DevOps Engineer DV Cleared

Senior Software Engineer – CI/CD & Kubernetes

Location: Bristol

Clearance Level: DV Cleared

Contract Type: Contract- Outside IR35

Start Date ASAP

Duration: 6 Months / rolling

Overview:

We are supporting a key defence client in their search for a highly skilled Dev ops /Senior Software Engineer with hands-on experience across modern DevOps, platform engineering, and application delivery tooling. This role will involve designing, deploying, and maintaining secure and scalable infrastructure environments using CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes, and IaC frameworks within a classified or secure environment.

The ideal candidate will be comfortable working across both Linux (RedHat) and Windows operating systems, and will bring deep technical knowledge across CI/CD tooling, Kubernetes cluster build, and secure application deployment practices.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and maintain CI/CD pipelines using tools such as GitLab CI, Terraform, Ansible, PowerShell, and Python.
• Build, configure, and maintain Kubernetes clusters, ensuring high availability, scalability, and security.
• Deploy and support key applications such as Apache NiFi, Elastic ECK, and JFrog Artifactory.
• Develop and manage Helm Charts to standardise application deployment.
• Integrate with and manage HashiCorp Vault for secure secrets management and token-based authentication within pipeline workflows.
• Build and consume REST APIs to support automation and platform integration.
• Apply Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles to enforce repeatability, consistency, and scalability across environments.
• Ensure platform and infrastructure solutions adhere to security and compliance standards relevant to a defence environment.
• Collaborate closely with software developers, platform engineers, security teams, and DevOps specialists in a multidisciplinary team.

Key Skills and Experience:

CI/CD & Automation:

• Proven experience with GitLab CI, Terraform, Ansible, Python, PowerShell, and REST API development/integration.
• Experience creating reusable automation scripts and maintaining configuration management best practices.

Platform & Containerisation:

• Strong understanding of Kubernetes design, configuration, and operations in production environments.
• Experience managing applications with Helm Charts and supporting microservices-based architecture.

Applications & Services:

• Direct experience deploying and supporting Apache NiFi, Elastic ECK (ElasticSearch on Kubernetes), and Artifactory.
• Familiarity with container image management and application lifecycle support.

Security & Infrastructure:

• Use of HashiCorp Vault for managing secrets, certificates, and access tokens.
• Solid working knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Windows Server environments.
• Understanding of operating within secure, high-assurance environments.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Active SC or DV clearance highly desirable.
• Experience working on defence or national security programmes.
• Certifications such as CKA, CKAD, Terraform Associate, or HashiCorp Vault certification.

Additional Information:

• Due to the nature of the work, candidates must be UK nationals and eligible for security clearance.
• Out-of-hours availability may occasionally be required to support deployment windows.