Certificate & Key Management Engineer

6 months

£550 - £600 p/d INSIDE ir35

Hybrid Remote in Dartford, Kent, UK

• Type: Contract - Inside IR35
• Duration: Initial 6 months (with strong likelihood of extension)
• Location: South East (occasional on-site in Dartford)
• Working Model: Hybrid / largely remote
• Rate: Competitive market rate (Inside IR35)

We are seeking an experienced PKI / Certificate Management Engineer to support the renewal, management, and risk reduction of a large and growing certificate estate.

This is a hands-on, operationally focused role, brought in to stabilise existing certificate processes and manage renewal overheads while a longer-term Certificate Management Platform (CMP) and improved governance processes are implemented.

The successful candidate will take ownership of certificate lifecycle management across cloud and on-prem environments, ensuring service continuity and reducing the risk of certificate-related outages.

• Proven hands-on experience as a PKI Engineer, Certificate Management Engineer, or similar
• Strong understanding of X.509 certificates, TLS/SSL, and certificate lifecycle best practices
• Experience managing certificates across:
  • Azure (App Registrations / Enterprise Applications)
  • Public certificate authorities (e.g. DigiCert or equivalent)
  • Internal PKI / CA environments
• Experience handling shared secrets and certificate-based authentication
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of delivery in a contract role

• Experience with Azure Key Vault or similar secret-management tooling
• Knowledge of Certificate Management Platforms (CMPs)
• Exposure to HSMs
• Experience in regulated or enterprise-scale environments

• Pragmatic and delivery-focused
• Comfortable working in environments with technical debt
• Clear communicator, able to document and explain processes
• Calm and methodical when managing operational risk