Principal DevOps Engineer

Principal DevOps Engineer

Location: UK Wide (Newcastle Preferred)

Salary: £100,000 - £140,000

Join a fast-scaling defence technology consultancy combining start-up engineering culture with strong financial backing, building secure, modern platform capabilities for critical national programmes.

About the Role

Our client is a high-growth technology consultancy operating with start-up speed, autonomy, and engineering intensity, supported by significant financial backing that enables long-term investment in platform engineering capability.

Within its expanding Defence practice, the organisation is building a Principal-level DevOps capability to support the delivery of secure, scalable, cloud-native and hybrid systems across mission-critical environments.

This role sits at the centre of modern platform engineering, bridging software development, infrastructure, security, and operations. The focus is on building robust delivery pipelines, scalable infrastructure, and highly automated environments that support continuous delivery of complex systems used in defence and national security contexts.

You will take ownership of technical strategy across DevOps tooling, platform architecture, and automation, while also providing leadership across engineering teams and delivery programmes.

What You'll Be Doing

• Designing and building scalable DevOps and platform engineering solutions across cloud and hybrid environments.
• Developing and scripting in Python, PowerShell, C#, Java, or C++ to support automation and platform tooling.
• Implementing Infrastructure as Code using tools such as Terraform, Packer, or Ansible.
• Building and maintaining containerised environments using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Designing and optimising CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Jenkins, TeamCity, GitHub Actions, or equivalents.
• Managing artifact repositories and code quality tools such as Artifactory and SonarQube.
• Implementing monitoring, logging, and observability solutions using ELK stack, Grafana, or equivalent platforms.
• Working across AWS, Azure, or GCP environments to deliver scalable infrastructure solutions.
• Supporting Windows and Linux system administration, including VMware vSphere and SAN-based infrastructure.
• Managing database environments, including Microsoft SQL Server or equivalent technologies.
• Working with Atlassian tooling to support delivery workflows and engineering collaboration.
• Implementing job scheduling and orchestration tools such as Control-M.
• Embedding security best practices, including secrets management, vulnerability scanning, and secure-by-design principles.

Ideal Background

We are looking for experienced platform and DevOps engineers with strong hands-on capability and proven technical leadership experience.

You should bring:

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, DevOps, or platform engineering roles.
• Strong experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines in complex environments.
• Deep understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Strong Infrastructure as Code experience using Terraform, Ansible, or Packer.
• Experience with containerisation and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Strong scripting and development capability in at least one core language (Python, PowerShell, C#, Java, or C++).
• Experience with monitoring, logging, and observability tooling.
• Understanding of secure infrastructure design and DevSecOps principles.
• Experience working in complex enterprise or regulated environments.

What You'll Receive

• Salary between £100,000 and £140,000 + bonus
• Opportunity to join a rapidly scaling defence consultancy with strong financial backing and start-up engineering culture.
• High ownership role shaping platform engineering standards across defence programmes.
• Exposure to modern cloud-native and hybrid infrastructure at scale.
• Significant technical influence across tooling, architecture, and delivery pipelines.
• Flexible UK-wide working arrangements, with Newcastle as the preferred hub.
• Clear progression into broader platform and engineering leadership roles as the business expands.

Who Should Apply

This role is suited to Principal DevOps Engineers, Platform Engineers, Site Reliability Engineers, Cloud Infrastructure Engineers, and Senior DevOps Leads with strong experience in building and operating modern delivery platforms.

The organisation is actively hiring high-calibre engineering talent across the UK, with a focus on individuals who can operate in high-ownership environments and help shape engineering culture at scale.

The team is based in Newcastle, with strong interest in candidates from Manchester, the South West, and other UK regions as additional hubs are developed.

About the Environment

This is a defence-focused engineering organisation operating at the intersection of consultancy and product delivery. The environment is fast-moving, highly technical, and focused on solving complex problems with modern engineering practices. It combines the agility of a start-up with the backing and stability required to deliver at national scale.