Senior Cloud-Native Software Engineer / Platform Engineer in Gloucester

Role Purpose

The Intelligent Substation programme is developing a portfolio of cloud and edge solutions that enable operational technology and substation data to be securely acquired, contextualised and used for asset monitoring, condition assessment, operational analysis and future AI-enabled capabilities.

We are seeking a senior, hands-on Software Engineer to join a small multidisciplinary team responsible for maintaining, supporting and further developing these solutions.

The role will focus on containerised applications, Azure Kubernetes Service, customer-managed edge Kubernetes environments, Dev Sec Ops automation and the integration of cloud and operational technology platforms.

The successful candidate must be comfortable working across application code, containers, deployment pipelines and production environments.

This is an engineering role requiring direct contribution to code, configuration, troubleshooting and delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain and support cloud-native applications and microservices deployed to AKS and distributed edge Kubernetes environments.
• Design and build secure, production-quality services using . NET and C#, with Python used where appropriate for automation, data processing and integration.
• Containerise applications and manage their configuration, dependencies, deployment and lifecycle across cloud and edge environments.
• Develop and maintain Git Hub Actions pipelines covering build, test, security scanning, packaging, release and deployment.
• Implement Git Ops-based deployment and configuration management using Flux v2.
• Support Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes and customer-managed Kubernetes platforms such as K3s, Red Hat Open Shift or equivalent.
• Create and maintain infrastructure and application deployment automation using Terraform and associated scripting.
• Develop APIs, integration components and event-driven services connecting Azure Paa S, Io T, data and operational systems.
• Implement automated testing, code-quality controls, dependency management and Dev Sec Ops practices throughout the software lifecycle.
• Establish effective application observability using logs, metrics, traces, dashboards and alerts.
• Investigate and resolve application, container, pipeline and deployment issues across distributed cloud and edge environments.
• Produce clear technical documentation, operational procedures and support handover materials.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, network, security, data, architecture and electrical transmission domain specialists.
• Required Skills and Experience
• 10+ years’ experience in software or cloud-native engineering, including at least three years working with Kubernetes or AKS.
• Expert-level experience developing and operating containerised applications.
• Strong commercial development experience with . NET and C#.
• Hands-on experience with AKS, Kubernetes resources, Helm or equivalent packaging, container registries and workload troubleshooting.
• Strong experience building CI/CD pipelines using Git Hub Actions.
• Practical experience implementing Git Ops using Flux v2.
• Experience with Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes and hybrid or distributed application environments.
• Good knowledge of Terraform and infrastructure-as-code principles.
• Experience applying Dev Sec Ops controls, including secrets management, vulnerability scanning, dependency management and secure software development practices.
• Experience integrating applications with Azure Paa S and data services, which may include Io T Hub, Service Bus, Event Hubs, Azure Data Explorer, storage, SQL, APIs and identity services.
• Understanding of Azure networking, identity and security concepts, including Entra ID, managed identities, private endpoints and role-based access control.
• Strong diagnostic skills across application, container, Kubernetes and network layers.

Desirable Experience

• Customer-managed Kubernetes platforms such as K3s or Red Hat Open Shift.
• Azure Io T Edge, Azure Io T Operations or other industrial edge platforms.
• Industrial or operational technology environments, including MQTT, Modbus TCP, IEC 61850, DNP3 or similar protocols.
• Prometheus, Grafana, Azure Monitor, Open Telemetry and automated incident response.
• Development of AI, machine learning, document intelligence or retrieval-augmented generation solutions.
• Experience working in regulated, critical-infrastructure or high-availability environments.
• Preferred Certifications
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer.
• Microsoft Certified: Dev Ops Engineer Expert.
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

The successful candidate will combine strong software engineering fundamentals with a pragmatic approach to operating and improving real production systems.