Lead DevOps Engineer

Public Sector Resourcing•London Britain Township, PA

10h•£60,390 - £74,600•Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead DevOps Engineer provides technical leadership for how CPS development teams build, secure, deploy and operate modern digital services. The role combines strategic direction with hands-on engineering, coaching and problem-solving, and includes direct line management responsibilities. The postholder sets consistent DevOps and DevSecOps direction across CPS, while remaining close to the technology and working hands-on where needed. The role leads the improvement of CI/CD and deployment capability, enabling teams to move software safely and consistently from code to production. It uses technologies and practices including Microsoft Azure, GitHub and GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Azure Kubernetes Service, Terraform, Docker, Azure Container Registry, Helm, Kustomize, GitOps tools such as Argo CD or Flux, and security tooling. It also improves service reliability and operational insight through tools such as Azure Monitor, Application Insights and Prometheus. Working with software engineering, cloud infrastructure, architecture, cyber security colleagues and suppliers, the postholder ensures services are deployable, operable, resilient and production-ready. The role simplifies developer experience by reducing manual effort and fragmented approaches, promoting self-service and creating clearer routes from repository to production. The post can be based at a Crown Prosecution Service office in England or Wales and requires travel to CPS locations according to business needs. Hybrid working is offered, with at least 40% of contracted hours over a four-week period spent at a court, office or other official workplace, depending on business need and the work being done.

Requirements

Substantial experience leading DevOps or platform engineering practices in complex software delivery environments.
Strong practical experience designing and improving CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation and reusable engineering patterns, templates or guardrails.
Practical experience with source control and delivery platforms, particularly GitHub, GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps.
Experience deploying cloud-hosted applications and practical knowledge of containerisation and orchestration using AKS/Kubernetes.
Experience with infrastructure as code using Terraform and embedding security and quality controls into automated delivery pipelines.
Ability to troubleshoot complex deployment and operational problems across applications, pipelines and infrastructure.
Ability to provide credible technical leadership while working hands-on with code, scripts, configuration and automation, and coaching engineers across disciplines.
Understanding of embedding security, quality and compliance checks into the software delivery lifecycle, including code analysis, dependency and vulnerability scanning, and secrets management.
Must be aged 16 or over when starting the role.
Successful candidates must obtain Security Check clearance and meet the stated residency requirement: three years within the last five years.
Must have a current valid UK address for Security Check clearance.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Microsoft Azure, Azure Kubernetes Service, Helm, container registries and cloud-native deployment patterns.
Relevant professional certifications, such as Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104), DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400), or Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500/SC-500).
Experience with observability, resilient Azure services, secure networking, ingress and egress, multi-region services, incident response and production-readiness practices.
Experience with GitOps or progressive deployment tooling such as Argo CD or Flux.
Knowledge of policy-as-code and automated governance, using tools such as Azure Policy.
Experience designing resilient cloud services, secure networking, multi-region deployments and production-readiness practices.

Responsibilities

Provide technical leadership for DevOps and DevSecOps across CPS, setting standards, reusable patterns and practical guardrails while remaining hands-on where needed.
Assess emerging technologies and prioritise improvements that support organisational goals and team needs.
Design, improve and maintain CI/CD pipelines, release automation and deployment approaches so teams can build, test and deploy services safely, consistently and at pace.
Embed security, quality, compliance and auditability into software delivery through automated controls, including code quality, dependency, vulnerability and software supply chain checks.
Improve developer experience and operational readiness through infrastructure as code, containerisation, self-service tooling, observability, deployment diagnostics and resilient production patterns.
Shape and evolve the DevOps and platform engineering roadmap.
Research and pilot emerging DevOps tools and practices, assess them against the existing technology stack, and develop potential adoption cases that consider migration effort and long-term maintenance.
Coach engineers and work across software engineering, cloud infrastructure, architecture, cyber security and suppliers to resolve complex delivery problems and drive measurable continuous improvement.
Undertake direct line management responsibilities.
Travel to Crown Prosecution Service locations as required by business needs.

Benefits

Civil Service contributory pension, with an employer contribution of up to 28.9% (the job details also state a 28.97% employer contribution).
25 days' annual leave, increasing to 30 days after five years.
£350 each year for personal development.
An extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday.
Competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave.
Flexible working, including flexitime, and a family-friendly approach to work.
Cycle2Work scheme.
Employee savings.
Staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race and social mobility.
Mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.
Development programmes for aspiring, new and experienced managers; the Manager Induction Programme is mandatory for newly appointed managers.