Azure Platform Engineer in Thame

Hi, we’re Smoove, part of the PEXA Group. Our vision is to simplify and revolutionise the home moving and ownership experience for everyone. We are on a mission to deliver products and services that remove the pain, frustration, uncertainty, friction and stress that the current process creates. We are a leading provider of tech in the property sector, founded in 2003. Our product focus has been our conveyancer two-sided marketplace, connecting consumers with a range of quality conveyancers to choose from at competitive prices via our easy-to-use tech platform. We are now building out our ecosystem so consumers can benefit from our services either via their Estate Agent or their Mortgage Broker, through smarter conveyancing platforms, making the home buying or selling process easier, quicker, safer and more transparent.

We’re looking for an Azure Platform Engineer (IC2) to join our growing platform engineering team. This is a hands-on role where you’ll contribute to building and operating a shared Azure platform that enables engineering teams to develop, deploy, and run applications efficiently. Working alongside experienced engineers, you’ll develop your skills in platform engineering, infrastructure as code, and cloud-native technologies, helping to drive automation, standardisation, and improved developer experience across the organisation. This role is ideal for someone with solid Azure foundations who is looking to take the next step into platform engineering.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Platform Engineering
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of our Azure platform.
  • Implement Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Bicep, and ARM.
  • Support the creation of reusable modules, templates, and standard patterns.
  • Follow established platform standards and best practices.
• Developer Experience (DevEx)
  • Help improve developer workflows and deployment processes.
  • Contribute to platform templates and “golden paths”.
  • Support documentation and guidance for platform users.
  • Assist engineering teams in adopting platform capabilities.
• Azure & Kubernetes
  • Support core Azure services including App Services, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Storage, Service Bus, and Redis.
  • Assist in the operation and maintenance of AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service).
  • Apply standard configurations for networking and security.
• CI/CD & Automation
  • Contribute to CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions).
  • Follow established deployment patterns.
  • Help automate repeatable processes and tasks.
• Security & Reliability
  • Apply cloud security best practices under guidance.
  • Use Azure RBAC and Key Vault appropriately.
  • Support monitoring, logging, and troubleshooting activities.
  • Assist in maintaining platform reliability and availability.
• Collaboration & Learning
  • Work closely with engineering teams to support platform usage.
  • Collaborate with senior engineers on improvements and initiatives.
  • Actively learn, seek feedback, and contribute to team knowledge.

Core Experience What We’re Looking For

• Hands-on experience working with Microsoft Azure in a commercial environment.
• Experience deploying infrastructure using IaC (Terraform, Bicep, or ARM).
• Experience working with CI/CD pipelines.
• Exposure to containers and Kubernetes (AKS preferred).
• Experience managing IaaS environments (build, deploy, patch, maintain).

Technical Skills

• Understanding of cloud networking fundamentals.
• Familiarity with Azure services and platform tooling.
• Awareness of monitoring and logging tools.
• Basic understanding of cloud security principles.

Engineering Approach

• Understanding of platform engineering concepts (automation, reuse, standardisation).
• Ability to follow established patterns and best practices.
• Willingness to learn and continuously improve.

Desirable Skills

• Experience with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Background in a DevOps or cloud engineering environment.
• Experience with PowerShell scripting.

Core Competencies

• Problem Solving: Analytical mindset with the ability to troubleshoot effectively.
• Communication: Clear and concise communication within technical teams.
• Collaboration: Works well with others and is open to feedback.
• Adaptability: Comfortable learning new tools and technologies.
• Growth Mindset: Eager to develop skills and progress within platform engineering.

What Success Looks Like

• You independently deliver small platform improvements and changes.
• You consistently apply platform standards and best practices.
• You contribute to reusable infrastructure and automation.
• You actively develop your technical capability across Azure and platform engineering.

Why Join Smoove?

We pride ourselves on attracting, developing and retaining a diverse range of people in an equally diverse range of roles and specialisms - who together achieve outstanding results. Our transparent approach and open-door policy make Smoove a great place to work and as our business expands, we are looking for ambitious, talented people to join us.

Benefits for PEXA employees include:

• Annual Leave: 25 days per year (Jan-Dec), increasing to 27 days after 5 years, plus Bank Holidays (pro-rata for part-time).
• Annual Leave Purchase: Option to purchase up to 1 working week of additional leave.
• Wellness Days: 4 paid days per year to rest and recharge (pro-rata for part-time). We kindly ask you take 1 per quarter.
• Paid Volunteer Day: 1 paid day per year to volunteer at a charity of your choice.
• Pension scheme (Aviva): 6% employer contribution, 4% employee contribution.
• Life Assurance: 4x basic salary.
• Health Flex Pot via Benifex: £800 flexible benefit to spend on health options of your choice, including: Private Health Insurance / Health Cash Plan / Dental Plan / Health Assessments.
• Additional Benifex perks: Voluntary opt-in for additional benefits including Activity Pass, discounts via Perkbox, Beauty and Fitness Discount Card, Cycle to Work, Motor Breakdown, Will Writing, or enhance your cover of benefits provided by company.
• Critical Illness Cover: 1x basic salary.
• Group-wide Equity Plan: Eligibility for participation in our Group-wide employee share plan, subject to annual invitation.
• Enhanced Maternity/Adoption Pay: Up to 20 weeks full pay.
• Enhanced Paternity Pay: Up to 4 weeks full pay.
• Performance-based Incentive Scheme: Eligibility for a discretionary Short Term Incentive plan, based on job role and level.
• Learning & Development: Access to LinkedIn Learning, reimbursement of your professional membership costs.
• Additional: Access to our Employee Assistance Programme and wellbeing resources, eye test vouchers and VDU glasses contribution.
• Office Space: Use of our PEXA office workspaces in Leeds and Thame. Our new Leeds office is in West Village, managed by Bruntwood SciTech and allows you access to Bruntwood hosted local events.

Note: To be conducted as part of post offer employment checks. The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas to prevent fraud and other improper conduct. Your data processing rights are described in our privacy notice at https://pexa.co.uk/applicant-policy/.