Lead DevOps Engineer - Cheltenham based

Aker Systems was founded in 2017 by a team of experienced technology professionals who recognised an opportunity to provide highly secure enterprise data platforms to large organisations. We build and operate ground-breaking, ultra-secure, high performance, cloud-based data infrastructure for the enterprise. Our proprietary technology solutions drive performance and reduce costs while helping our clients to improve the management and sharing of data across their organisations.

In 2024, Aker Systems won the Breakthrough Culture Awards highlighting growth companies putting culture first. In 2020 Aker Systems was recognised as a 'One to Watch' on the Sunday Times Tech Track. The Company was also recognised at the Thames Valley Tech Awards 2020; winning the Thames Valley Tech Company of the year, the Emerging Tech Company and High Growth Tech Business categories. We encourage people of all different backgrounds and identities to apply. We are committed to maintaining an inclusive, and supportive place for you to do your very best work.

A UK Government Security Check (SC) clearance is required for this role. If you don't hold SC clearance, we will support you to apply assuming you have lived and worked in the UK for a minimum of 5 years.

As a Lead DevOps Engineer, you will help lead the development and implementation of secure cloud environments hosting data and batch/real-time analytical platforms for public and private sector clients, leveraging the latest commercial and open-source technologies and techniques. This also involves building automated deployments using configuration management technology, deploying new modules, upgrades and fixes to test and production environments.

You will:

• Build, test and deploy cloud-based infrastructure and applications using CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code
• Contribute to the coding of custom test automation frameworks
• Perform script maintenance and updates due to changes in requirements or implementations
• Assist with setup/maintenance of environments for both manual and automated testing
• Assist in production support through the investigation and resolution of incidents
• Perform ongoing routine application maintenance tasks
• Assist in conducting gap analysis, identifying feasible alternative solutions, and assisting in the scope of modifications
• Participate in the contingency planning, including reliable backup and restore procedures
• Document functions and changes to new or modified modules and test activities/results
• Mentor and drive the team to deliver to the standards our customers require

Core Competencies

The successful candidate will have a Bachelor's degree or greater. An equivalent of at least 5 plus years' of working experience in a DevOps capacity is also required for this position. You will have demonstrated the following competencies to the proficiency level appropriate to the seniority of the role:

• Commercial Experience in deploying and operating infrastructure (network, servers, services) and applications on AWS and other cloud environments
• Developing and operating using open source and commercial software within a cloud-centric environment
• Server build and administration, Linux and Windows
• GitHub/GitLab for source control and performing code reviews as part of the build and deployment cycle
• CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code technologies, e.g. Terraform and Ansible
• Test Driven Development with appropriate tools and frameworks
• Experience of cloud orchestration and containerisation technologies, such as Kubernetes and Docker
• Knowledge of large-scale databases and distributed technologies, such as RDS
• Knowledge of distributed event streaming technologies, such as Kafka
• Write/maintain automation scripts using Bash/Shell or Python scripting languages
• Experience of mentoring and leading people around you and taking point on key decisions

At Aker we work as a team; we are collaborative, hardworking, open, and delivery obsessed. There is no blame culture here: try things, and take responsibility for the outcomes. You are always part of the wider Aker. We help our colleagues and take pride in successfully achieving difficult tasks. Communicate always, do so accurately and in a timely fashion.

In return, we offer a competitive salary, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, company paid medical insurance and life assurance, pension scheme, annual training allowance, wellbeing allowance, virtual GP, Employee Assistance plan and more.

Aker Systems fosters a diverse environment that encourages openness in its communications and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, age, marital status, national origin, citizenship status, disability, veteran status or other personal characteristics. We embrace differences of opinion and diversity because they help challenge us and find new groundbreaking technical solutions.