DevOps Engineering Academy in Leeds

Who we are

Answer Digital is a proudly Employee-Owned digital transformation consultancy headquartered in Leeds. We’ve delivered large-scale, cutting edge and life saving digital solutions in both the private and healthcare sectors. After a period of huge growth, we’re looking to invest in our people with our first DevOps Academy of the Year. We’re passionate about investing in our people, so much so that “Nurturation” is one of our core values (our way of nurturing growth through collaboration!)

Our Academy

We’re looking for motivated and ambitious people to join our DevOps Engineering Academy, a 12 week programme designed to give you all the tools to be a DevOps Engineering Consultant here at Answer Digital. You’ll be employed with us from Day 1 and the programme has been designed by our talented consultants to accelerate the professional development of great people. The Academy will cover all the key tools and technologies our DevOps Engineers work with, so by the time the Academy is complete, you’ll have all the skills and knowledge to play a pivotal role on one of our projects.

Academy Structure: What to expect

Throughout the DevOps Academy, participants will be equipped to deploy and manage cloud resources through practical application of contemporary tools and technologies. They will acquire a comprehensive understanding of the DevOps lifecycle, encompassing build, deployment, and monitoring phases, with a particular emphasis on the build pipeline via continuous integration, deployment via continuous deployment, and monitoring using current cloud tools. Participants will develop proficiency in building and implementing Infrastructure as Code frameworks, adhering to best practices and established coding standards. This training will focus on facilitating collaboration between development and operations teams, effectively eliminating organizational silos.

Project Phase:

Runs over 4 weeks where you'll gain valuable experience in a live Answer project environment. You will join an existing team working for a client on a real project as a DevOps Engineer.

To be successful in this role:

• You will have a keen interest in cloud technologies, with a basic understanding of AWS services, including Lambda, to build cloud-native solutions.
• You will be excited about working on a variety of tools including Docker, Kubernetes for containerisation and Terraform for resource deployment and Splunk for monitoring application performance and troubleshooting.
• You will also be excited by the opportunity to work in agile teams to deliver value to clients.
• You will have a passion for deploying, monitoring and maintaining software applications across multiple languages.

About you

• A genuine commitment to developing a career in cloud engineering, software automation and digital transformation.
• A passion for continuous learning and professional development.
• Great communication skills, encompassing the ability to interact confidently with diverse individuals and groups at all organisational levels, and to adapt how you communicate to suit your audience.
• A strong focus on achieving positive outcomes for both end-users and clients.
• A collaborative and team-oriented approach to work.
• Commercial experience or the understanding of commercial impacts to project work.
• Effective time management skills and the ability to prioritise.

The perks of being at Answer

• Competitive salary, starting at £27,500 and increasing to £30,000 after the Academy.
• Flexible annual leave (buy/sell and carry forward).
• Twice a year income-tax free bonus if company-wide performance targets are met - we’re all in this together.
• Continuous training and development - if you want to learn, we’ll provide all the support you need.
• Flexible Pension - we match your own contributions up to 5%.
• A flexible Healthcare cash plan so you can fund the care you value most.
• A packed social calendar including; end of year party and Summer away days, monthly and quarterly company team socials.
• Parking at Head Offices in central Leeds, plus Cycle2Work & Green Car Lease schemes to help get you here.
• The chance to give back – get involved nationally and regionally with partnerships to get people from different backgrounds into tech, as well as lots of charity and community events.

Diversity and Inclusion

At Answer we proudly embrace diversity and inclusion - we want to create a safe environment for everyone to bring their true selves to work. We will do everything we can to support your application. If you require any adjustments to be made to your application (whether that’s support with our interview questions, adjusting how we interview, or financial support with our hiring process) then please speak to Jonny Hiles, TA Lead.

Our Interview Process

We pride ourselves on having a fair but flexible recruitment process, we want to create a platform where you can show us your best. For us, keeping it simple means you can focus on understanding if our people, values and the work we do are right for you. Our typical process can be broken down into 3 stages;

• Application Process: Depending on the volume of applications, our process may involve a couple of assessments. We focus on your inherent ability rather than your CV.
• Recruiter call: This will be with a member of the recruitment team, and normally lasts 15-30 minutes. We will talk to you about Answer Digital, the type of work we do, and an overview of the role. We’ll ask you some questions about your current situation and why you’re interested in working here. Here, we'd advise asking any questions about our people, such as our culture, career progression, or approach to flexible working.
• Skills based interview: This interview will be with 2 people, normally from the team you’re applying to work with and roughly lasts an hour. This interview will involve questions around your experience, the skills you’ve gained and the work you’ve done. We’ll also ask questions about the role and challenges you might face and how you’d face them. Here, we’d recommend asking questions about the role, the day to day responsibilities and what life in the team is like.
• Cultural/Value interview: The final interview stage is an hour-long discussion with two members of our Leadership team (either Directors or Capability Leads). This interview is a two-way conversation, as much about you assessing if Answer is the right fit for you as it is about us assessing your fit with Answer. The focus will be on our culture and values. We’ll discuss what our values mean to us, and we want to understand what values are important to you and how you like to work. We strongly encourage you to ask any questions you have about Answer as a business, including our business model and our ambitious growth plans.