Head of Platform Engineering & Automation - GammaLabs in Manchester

Who are we looking for? We are looking for a technical expert and leader ensuring robust infrastructure management, cloud utilisation, proficient Linux system administration, efficient network operations, and effective data engineering practices, driving automation across all these domains to enhance efficiency, reliability, and scalability. You will be responsible for the toolset and frameworks for secure operation, automation, inventory, and monitoring requirements across group domains aligned with the Gamma SDLC lifecycle.

What will you be doing day-to-day?

• Technical Vision: Own the strategy that underpins the design, build, delivery, and operational management of secure and scalable systems with an automation first approach to facilitate business requirements.
• Talent Leadership & Development: Lead, mentor, and grow a team of technical experts that ensure efficient operation of the data engineering, infrastructure, cloud engineering, and network automation functions across GammaLabs.
• Infrastructure and Automation: Develop the frameworks to support automation across the group to deliver as a service solutions conformant to industry standards. Ensure robust monitoring, tools, and processes are in place to enhance the reliability and efficiency of GammaLabs platforms.
• Solution Design and Lifecycle Management: Own the automation, inventory, and monitoring solutions underpinning the network/system/infrastructure platforms aligned with SDLC principles.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Consults on requirements across the business supporting a range of diverse applications to provide and build solutions leveraging data engineering that integrate with the wider infrastructure/virtualisation and network strategy.
• Engineering Excellence: Reduce bottlenecks that restrict network, system, and infrastructure operations across the group embracing an automation-first approach, providing the frameworks that underpin this.
• Security and Architecture: Responsible for the architecture and security compliance of the infrastructure and cloud platforms including automation, monitoring, and alerting.

What You’ll Need

• Technical expert in various DevOps areas such as Ansible, Python, Jira, Terraform, and Git.
• Understand security threat modelling, risk assessment, and compliance across SDLC.
• Strong background in cloud technologies and k8s.
• Proficiency in data engineering and ML/AI Ops.
• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and inspire a technical team.
• Experience in strategic planning within Operational environments.
• Ability to create custom infrastructure support tools for automating production processes.
• Management of large remote teams advocating best practice for DevOps and Agile principles.
• Embraces SDLC methodologies and able to apply the framework across boundaries.
• Able to implement CI/CD processes and automation tools at scale with associated architecture and design.
• Plan and execute projects, manage timelines, deliverables, and resource.
• Develop training programs for best practices, threat awareness, and operational readiness.
• Experience in delivery IaaS and NaaS solutions.

What do we offer you?

• At Gamma, we believe in work-life balance, which is why we offer 25 days of annual leave, plus an extra day off for your birthday.
• Giving back is important to us, so we also provide a volunteer day to support a charity that matters to you.
• Family matters, too. With enhanced maternity and paternity pay, we’re here to support you as a parent and help you thrive in your career.
• We care about your future, so our pension plan helps you save for the years ahead with contributions of up to 5.1% from Gamma, alongside your own contributions.
• Your well-being is our priority. We offer group income protection and life assurance (four times your salary) to ensure peace of mind for you and your loved ones.
• We want you to share in our success. That’s why we offer tax-efficient share save and share incentive plans, giving you the opportunity to benefit from Gamma’s growth.
• We’re committed to health, both physical and mental, and provide private medical insurance through Vitality, which extends to your immediate family at an additional cost.
• And, because we care about the environment, we offer an Electric Vehicle scheme through Octopus and a Cycle to Work scheme, making it easier to get around sustainably.

A few things to note

• Unfortunately, we can’t offer visa sponsorship or relocation support for this role.
• This role is hybrid, with three days per week from our office in Manchester.

Equal Opportunity

Gamma is an equal‑opportunity employer. We care about inclusion and believe in having diverse teams where everyone can be their true authentic selves. We value each person and their range of backgrounds and actively encourage people from underrepresented backgrounds to apply. We don’t discriminate based on any protected characteristics e.g., race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, marital status, disability, or age. We are a family‑friendly employer with a culture based on trust, autonomy, and flexibility to help you create a work‑life balance and enjoy working here at Gamma.