At a Glance
- Tasks: Join us to modernise network management and drive automation initiatives.
- Company: MBDA, a leading defence organisation with a focus on innovation.
- Benefits: Up to £55,000 salary, company bonus, flexible working, and enhanced parental leave.
- Other info: Dynamic hybrid working environment with excellent career growth opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on network infrastructure using cutting-edge technologies.
- Qualifications: Strong Python skills and experience in software engineering practices.
The predicted salary is between 50000 - 55000 £ per year.
An exciting opportunity for a driven Network DevOps Engineer to join MBDA's multi-national Digital Excellence function. Ideal candidates should be passionate about modernising network management, driving automation initiatives and upskilling others. You will contribute to building an automated network infrastructure that underpins MBDA's critical systems and supports its rapidly evolving organisational needs.
Salary: Up to £55,000 depending on experience
Dynamic (hybrid) working: 2-3 days per week on-site depending on business need.
Security Clearance: British Citizen Only. As a minimum, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team. This role will require the successful candidate to gain DV Clearance.
What we can offer you:
- Company bonus: Up to £2,500 (based on company performance)
- Pension: maximum total contribution of up to 14%
- Overtime: opportunity for paid overtime
- Flexi Leave: Up to 15 additional days
- Flexible working: We welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements
- Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave
- Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more
The opportunity: Join our forward-thinking team as a Network DevOps Engineer within MBDA UK's Digital Networks function. You will play an important role in transitioning our network infrastructure toward a more software-driven model by applying standard software engineering practices such as version control, structured testing, and modular software design. You will be responsible for building and maintaining the software, tools and pipelines that manage our physical and virtual infrastructure, ensuring our network remains reliable, scalable, and maintainable through code.
Responsibilities will include:
- Designing, developing, and maintaining production-grade software and custom tools, primarily using Python, to manage network infrastructure at scale.
- Championing software engineering best practices within the team, including code reviews, unit testing and writing clean, maintainable code.
- Establishing our automated software testing strategy, including evaluating and selecting the best tools and frameworks.
- Managing and extending our network Source of Truth by developing custom data models, plugins, and state-driven automation jobs.
- Building and managing CI/CD pipelines to automate the testing and deployment of network changes.
- Collaborating on the development of Ansible playbooks and roles for network configuration.
- Supporting and upskilling existing team members to help develop their software engineering capabilities.
This role offers the unique opportunity to work with some of the latest network technologies and software to make a direct impact on how the network infrastructure will be managed at MBDA.
What we are looking for from you:
Essential Skills:
- Advanced proficiency in Python, with a strong grasp on software engineering concepts such as OOP, design patterns and writing testable, maintainable code.
- Solid experience with Python testing methodologies, with the ability to design and implement a testing strategy for our network automation applications and APIs.
- Strong experience designing, consuming, and integrating REST and GraphQL APIs using frameworks such as Django REST Framework, FastAPI and Pydantic.
- Proficiency working with standard data structures, serialisation, and templating languages (e.g., JSON, YAML, Jinja2).
- In-depth understanding of DevOps principles and Agile software development methodologies.
- Experience using version control systems, specifically Git and GitLab.
- Practical experience in designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines within GitLab.
- Hands-on experience using Ansible to automate and manage network configurations.
- Familiarity with core networking principles.
Desirable Skills:
- Familiarity with network-specific testing frameworks such as PyATS.
- Any experience with Cisco technologies.
- Experience using Nautobot as a Network Source of Truth application.
- Experience with data mocking and/or factory libraries.
- Proficient in using a Linux OS distribution, preferably RHEL.
- Practical experience or an understanding of virtualisation and containerisation technologies.
MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.
