At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the design and delivery of secure infrastructure for innovative defence technology.
- Company: UFORCE, a cutting-edge defence-technology company based in London.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, dynamic work environment, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Work with advanced technologies in a fast-paced, collaborative setting.
- Why this job: Join a mission-driven team making a real impact on modern warfare technology.
- Qualifications: Proven experience in cloud infrastructure and strong technical leadership skills.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
UFORCE exists to make aggression unaffordable. Founded in Ukraine and headquartered in London, UFORCE is a defence-technology company with operations across Europe, the United States and Asia. UFORCE builds uncrewed vessels, ground robotics and aircraft, autonomy software, and the command-and-control layer that operates them together. Each platform is deployable on its own, and stronger as part of the system. Its product lines include the MAGURA family of uncrewed surface vessels, the NEMESIS family of strike platforms, the LIUT family of ground robotic platforms, and counter-UAS systems.
We are looking for a hands-on Head of Platform / Senior Platform Manager to own the architecture, automation and operation of our secure infrastructure capability. You will solve a distinctive engineering challenge: enabling customers to deploy, operate, monitor and recover our platform independently, including in environments where UFORCE has no direct access to systems. You will combine deep technical execution with platform leadership, establishing repeatable deployment patterns today and helping shape the team as the function grows.
What You'll Do
- Design and deliver secure, repeatable infrastructure for air-gapped, on-premise, customer-hosted and cloud environments.
- Build infrastructure-as-code capable of standing up isolated environments reliably on reference hardware.
- Provision and operate Kubernetes across cloud and bare-metal infrastructure.
- Develop automated configuration, deployment, upgrade and recovery processes.
- Create platforms that customers can install, monitor, maintain and troubleshoot independently.
- Own core infrastructure foundations across identity, networking, compute, storage, secrets, CI/CD and observability.
- Translate security, assurance and accreditation requirements into automated, auditable platform controls.
- Establish service ownership, SLOs, incident response, problem management and resilience practices.
- Partner with Security, Product and Delivery teams to balance assurance requirements with delivery velocity.
- Provide technical leadership, set engineering standards and help grow the platform capability over time.
Required Skills
- Proven experience deploying cloud-style infrastructure onto customer-owned, on-premise or bare-metal systems.
- Experience designing for air-gapped, disconnected, sovereign or similarly restricted production environments.
- Experience leading a substantial high-assurance audit or compliance programme, such as SOC 2 Type 2, PCI DSS, DEFSTAN 05-138 or FedRAMP.
- Strong Linux, Kubernetes, infrastructure automation and troubleshooting expertise.
- The ability to write code and scripts, configure infrastructure primitives and personally debug complex platform issues.
- Experience designing systems that remain supportable when vendor engineers have limited or no access to the customer environment.
- Strong technical leadership and the ability to align senior engineers and cross-functional partners.
- Experience navigating the technical, security and certification constraints associated with highly regulated deployments.
Nice to Have
- Experience in defence, government, banking, critical national infrastructure or another highly regulated sector.
- Experience designing or operating secure R&D and software-development enclaves.
- Familiarity with FIPS 140-3, DEFSTAN 05-138, STANAG, NIST or Cyber Essentials Plus.
- Practical knowledge of zero-trust access, bastion or jump-host workflows, immutable logging and automated vulnerability management.
- Experience coaching engineers, leading a small team or building a platform function.
- Experience working in a start-up, scale-up or urgent operational environment.
Technology Stack
- Kubernetes: K3s, RKE2 and OpenShift
- Infrastructure as code: Terraform, Pulumi or comparable IaC tooling
- Configuration management: Ansible or equivalent
- Linux administration: Ubuntu and RHEL
- Bare-metal provisioning: PXE, MAAS, IPMI/Redfish or similar technologies
- Container tooling: Docker, containerd and Helm
The nature of combat has changed. Tomorrow’s battlefield success depends on autonomy, speed, and adaptability. And UFORCE is ready. Are You?
Head of Platform / Senior Platform Manager employer: UFORCE
UFORCE is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration in the defence technology sector. Employees benefit from comprehensive growth opportunities, hands-on experience with cutting-edge AI/ML tools, and the chance to contribute to impactful projects that enhance battlefield capabilities. Located in a vibrant area, UFORCE provides a supportive environment where your contributions are valued and recognised.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Head of Platform / Senior Platform Manager
✨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 UFORCE 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 UFORCE.
✨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 UFORCE.
✨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 UFORCE 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 Head of Platform / Senior Platform Manager
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 UFORCE.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at UFORCE 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 UFORCE
✨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 UFORCE 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.
