At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and operate Azure cloud platforms while supporting AWS infrastructure.
- Company: Pioneering connected commerce marketing company with a focus on innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, wellbeing fund, flexible working, and extra days off.
- Other info: Embrace change in a fast-paced environment with excellent growth opportunities.
- Why this job: Join a dynamic team and shape the future of cloud technology.
- Qualifications: Proven DevOps experience, Azure expertise, and strong scripting skills.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.
Location: Mainly remote - with minimum once a month travel to our London office.
Who are we?
We’re the original pioneers in connected commerce marketing. Since 2008, we’ve been partnering with major retailers, powering global brands, and building meaningful connections with shoppers.
About the role
We are looking for a Senior DevOps Engineer to join our Engineering Team. As a Senior DevOps Engineer you will design, build and operate the platform that powers SMG products and will work as part of a cross-cutting DevOps function that embeds directly into product engineering squads. Azure is our primary cloud and the core focus of this role.
You will lead Azure platform setup, cloud foundations, and day-to-day operations, while also supporting and integrating with live AWS infrastructure, which remains in active use as a secondary environment, as well as partnering with engineering teams to deliver a reliable, observable, secure, and cost-effective platform that enables safe, repeatable delivery across all cloud environments.
What you’ll do:
- Own and evolve Azure cloud foundations: subscriptions, management groups, policies, landing zones, networking (VNETs, peering, hybrid connectivity), and identity (Azure AD / Entra ID).
- Manage day-to-day Azure operations and be the go-to Azure expert across engineering.
- Support and maintain live AWS infrastructure alongside the existing DevOps Engineers.
- Write and maintain IaC using Terraform for Azure-native resources.
- Build automation, GitOps patterns, and self-service platform tooling that enables development teams to provision and operate infrastructure reliably.
- Design, build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps as the primary tool, alongside BitBucket Pipelines where in use.
- Operate our observability stack (Datadog) across all environments.
- Define and maintain SLOs, SLI dashboards, incident response runbooks and playbooks.
- Lead blameless postmortems and on-call processes.
- Embed security best practices into platform and pipeline design.
- Participate in audit remediation, manage cloud cost optimisation, and enforce tagging and governance standards across Azure and AWS environments.
- Mentor engineering teams on DevOps and SRE practices.
- Author clear, actionable, version-controlled runbooks and onboarding guides that enable self-service.
- Bring DevOps thinking into the squads you embed with.
What we’re looking for:
- Proven DevOps/SRE experience supporting cloud-based SaaS platforms.
- Hands-on Azure expertise: subscriptions, Azure AD/Entra ID, VNETs, Azure Monitor, Azure DevOps. Azure certification is strongly preferred.
- Working knowledge of AWS and comfort operating in it as a secondary live environment.
- IaC expertise: Terraform (primary); Bicep/ARM.
- CI/CD pipeline authoring: Azure DevOps, BitBucket Pipelines and/or GitHub Actions.
- Observability tooling: Datadog - metrics, tracing, logging, and SLI/SLO definition.
- Incident management: comfortable running on-call and leading blameless postmortems.
- Strong scripting and automation skills: Python, Bash, or PowerShell.
- Strong written communication - clear runbooks, playbooks and documentation.
- Comfortable working across multiple squads with shifting context and priorities.
Nice to have:
- Azure certifications (AZ-104, AZ-400 or equivalent).
- AWS certifications.
- Experience with chaos engineering and capacity planning.
- Platform engineering experience: developer portals, golden paths, self-service infrastructure.
We're looking for people who enjoy the buzz of change, the satisfaction of building something better, and the joy of working with a close-knit, values-driven team. If you love variety, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and embrace change with energy, this could be your right role.
Don’t meet every single requirement? We still want to hear from you. If you believe you’d thrive in this role, your unique perspective might be just what we’re looking for.
Why SMG?
At SMG, we hire for the future, which is fast-moving and changing shape. Do you have the potential to help shape our business? We’re looking for brilliant, diverse talent who want to grow with us - people who are curious, ambitious, and eager to learn, whether as specialists or across teams.
We value those who take ownership of their growth and bring fresh perspectives. That’s why we’re committed to equity, inclusion, and building a place where everyone feels empowered to grow. At SMG, it’s not just about filling a role but building the future together.
- 10% discretionary bonus
- £1,800 yearly wellbeing fund (on top of your salary!)
- Free Headspace subscription
- £500 yearly “Uni Fund” for learning
- 4 extra Wellbeing Days off per year
- Summer & Winter conferences + year-round celebrations
- 4pm finishes every Friday
- Flexible and hybrid working
Explore all our benefits here.
Senior DevOps Engineer employer: SMG
At SMG, we pride ourselves on being an excellent employer by offering a supportive work culture that values your skills and contributions. With flexible scheduling and the opportunity to make a real difference in the community through our partnerships with local housing charities, you will find meaningful and rewarding employment while enjoying opportunities for personal and professional growth in Gloucester.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior DevOps Engineer
✨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 SMG 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 SMG.
✨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 SMG.
✨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 SMG 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 Senior DevOps Engineer
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 SMG.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at SMG 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 SMG
✨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 SMG 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.
