Lead DevOps Engineer Ref. 3727

Salary: £74,624 and a recruitment and retention allowance of £6,251, with an opportunity to qualify for additional allowances and a skills-related payment under the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability (GDDPC) Framework – formerly known as DDaT.

Flexible Working: We support full‑time (36 hours per week) and part‑time (minimum three days a week) working patterns. Due to the sensitive nature of our work, this role is fully office‑based with no option for remote or home working.

About MI6: MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), protects the security and economic well‑being of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism and cyber attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. This role provides vital support to this work within a supportive and encouraging environment that emphasizes teamwork.

Role Overview: We’re creating dedicated teams focused on bringing Artificial Intelligence (AI) into mission‑critical areas. As a Lead DevOps Engineer, you’ll shape and influence the strategic technical direction of a bespoke Cloud platform, ensuring development and operations teams are aligned through strong DevOps practices. You’ll take a lead role in defining how infrastructure and services are built, deployed, monitored and operated across MI6. With your considerable experience, you’ll ensure platforms and services are scalable, reliable, secure, and that DevOps principles such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, automation and observability are consistently applied. Although the role includes hands‑on engineering, your primary focus will be setting direction, defining standards and enabling teams. You’ll oversee the design and operation of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code and container platforms, and ensure services are well monitored, resilient and easy to operate at scale. By working closely with software engineers, ML Ops, product managers and stakeholders, you’ll help reduce friction between development and operations, improve system reliability and lead the adoption of modern DevOps tools and processes. Through mentoring and leadership, you’ll promote a strong DevOps culture focused on continuous improvement, operational excellence and shared ownership.

About You: You’ll bring significant experience leading DevOps or platform engineering in an enterprise environment, with a strong track record of delivering cloud‑based infrastructure and services. Your expertise will include infrastructure as code, CI/CD tooling, containerisation, configuration management and monitoring, alongside deep experience of Cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. You will specialise in enabling teams through robust infrastructure, automation and operational practices. You’ll be a trusted technical leader, comfortable setting direction, mentoring engineers and solving complex, cross‑cutting problems that span development and operations. Please note, you don’t need any existing AI expertise beyond a foundational understanding. Instead, you’ll bring a genuine passion and some evidence of self‑study that supports your interest.

Training and Development: We take professional development seriously. You’ll have access to a broad mix of learning opportunities, including in‑house and online training, technical deep dives and development pathways shaped around your interests and the needs of the organisation. This includes support to strengthen your capability across modern AI techniques, Cloud technologies and wider analytical or engineering practices. You’ll also have opportunities to work with external professional bodies and training providers who offer routes to specialist accreditation, advanced AI training or broader professional recognition. Whether you choose to deepen your expertise in a specific technical area or broaden your capability across new domains, you’ll have the guidance and support you need to progress. Alongside formal training, you’ll benefit from mentoring, peer support and a collaborative community that shares knowledge openly. You’ll have opportunities to rotate across different teams, explore emerging technologies and contribute to shaping how MI6 evolves its AI and data‑science capability. As you develop, you’ll have the space to experiment, expand your expertise and play an active role in strengthening our AI practice across the organisation.

Rewards and Benefits: Starting salary £74,624 and recruitment and retention allowance £6,251, plus other benefits including: 25 days annual leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays, opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme, interest‑free season ticket loan, excellent pension scheme, cycle to work scheme, facilities such as a gym, restaurant, and on‑site coffee bars (at some locations), paid parental and adoption leave.

Equal Opportunities: At MI6, diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from under‑represented groups such as women, people of ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio‑economic backgrounds.

Offer of Interview: We are committed to providing equitable opportunities throughout the recruitment process to support candidates with disabilities. As part of this, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview, if it is practical.

What to Expect: Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage: An initial online application form including pre‑screening questions to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria, Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), Application sift looking at your skills and motivation for the role and organisation, online interview focusing on your motivations and our core competencies, in‑person technical skills‑based interview, based on the Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework for the role, conditional offer of employment.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage to progress. Your application may take around 6 to 9 months to process, including vetting. We advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before You Apply: To work at MI6 you must be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). Please note we have a strict drugs policy. Once you start your application, you cannot take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage. You are advised to consider setting up a separate email address for contact with us to keep personal and application correspondence separate. Avoid using identifying features such as your first and/or surname and date of birth in the email address. The role is based in London; you must live within a commutable distance. No relocation costs are offered. We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in‑person interviews or assessments during the recruitment and vetting process. Full details will be provided with your invitation. Reimbursement is discretionary and in line with the Candidate Expenses Policy. Candidates must book their own travel, use the most economical option, and provide original hard‑copy receipts. Application must be launched from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch the application. Applying from outside the UK will impact our ability to progress your application. Discuss your application only with a partner or close family member.

Right to Withdraw Statement: Please be aware that we may withdraw the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.