Azure DevOps Lead

Job Title: Azure DevOps Lead

Location: Remote

Hours of Work: 09:00 – 17:30 or in line with project needs

Job Summary:

We are seeking an experienced and strategic-minded Azure DevOps Lead to join our dynamic team and lead the development and optimization of our cloud infrastructure and deployment practices. As Azure DevOps Lead, you will drive the vision and execution of our DevOps strategy, mentor a high-performing team, and play a pivotal role in automating and optimizing our software development and deployment processes. You will ensure the reliability, scalability, and security of our cloud-based infrastructure while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. If you are passionate about DevOps leadership, have extensive experience with Azure, and excel at developing teams and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders, we'd like to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Team Leadership & Development: Lead, mentor, and develop a team of DevOps Engineers, setting clear performance expectations, providing constructive feedback, and fostering professional growth and career development opportunities.
2. Strategic Planning: Define and communicate the Azure DevOps strategy and roadmap, aligning with organizational goals and ensuring resources are effectively allocated to support business objectives.
3. Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Establish IaC best practices and standards; create and maintain infrastructure as code scripts and templates using Terraform and Azure Resource Manager; review and approve team implementations.
4. Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Design, implement, and enhance enterprise-grade CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, Azure Pipelines, and GitHub Actions; establish standards and patterns for the organization.
5. Containerization and Orchestration: Lead the adoption and management of containerization using Docker and modern container deployment strategies, establishing container best practices and governance.
6. Monitoring, Logging & Observability: Architect and oversee monitoring and logging solutions using Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and ELK Stack; ensure real-time visibility into system performance and security across all environments.
7. Security & Compliance Leadership: Collaborate with security and compliance teams to establish and enforce security best practices across cloud resources, including Azure RBAC, network security, Web Application Firewalls (e.g. Azure WAF, Cloudflare), Key Vault management, and vulnerability scanning to ensure regulatory compliance.
8. Stakeholder Collaboration: Work with development, operations, product, and security leadership to identify opportunities for automation, performance optimization, cost savings, and technology innovation.
9. Process Improvement & Innovation: Drive continuous improvement initiatives, establish DevOps best practices, and identify opportunities for innovation in software development processes, tools, and technologies.
10. Troubleshooting & Incident Management: Lead root cause analysis and resolution of complex infrastructure and deployment issues; establish incident response procedures and post-incident review processes.
11. Documentation & Knowledge Management: Establish and maintain clear documentation standards for infrastructure, configurations, and processes; ensure knowledge sharing within the team.
12. Budget & Resource Management: Manage DevOps budget and resources; optimize cloud infrastructure costs and justify technology investments to stakeholders.

Education & Experience:

• Proven experience (8+ years) as a DevOps Engineer with at least 3+ years in a leadership or senior technical role.
• Extensive hands-on experience with Azure across multiple projects and environments.
• Strong proficiency in scripting and automation using Python, PowerShell, and Bash.
• Deep knowledge of Azure services, including compute (VMs, App Service, Azure Functions), networking, storage, database services, and security services.
• Proven track record of designing and implementing enterprise CI/CD pipelines in Azure.
• Experience building zero-downtime deployments including canary releases, blue-green deployments, and rolling deployments.
• Expertise with version control systems (GitHub, GitLab, Azure Repos) and CI/CD tools and practices.
• Advanced knowledge of containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, AKS) with production experience.
• Expert-level understanding of infrastructure as code (IaC) principles and tools (Terraform, Azure Resource Manager).
• Strong expertise in cloud security best practices and Azure security services (Azure Security Center, Defender, Key Vault, etc.).
• Experience with serverless computing and event-driven architectures (Azure Functions, Logic Apps, Event Grid).
• Strong understanding of DevOps and Agile methodologies.
• Proven ability to lead and develop technical teams; experience mentoring junior engineers.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and decision-making experience.
• Relevant advanced certifications in Azure (e.g., AZ-400 Azure DevOps Engineer Expert, AZ-305 Azure Solutions Architect Expert) strongly preferred.

About Us:

We are Citation. We are far from your average service provider. Our colleagues bring their brilliant selves to work every day and we create an environment where they can shine. We are a nice bunch. We don't do office politics or "that's not my job". We listen, support and take ownership.

We have been proudly delivering valuable HR and Health and Safety services to SMEs across the UK for over 20 years. Passionate about service, we're on a mission to revolutionize our colleague's and client's experience by employing brilliant people who are experts at what they do and smile whilst they are doing it.

Working for Citation you will have access to 25 days holiday, plus your birthday off work, gym membership discount, healthcare, childcare vouchers, the opportunity to purchase extra leave, pension contributions and more.

It's a great place to work because of the people we employ. Fun and professional, we want likeminded individuals who love to love their job (no 'mood hoovers' here thanks!) and want the Company to succeed.

Best Places to Work 2023 (The Sunday Times)

So, if our culture sounds like a good fit for you and you want to be part of our success story, then send us your details.