Senior Azure Platform/Cloud Operations Lead in Worthing

Huge opportunity to grow - £85,000 to £90,000 plus excellent benefits - Flexible on 2 days a week in the office (preferred presence, but not essential) - Worthing, West Sussex

Core Elements:

• Man-management + communication skills.
• Azure-native services (PaaS + IaaS).
• DevOps/Platform Engineer/Automation skills.
• Ownership of enterprise landing zones.
• Terraform-driven IaC strategy.
• Leading teams/mentoring.
• Stakeholder management & communication.
• Operating model/platform governance.

Overview:

A large organisation that has far reaching impacts on the environment, the community and our ecosystem seeks an experienced Senior Azure Platform/Cloud Operations Lead to help play a critical role in the design, implementation, and ongoing operation of the company's cloud infrastructure, with a strong emphasis on Microsoft Azure. As a key technical contributor within the Cloud Operations function, you will be responsible for ensuring that cloud-based services are available, secure, efficient, and cost-effective. This includes provisioning and managing compute, storage, networking, and identity services, as well as supporting the use of advanced PaaS capabilities and analytics platforms. You will be in a hands-on role that demands strong technical expertise, a problem-solving mindset, and a proactive approach to continuous improvement. You will support the development and operation of cloud Landing Zones and act as a trusted delivery partner for internal stakeholders and project teams. By applying DevOps and automation principles, you will reduce manual overhead, accelerate delivery cycles, and improve operational resilience. You will contribute to broader strategic goals by supporting the shift from traditional on-premises infrastructure to scalable, cloud-native services aligned with an 'as-a-service' delivery model. As the Senior Azure Platform/Cloud Operations Lead you will also work closely with security, compliance, and disaster recovery teams to ensure that cloud services are not only high-performing and flexible, but also resilient and governed appropriately. As the company continues to grow its cloud footprint, this position offers an opportunity to shape how cloud services are delivered across the business. It is ideal for someone looking to deepen their technical expertise while contributing to a major enterprise-wide transformation in digital infrastructure.

Responsibilities:

• Azure Cloud Engineering: Build, configure, and maintain Azure cloud environments (IaaS, PaaS, storage, networking, identity). Deploy and support Azure Landing Zones in line with enterprise architecture standards. Support the transition from IaaS to PaaS services by designing and implementing modern cloud-native solutions. Monitor and manage cloud workloads to ensure availability, performance, and security.
• Operations & Automation: Implement infrastructure as code (IaC) using tools such as Bicep, ARM templates, or Terraform. Automate provisioning, scaling, and maintenance of cloud resources using DevOps pipelines and scripts (PowerShell, Azure CLI, CI/CD etc.). Monitor system health, respond to incidents, and participate in root cause analysis and continuous improvement.
• Security, Governance & Compliance: Enforce cloud security best practices, including role-based access control (RBAC), encryption, and secure networking. Support compliance with internal policies and regulatory standards by ensuring guardrails and policies are in place. Collaborate with Security Operations and Compliance teams to remediate vulnerabilities and audit issues.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field or equivalent work experience.
• Extensive experience with Microsoft Azure cloud services and PaaS/IaaS solutions.
• Strong knowledge of landing zone architecture and best practices.
• Proven experience in defining and implementing cloud infrastructure standards and best practices.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Knowledge of IaC tools like Terraform or CloudFormation to provision and manage infrastructure resources programmatically.
• Containerisation and Orchestration: Proficient with container technologies like Docker and container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes.
• Automation: Strong scripting skills (e.g., Python, PowerShell) and the ability to automate routine tasks and deployment processes for efficiency and consistency.
• Security: Expertise in cloud security best practices, identity and access management (IAM), encryption, and compliance frameworks (e.g., PCI DSS, NIST).
• Networking: Strong knowledge of cloud networking concepts, including virtual networks, subnets, security groups, load balancers, and VPN configurations.
• DevOps Principles: An understanding of DevOps practices and the ability to integrate development and operations workflows for faster and more reliable deployments.
• FinOps (Cloud Financial Operations): Experience with managing cloud costs, optimising cloud spending, and implementing FinOps principles to drive cost-effective cloud strategies while balancing performance and scalability.