Head of DevOps in London

Head of DevOps in London

London Full-Time 72000 - 108000 £ / year (est.) No home office possible
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead and optimise a global data platform in a dynamic financial services environment.
  • Company: Join a leading financial services firm with a focus on innovation and technology.
  • Benefits: Hybrid work model, competitive salary, and opportunities for professional growth.
  • Why this job: Make a significant impact by driving DevOps excellence and cloud infrastructure strategies.
  • Qualifications: 10+ years in DevOps, strong GCP expertise, and experience in regulated environments.
  • Other info: Collaborate with global teams and foster a culture of automation and reliability.

The predicted salary is between 72000 - 108000 £ per year.

Our client is hiring a Head of DevOps to take ownership of a global, enterprise-scale data platform operating in a regulated financial services environment. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for someone with deep DevOps and cloud infrastructure expertise who knows what it takes to run mission-critical data systems reliably, securely, and at scale. You’ll lead the strategy, architecture, and day-to-day operational excellence of our data infrastructure across multiple regions and cloud platforms. You’ll work closely with distributed engineering teams across London, Eastern Europe, and India, ensuring our platforms meet the highest standards of availability, performance, and compliance.

What you’ll be responsible for:

  • Data infrastructure leadership
    • Own the design, deployment, and operation of enterprise data infrastructure across GCP (primary), AWS, and Oracle
    • Ensure reliability, scalability, performance, and availability of all data platform services
    • Set and enforce infrastructure architecture standards across environments
    • Drive infrastructure-as-code, automation, and platform consistency
    • Lead capacity planning, cost optimisation, and technical debt reduction
  • DevOps & operational excellence
    • Establish and enforce best-in-class DevOps and SRE practices
    • Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and deployment frameworks
    • Define and manage SLAs/SLOs, monitoring, alerting, and observability
    • Lead incident management, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement
    • Own disaster recovery and business continuity strategies
  • Messaging & database platforms
    • Lead Kafka-based messaging infrastructure at scale
    • Oversee MongoDB and other database platforms, including performance tuning and capacity management
    • Define backup, recovery, and data retention strategies
    • Ensure database security, access controls, and regulatory compliance
  • Cloud & platform operations (GCP-focused)
    • Lead GCP infrastructure operations across compute, storage, networking, and security
    • Manage IAM, RBAC, and cloud security controls
    • Implement governance and cloud cost management frameworks
    • Drive cloud-native modernisation while maintaining multi-cloud capability
    • Build and develop high-performing infrastructure and operations teams
    • Foster a culture of automation, reliability, and operational discipline
    • Partner with data engineering, security, risk, and compliance teams
    • Embed regulatory and governance controls directly into infrastructure design

What we’re looking for:

  • 10+ years in infrastructure engineering, platform operations, or DevOps
  • Proven experience leading large-scale DevOps or operational excellence initiatives
  • Deep expertise in GCP (AWS/Azure experience a strong plus)
  • Strong production experience with Kafka or equivalent messaging platforms
  • Strong infrastructure-as-code background (Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation)
  • CI/CD, containerisation, and orchestration experience (Docker, Kubernetes)
  • Solid monitoring and observability experience (e.g. Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana)
  • Experience operating in regulated environments, ideally financial services
  • Google Cloud Professional certifications
  • Experience with data platforms (Airflow, Spark, data warehouses)
  • SRE background
  • Oracle database or Oracle Cloud experience
  • Strong understanding of cloud networking and security

Please apply now for immediate consideration!

Head of DevOps in London employer: Franklin Fitch

Our client is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment in the heart of London with a hybrid model that promotes work-life balance. Employees benefit from a culture of innovation and collaboration, with ample opportunities for professional growth and development in the fast-paced financial services sector. The company prioritises operational excellence and provides access to cutting-edge technologies, ensuring that team members are at the forefront of industry advancements.
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Contact Detail:

Franklin Fitch Recruiting Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫

We think this is how you could land Head of DevOps in London

✨Tip Number 1

Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, especially those who work in financial services or DevOps. A friendly chat can lead to insider info about job openings that aren't even advertised yet.

✨Tip Number 2

Show off your skills! Create a portfolio or GitHub repository showcasing your projects, especially those involving GCP, CI/CD pipelines, or infrastructure-as-code. This gives potential employers a taste of what you can bring to the table.

✨Tip Number 3

Prepare for interviews by brushing up on common DevOps scenarios and challenges. Be ready to discuss how you've tackled issues like incident management or capacity planning in the past. Real-world examples will make you stand out!

✨Tip Number 4

Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, we love seeing candidates who are proactive about their job search!

We think you need these skills to ace Head of DevOps in London

DevOps
Cloud Infrastructure Expertise
GCP
AWS
Oracle
Infrastructure Architecture Standards
Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation)
CI/CD Pipelines
Automated Testing
Kafka
MongoDB
Monitoring and Observability (Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana)
Regulatory Compliance
Disaster Recovery
Business Continuity Strategies

Some tips for your application 🫡

Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the Head of DevOps role. Highlight your experience with GCP, DevOps practices, and any relevant financial services background. We want to see how your skills align with what we're looking for!

Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to explain why you're the perfect fit for this hands-on leadership role. Share specific examples of your achievements in infrastructure engineering and operational excellence.

Showcase Your Technical Skills: Don’t hold back on showcasing your technical expertise! Mention your experience with infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, and any cloud certifications you have. We love seeing candidates who are passionate about technology.

Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply through our website for a smoother application process. It helps us keep track of your application and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates from us!

How to prepare for a job interview at Franklin Fitch

✨Know Your Tech Inside Out

Make sure you’re well-versed in the technologies mentioned in the job description, especially GCP, Kafka, and infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform. Brush up on your knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and containerisation as well, as these are crucial for the role.

✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills

Prepare examples that highlight your experience in leading DevOps initiatives and managing teams. Be ready to discuss how you've driven operational excellence and implemented best practices in previous roles, especially in regulated environments.

✨Understand the Business Context

Familiarise yourself with the financial services sector and the specific challenges it faces regarding data security and compliance. This will help you demonstrate your understanding of how your technical decisions impact the business.

✨Ask Insightful Questions

Prepare thoughtful questions about the company’s current data infrastructure, their approach to cloud governance, and how they measure success in their DevOps practices. This shows your genuine interest in the role and helps you assess if it's the right fit for you.

Head of DevOps in London
Franklin Fitch
Location: London

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