At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and build secure, scalable platforms for software delivery.
- Company: Join a leading financial services firm with a focus on innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Collaborative team culture with a focus on continuous improvement and learning.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a dynamic environment while advancing your engineering skills.
- Qualifications: Experience in platform or cloud engineering, especially with Azure and CI/CD pipelines.
As a Senior Platform & Infrastructure Engineer, you will be a senior member of a small Platform and Infrastructure Engineering team. You will remain hands-on, designing, building and operating secure, resilient and scalable platforms that enable development teams to deliver software safely, efficiently and reliably.
You will:
- Take ownership of complex platform and infrastructure initiatives, from technical design and implementation through to operational handover.
- Help establish and evolve pragmatic engineering standards, contributing to technical direction, peer review and continuous improvement across the team.
- Lead the design, configuration and ongoing improvement of CI/CD pipelines, including build, test, deployment and release automation.
- Define and evolve infrastructure-as-code standards and reusable Terraform patterns, promoting consistency, security and maintainability.
- Develop, operate and improve the cloud and on-premise platform capabilities relied upon by development teams.
- Champion DevOps and platform-engineering practices, fostering an automation-first, product-minded culture.
- Work closely with the Platform & Infrastructure Team Head, Group teams and development teams to shape and deliver the UK cloud strategy.
Key Responsibilities:
- Act as a senior, hands-on engineer within the Platform & Infrastructure team, providing technical leadership and contributing to the successful delivery of the team’s cloud, platform and infrastructure roadmap.
- Design, build and operate a secure, resilient and scalable Azure infrastructure estate, including the associated CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, container and observability capabilities that support application delivery.
- Establish and evolve engineering standards, reference architectures, guardrails and reusable platform services, promoting consistency, automation, security, maintainability and operational excellence.
- Lead the design and implementation of robust software and infrastructure delivery automation using GitLab, Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform and appropriate DevOps and platform-engineering practices.
- Take ownership of complex technical designs, implementations and operational issues, managing risk and ensuring solutions are secure, supportable, cost-effective and transitioned effectively into operational service.
- Partner with architects, development teams and Group technology colleagues to deliver cloud adoption and application-modernisation initiatives, including environment design, migration planning, deployment automation and operational readiness.
- Embed security, resilience, compliance, monitoring and performance considerations throughout platform design and delivery, aligned with regulatory, Group and organisational requirements.
- Contribute to technical review, knowledge sharing and team capability development; maintain high-quality architecture documentation, standards, runbooks and operational procedures.
- Support effective platform service management, including incident and problem resolution, change planning, capacity and performance improvement, stakeholder communication, and evaluation of new technologies where they provide measurable value.
Essential Technical Requirements:
- Proven experience in a senior platform, infrastructure or cloud engineering role, ideally within financial services or another highly regulated environment.
- Strong hands-on experience designing, building and operating Microsoft Azure environments, including core compute, networking and storage services, with a sound understanding of identity, access management, network security, governance and cloud resilience.
- Demonstrable experience designing and improving CI/CD pipelines using GitLab or comparable tooling, covering automated build, test, security assurance, deployment and release processes.
- Strong practical experience with containerisation and orchestration, including Docker, Kubernetes and Helm, alongside an understanding of GitOps principles such as declarative configuration and controlled environment promotion.
- Proven experience using Terraform to provision, configure and manage cloud and/or on-premise infrastructure, including the development of reusable, maintainable infrastructure-as-code patterns.
- Experience implementing or operating monitoring, logging and observability capabilities using tools such as Splunk, Prometheus, Grafana or equivalent, with the ability to use operational data to improve reliability and performance.
- Strong scripting and automation capability using PowerShell, Bash and/or similar languages, together with practical proficiency in at least one general-purpose language such as Python or Go.
- Able to write, maintain and review code used for automation, integrations, tooling and application support, with confident use of YAML for build, deployment and operational automation.
- Experience working in Agile delivery environments, such as Scrum or Kanban, and with collaboration and delivery tooling including Jira and Confluence.
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across distributed teams and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical audiences.
Other skills, competencies and attributes:
- Able to communicate complex technical concepts, decisions and risks clearly and appropriately to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Strong technical writing skills and attention to detail, with the ability to produce clear, accurate documentation including architecture diagrams, standards, runbooks, implementation guides and change records.
- Proactive in documenting solutions, engineering standards and lessons learned to strengthen shared knowledge and support consistent delivery across the team.
- Comfortable operating in a fast-paced and evolving environment, able to manage multiple priorities while maintaining sound judgement, quality and delivery focus.
- A collaborative and constructive team member who shares expertise, welcomes challenge and feedback, and contributes positively to technical decision-making.
- Well organised and dependable, with strong time-management skills and a consistent record of delivering against agreed commitments and deadlines.
Senior Engineer employer: Back to Work
Back TO Work in Dudley is an excellent employer for aspiring IT professionals, offering a supportive work culture that prioritises employee growth and development. As an IT Apprentice, you'll benefit from hands-on experience in frontline support and networking, while being part of a team that values innovation and collaboration in a vibrant community setting.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Engineer
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Back to Work or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Back to Work.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Back to Work.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Back to Work that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Back to Work.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Back to Work and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Back to Work
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Back to Work uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
