just believe in better. We make it happen.

Better content. Better products. And better careers.

Working in Tech, Product or Data at Sky is about building the next and the new. From broadband to broadcast, streaming to mobile, Sky Stream to Sky Glass, we never stand still. We optimise and innovate. We turn big ideas into the products, content and services millions of people love. And we do it all right here at Sky.

Role/Team overview

Join the Release Engineering team and play a key role in delivering reliable, high-quality software releases across Broadband and Entertainment devices. You will coordinate release planning, build management, readiness, deployment and risk, working closely with Development, QA, Product and Operations to support stable customer experiences.

What you’ll do

• As a key member of the engineering team, you will design, develop, and enhance an AI-powered device diagnostics platform that analyses large-scale telemetry to identify issues, determine root causes, and provide actionable recommendations.
• Build scalable backend services and data-processing pipelines supporting device, account, fleet, and release-level diagnostics.
• Develop AI/LLM-powered diagnostic workflows that combine telemetry evidence, device events, and operational data.
• Build data correlation capabilities across devices, accounts, network signals, and software releases to identify complex issues and patterns.
• Develop and optimize AI workflows for accuracy, reliability, latency, and cost.
• Work with Engineering, Product, Data Science, QA, and Operations teams to deliver production-ready solutions.
• Design for scalability, reliability, observability, and operational excellence across the platform.
• Troubleshoot complex production issues across application services, data pipelines, AI workflows, and telemetry.
• Participate in architecture, technical design, code reviews, and mentoring of other engineers

What you’ll bring

Essential Criteria –

• Significant hands-on experience in Software Engineering, Backend Engineering, Platform Engineering, or Distributed Systems.
• Proven experience designing and developing scalable backend services, APIs, distributed systems, and data-processing solutions.
• Strong programming experience in Python, Java, Scala, Go, C, or C++.
• Strong experience working with large-scale data, telemetry, logs, events, and operational datasets.
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms, system scalability, reliability, performance, observability, and production operations.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across technical and cross-functional teams.

Desirable skills and experience –

• Experience building or integrating Generative AI / LLM-based applications, including prompt engineering, model integration, structured outputs, RAG, or AI workflows.
• Experience with AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD technologies.
• Experience with Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, Databricks, Spark, Athena, or other large-scale data platforms.
• Experience in Broadband, Video, Set-Top Box, embedded devices, networking, RDK, Wi‑Fi, or DOCSIS environments.
• Experience building telemetry-driven diagnostics, anomaly detection, root‑cause analysis, observability, or intelligent troubleshooting solutions.
• Experience optimizing AI/LLM applications for accuracy, reliability, latency, scalability, and cost.

Benefits and perks

There’s one thing people can’t stop talking about when it comes to life at Sky: the perks. Here’s a taster:

• Free Sky TV package, including Sky Sports and Sky Cinema
• Pension packagewith up to 9% employer contribution
• Private healthcarewith mental health support
• Aviva Digital GP and dental insurance
• Discounts on Sky products, including Sky Mobile, Sky Broadband, Sky Glass and Sky Protect
• Sharesave and Tech schemes
• A range of Sky VIP rewards and experiences

How you’ll work

We’ve adopted a hybrid working approach to give more flexibility on where and how we work. The hybrid working expectations for this role are 2 days in the office per week.

Your office base

Brentwood or Osterley

Brentwood –

From developing and testing the latest products, to building cutting-edge software, our Sky Labs office in Brentwood is our home of innovation. Onsite you’ll find a range of facilities and spaces to work and connect, including a café offering hot meals and snacks.

We’re based right in the heart of Brentwood, just a 10‑minute walk from the train station which has regular trains to London Liverpool Street. If cycling is more up your street, there’s bike racks and showers onsite. If driving, there’s onsite parking available and further car parks a short walk away.

Osterley –

Our Sky Group HQ. Equipped with state‑of‑the‑art technology and workspaces, there’s plenty of space to see your big ideas come to life. Here you’ll find 13 subsidised restaurants and cafes. You can re‑energise at our gym, catch the latest films at our cinema, get your car washed and even get pampered at our beauty salon.

Our Osterley Campus is just a 10‑minute walk from Syon Lane train station, or you can get one of our free shuttle buses from Osterley, Gunnersbury and Ealing Broadway stations.Plus, there’s free onsite parking available for cars, motorbikes and bicycles.

Who we are

We’re Sky, a leading media and entertainment company who connect millions with entertainment, sports, news and arts through innovative products and services. Working with us means you’ll be bringing the joy of a better experience to more people, every day. All so we can do better and deliver better for our customers, colleagues and society.

We’re an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We’re a Disability Confident Accredited Employer, and welcome and encourage applications from all candidates.We will look to ensure a fair and consistent experience for all and will make reasonable adjustments to support you where appropriate. Please flag any adjustments you need as early as you can.

Just so you know: if your application is successful, we’ll ask you to complete a criminal record check. And depending on the role you have applied for and the nature of any convictions you may have, we might have to withdraw the offer.

To be eligible for this role you are required to have the appropriate right to work in the UK. Please be aware Sky does not offer sponsorship for this position.

To find out more about working with us, search #LifeAtSky on social media.