Principal DevOps Engineer

Salary: £76,117 (National) or £80,237 (Croydon) plus skills allowance of up to £19,483 pending assessment.

Location: Croydon, Manchester or Sheffield on a hybrid basis.

Advert Close: 11:55 pm Thursday 7th May 2026.

Please note that this role requires Security Check (SC) clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years.

What you’ll bring to the role

The Principal DevOps is responsible for key elements of our platforms, CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Delivery) pipelines and overall automation approaches. Your role is to support the delivery, update or evolution of these systems as well as to provide expert technical advice. You will also be expected to set the technical direction for our future platforms, whether through hands‑on delivery or design. You will frequently collaborate with and take part in planning with senior business stakeholders to ensure that security, stability and capacity are embedded in the development and deployment of services. You will identify and explore opportunities for technology service and business improvement.

You’ll have a visible passion for building working and supportable software solutions, with the following skills or strong experience in:

• Developing full stack enterprise software solutions, including cloud infrastructure, container orchestration and data platforms.
• Supporting the delivery management of large-scale programmes, including evaluating the technical feasibility and deliverability of proposed solutions and tracking the adherence to the solution principles through to implementation.
• Managing and sustaining large scale code bases and deployment infrastructure, including managing knowledge retention and evolution through technology and supplier changes.
• Understanding software delivery methods and methodologies with an ability to communicate these to a wide variety of stakeholders.
• Analysing data problems from both line of business systems and infrastructure domains with a view to identifying process improvements.
• Testing large scale software solutions against functional, non‑functional and operational requirements.

What’s in it for you?

• A civil service pension with employer contribution rates of at least 28.97%.
• In‑year reward scheme for one‑off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• The ability to potentially adopt flexible working options that suit your work/life balance, plus the opportunity in future to take a career break.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service.
• Eight days public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
• 26 weeks maternity, adoption or shared parental leave at full pay, followed by 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid, after qualifying service.
• Maternity and adoption support leave (also known as paternity leave) of two weeks full pay, after qualifying service.
• Paid leave for fostering approval processes, support when a child is substantively placed with you plus a foster to adopt policy.
• Support for guardians and kinship carers.
• Corporate membership of ‘Employers for Carers’ providing additional information and advice for carers, plus a ‘Carer’s Passport’ to discuss workplace needs and underpin supportive conversations.
• Time off to deal with emergencies and certain other unplanned special circumstances.