Country/Region:  GB

Job Title: DevOps Engineer
SC Cleared: Required
Job Type: Full-Time
Experience: 5-8 years


About the Role:
 We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Platform Engineer to build and maintain the core infrastructure and tooling that empowers our data scientists, economists, and developers working on our cutting-edge Azure Databricks Economic Data Platform. This platform is critical for our Monetary Analysis, Forecasting, and Modelling activities. The Platform Engineer will focus on creating a self-service, scalable, and reliable platform that streamlines development workflows, simplifies infrastructure management, and enhances overall productivity. This role requires a strong understanding of cloud computing (specifically Azure), infrastructure-as-code (IaC), DevOps practices, containerisation, orchestration, and a passion for building developer-friendly platforms.
Key Responsibilities:
 Platform Design & Development:
o Design, develop, and maintain the core platform infrastructure on Azure, including networking, compute, storage, security, and identity management.
o Implement infrastructure-as-code (IaC) using tools like Terraform, ARM templates, or Bicep to automate infrastructure provisioning and management.
o Develop and maintain platform components, such as APIs, CLIs, and web interfaces, to provide self-service capabilities to users.
 Azure Databricks Integration & Optimisation:
o Deeply integrate Azure Databricks into the platform, ensuring seamless access and efficient resource utilisation.
o Implement automation for Databricks workspace setup, cluster configuration, and job deployments.
o Optimise Databricks workloads for performance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
 Containerisation & Orchestration:
o Implement and manage containerised applications and services using Docker and Kubernetes (or Azure Kubernetes Service - AKS).
o Design and implement container orchestration strategies for deploying and scaling platform components.
 CI/CD Pipeline Automation:
o Design and implement robust CI/CD pipelines for building, testing, and deploying platform components and user applications.
o Automate build processes, unit tests, integration tests, and deployment processes.
o Implement advanced deployment strategies (e.g., blue/green deployments, canary releases).
 Monitoring, Logging & Alerting:
o Implement comprehensive monitoring, logging, and alerting systems to proactively identify and address performance issues, errors, and security threats.
o Use tools like Azure Monitor, Prometheus, Grafana, or similar to collect and analyse metrics, logs, and traces.
o Configure alerts and notifications to ensure timely responses to critical events.
 Security & Compliance:
o Implement security best practices and controls within the platform infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines.
o Ensure compliance with relevant security standards and regulations.
o Implement security scanning and vulnerability management processes.
 Documentation & Support:
o Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation for the platform, including API documentation, user guides, and troubleshooting guides.
o Provide support to users of the platform.
 Collaboration & Communication:
o Collaborate closely with data scientists, economists, developers, and other stakeholders to understand their needs and gather feedback on the platform.
o Communicate technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Essential Skills & Experience:
 5+ years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps engineering, or a related role.
 Strong experience with Azure cloud platform and services.
 Extensive experience with IaC tools like Terraform, ARM templates, or Bicep.
 Solid understanding of CI/CD principles and experience with CI/CD tools like Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GitLab CI.
 Strong experience with containerisation technologies like Docker and orchestration tools like Kubernetes (or AKS).
 Experience with monitoring and logging tools.
 Scripting skills in PowerShell, Bash, YAML and Python.
 Good understanding of networking concepts and security best practices.
 Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
 Strong communication and collaboration skills.
 Experience with Azure Databricks and its integration with platform tooling.
 Experience with configuration management tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Chef.
 Experience building and maintaining internal developer platforms.
 Experience working in a regulated industry (e.g., financial services).
 Azure certifications (e.g., Azure DevOps Engineer Expert, Azure Administrator Associate, Azure Solutions Architect Expert).