At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and innovate in building digital products while mentoring teams and influencing technology strategies.
- Company: Join Red Badger, a forward-thinking tech company that values collaboration and diversity.
- Benefits: Enjoy a generous salary, training budget, private medical insurance, and flexible working options.
- Other info: Be part of a dynamic team committed to continuous learning and inclusivity.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by guiding clients through emerging technologies and fostering team success.
- Qualifications: Deep expertise in DevOps, cloud platforms, and a passion for mentoring others.
The Principal DevOps / Platform Engineer has deep expertise in building and operating digital and data products, particularly within complex client environments and multi-team projects. This role plays a key part in delivering high-quality outcomes through strategic influence, hands-on support, and deep domain knowledge. You will collaborate closely with Principal Product and Delivery roles, as well as Technical and Delivery Leads, to ensure that technology choices align with both client goals and Red Badger’s value propositions. You will engage with the wider team and stakeholders to consult and influence on topics such as technology adoption, continuous delivery, team structure, deployment strategy, and organisational policy. Your ability to guide clients through emerging technologies and industry best practice will help create the conditions for teams to succeed with autonomy and impact.
As a Principal DevOps / Platform Engineer, you elevate those around you by supercharging delivery teams, mentoring others, and embedding technical excellence at every level. You bring thought leadership, pragmatism, and curiosity to solving complex problems, and are trusted to represent Red Badger in high-level client conversations with confidence and clarity. Hands-on work is expected to be the majority of the role - demonstrating by doing, but also be prepared to get involved in thought leadership, sharing your knowledge with other badgers, and high value consulting activities.
Key responsibilities
- Discipline expertise
- Supporting lean approach to software delivery and overall solution design and focus on delivering maximum value with minimal effort
- Providing architectural framework and solution design
- Advocating innovative approach / use of new technology where appropriate
- Ensuring quality through coaching, pairing, reviewing code
- Advocating for simplicity in design approach, ways of working and tool choice
- Deep technical expertise and teaching mindset
- Upskilling Red Badger software engineers in new technologies and approaches
- Contributing to raising technology discipline standards within Red Badger
- Collaborative leadership
- Feed into account level technology leadership / governance
- Contributing to the overall success of the Red Badger client engagement
- Potentially leading multiple technology teams across a programme of work
- Aligning Badger / client teams on appropriate processes & tooling
- Influencing our clients
- Consulting on areas of technology expertise
- Operating as trusted advisor consulting on client technology strategy, technology roadmap
- Coaching senior client technology stakeholders
It’d be great if you have
- Experience with the following tools and technologies: Terraform, FLUX, Kyverno, Istio, Github Actions, Prometheus/OTEL
- Extensive experience with cloud platforms - especially AWS, and understanding of progressive ways of managing infrastructure, such as infrastructure-as-code
- Extensive experience with container/image management and orchestration tools such as Docker, K8s/EKS
- Experience with setting up modern CI/CD pipelines to support continuous delivery and deployment and good understanding of the trade-offs (e.g. pipelines-as-code, monorepos, GitOps, branching and release strategies, etc.)
- An understanding of information security including common attack vectors, awareness of relevant regulation and restrictions (e.g. PCI, GDPR…)
- Experience in design and testing strategies to enable gradual evolution of systems over time
- Good understanding of data storage approaches and tools and trade-offs involved (RBDMSs, key-value stores, column stores, log storage, …)
- Good understanding of applying cryptography in software development (e.g. TLS, PKI, HMAC, hashing algorithms, etc.)
- Experience in a consulting environment with client engagements
- Ability to influence senior client stakeholders and support teams with technology and process enablers to support continuous delivery and DevOps ways of working
- Experience with establishing good engineering practice focused on lean, cross-discipline, continuous delivery
It’d be amazing if you can also
- An understanding of information security including common attack vectors, awareness of relevant regulation and restrictions
- Experience with running live services with significant volume of users and establishing appropriate SLOs and error budgets for services and applications
- Experience designing observability strategies for systems with multiple components
What we offer
We make sure our team is well looked after with generous salaries and a great benefits package which includes:
- Annual £2,000 training budget
- Enhanced pension with employer contribution of up to 5% of your salary
- Group Life Insurance
- Income Replacement Benefit
- Critical Illness Cover
- Private Medical Insurance
- Your choice of hardware and mobile phone
- £1,000 home-office set up budget and contribution to home broadband
- Matched (pre-tax) charity GAYE donations
- Cycle to work
- Enhanced parental leave
Red Badger Values:
- People people: We respect and care for each other, giving us the space to be our true selves.
- Find a way: We’re comfortable with uncertainty, and want to take ownership for outcomes, which we are proactive in delivering.
- Always learning: We’re curious. It’s how we learn and grow as individuals, continuously testing and improving what we do, and how we do it.
- Open & Fair: We build trust by telling things as they are, being open, and seeking to achieve fair and equitable outcomes.
- Collaborative: We are united by our desire to get to the best ideas. We are generous with our knowledge, actively listen to each other, and are open minded.
Diversity & Inclusion: Red Badger is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment, and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We hire, employ, train, promote and compensate regardless of gender, gender identity, race, disability, sexual orientation, age, creed and colour. We are fully focused on equality, and it is our fundamental belief that the fascinating characteristics that make us all different enable us to continue to do amazing work for our clients.
Principal Platform Engineer in Leeds employer: Red Badger
Red Badger is an exceptional employer located in the vibrant Greater London area, offering a dynamic work culture that prioritises innovation and collaboration. Employees benefit from a strong focus on professional development, with ample opportunities for growth and advancement while working on cutting-edge projects. The company's commitment to agile methodologies and continuous improvement ensures that team members are empowered to make impactful contributions in a supportive environment.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Platform Engineer in Leeds
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Red Badger or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Red Badger.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Red Badger.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Red Badger that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Platform Engineer in Leeds
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Red Badger.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Red Badger and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Red Badger
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Red Badger uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
