At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the reliability and performance of our cloud platforms while enabling rapid feature delivery.
- Company: Join The National College, transforming education with innovative software solutions.
- Benefits: Enjoy life assurance, generous holiday, mental health support, and professional development opportunities.
- Other info: Collaborative environment focused on personal growth and celebrating success.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in education by ensuring our platforms run smoothly and efficiently.
- Qualifications: 5+ years in DevOps or cloud infrastructure, with strong problem-solving skills.
The predicted salary is between 48000 - 72000 £ per year.
At The National College, we empower the education workforce to transform children’s lives. Our all-in-one platform helps schools, trusts and nurseries stay compliant, raise standards, and reduce staff workload — all through intuitive, powerful software. If educators need it, we build it. We’ve created a unique platform combining the world’s largest CPD and policy library with custom-built tools — developed in collaboration with thousands of schools and over 1,000 education experts.
The Role
We are looking for a Lead DevOps Engineer to take ownership of the uptime, scalability, security, and efficiency of our customer‑facing platforms, while enabling fast, safe delivery of new features. This is a hands‑on individual contributor role, working closely with the CTO, internal engineering teams, and external technical partners. You will be responsible for the reliability and performance of our cloud infrastructure—primarily in AWS, with some services in Azure. This includes infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines, observability, system security, and overall operational excellence. Our platforms support education institutions across the UK and internationally, where uptime, performance, and reliability are critical. This role sits at the heart of maintaining and improving that stability.
We’re looking for someone who thrives in high‑availability environments and takes real ownership of production systems—balancing reliability with the need for rapid, continuous delivery. You will be comfortable:
- Taking end‑to‑end ownership of infrastructure reliability and operational performance
- Balancing production stability with fast, iterative delivery
- Diagnosing and resolving live issues quickly and with precision
- Operating with a high level of independence and sound technical judgement
- Collaborating closely with developers, leadership, and external partners
- Continuously improving automation, systems, and operational practices
This role is well suited to engineers who enjoy solving complex problems, building resilient systems, and working close to real‑world production environments.
Job Requirements
- 5+ years’ experience in DevOps, SRE, or cloud infrastructure engineering
- Proven experience operating and supporting live, business‑critical production systems
- Strong track record of automating infrastructure and deployment processes
- Experience managing high‑availability, scalable cloud environments
- Experience working closely with development teams to enable modern software delivery practices
- Demonstrated ability to diagnose and resolve complex production issues under pressure
Skills and Competencies
- Strong understanding of modern software delivery, infrastructure, and operational practices
- Excellent troubleshooting skills across systems, services, and infrastructure layers
- Deep experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines
- Hands‑on experience with AWS in live production environments (Azure experience beneficial)
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code (e.g. Terraform) and automation practices
- Familiarity with monitoring, logging, and alerting systems to support reliability and incident response
- Experience configuring and running containerised environments (e.g. Docker)
- Experience working with relational databases (ideally MySQL or Aurora)
- Development experience beneficial (e.g. PHP, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Vue)
- Experience with automated testing frameworks (e.g. PHPUnit, PHPStan, Selenium) is a plus
- Experience with video delivery platforms or learning management systems is advantageous
- Strong attention to detail, particularly in production environments
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem‑solving skills
- Ability to work independently and make sound technical decisions
- Comfortable operating in a fast‑paced, high‑availability environment
- Structured and organised approach to incident management and issue resolution
Qualifications
- Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
- AWS, Azure, or cloud certifications are desirable but not essential
- DevOps, Kubernetes, or infrastructure‑related certifications are advantageous
Job Benefits
At The National College, we’re passionate about helping organisations grow and thrive through knowledge and connection. You’ll be part of a company that values people, encourages personal development, and celebrates success. You’ll work with people who value collaboration, innovation, and high standards. You’ll also be able to benefit from:
- Life Assurance
- Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, Shared Parental and Adoption Pay
- 24/7 Online GP
- Mental Health & Wellbeing support
- Charity Day
- 25 Days Holiday, rising to 30 days
- Professional Study Support
- Plus more
Lead DevOps Engineer in Sheffield employer: The National College
The National College in Sheffield is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment that fosters professional growth and collaboration. With generous benefits such as life assurance and up to 30 days of holiday, employees are supported in achieving a healthy work-life balance while contributing to meaningful educational advancements. The college's commitment to innovation in the Education SaaS sector ensures that team members are at the forefront of industry developments, making it a rewarding place to build a career.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Lead DevOps Engineer in Sheffield
✨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 The National College 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 The National College.
✨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 The National College.
✨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 The National College 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 Lead DevOps Engineer in Sheffield
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 The National College.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at The National College 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 The National College
✨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 The National College 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.
