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DevOps Engineering Lead

Over the past two decades, UKFast has grown from a start up to a multi-million pound business. We are one of the UK’s leading cloud and secure managed hosting providers. We supply dedicated servers, private and public cloud hosting solutions, and a full range of technical, cybersecurity, and DevOps consulting services. 

Dedicated to innovation and providing world-class solutions, we help transform our customers’ businesses. We bring together cutting-edge technology with multi-award-winning customer service and support. We have the highest NPS in our industry and we work hard every day to earn our customers’ loyalty. We support a full cross section of UK enterprise, from local businesses and charities, to global manufacturers and retailers, local and central Government, the NHS and the Ministry of Defence. 

What makes UKFast different? It’s all about our people and our culture. We are dedicated to our customers, to the ongoing training, development, and support of our team, and to making it fun every day. Our in-house training facility is widely accredited, and we are the only managed service provider in the UK to also be an accredited AWS training centre.

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The opportunity...

2020 was a hugely transformational year for our business with a large investment from the leading mid-market private equity firm Inflexion. Our hard work, dedication, and grit during such a turbulent year have propelled us into 2021 with a highly confident outlook for a successful year ahead.

As a result, we currently have a truly exciting opportunity for a DevOps Engineering Lead to join and lead our growing team of engineers. You will play a pivotal role in maximising our scalability, optimising delivery speed to customers, and helping us on our journey to becoming the best market provider in Hybrid solutions.

Reporting into our Technical Director, you will lead, nurture, and motivate a highly skilled team of Cloud and DevOps specialists. We have our own Data Centre and hosted Public Cloud built on VMware, with a division of engineers in each of the key Public Clouds. For our AWS division, you will ensure our capabilities are customer-centric, inventive, and will drive our business towards success.

We are looking for a candidate that thrives in a lean, collaborative and fast-paced environment. An AWS leader and tech evangelist who is dedicated to delivering unrivalled solutions and services to our customers, whilst continuously improving the processes and standards for technical teams. Consistent enhancement and innovation through team collaboration should be second nature to you, as should your persistent search to advance in the way we do things.

You would be joining our business at a truly transformative junction. As such, success in this role will be a genuinely career-defining experience for the right candidate. 

 

What will I be doing?  

  • Leading a team of 8 DevOps Engineers and nurturing them in training and development
  • Continuous improvement of our processes and standards for the technical teams
  • Driving the AWS relationship with our Partnership Manager – you should ensure we have access to new products and services as well as shape pathways for further partnership levels
  • Working in close collaboration with the other Technical Leads to drive coding standards, feature parity across solutions, and ensuring our capabilities are driving us forward as a business
  • Conducting thorough product testing for new technologies
  • Identifying training requirements both within the team and the business as a whole and spearhead training delivery
  • Continuous support to our team would naturally involve assisting with tickets and calls where workflow or staffing needs require

 

What will I need to bring?

Soft skills:

  • Previous experience of thriving in a fast-paced team
  • An easily approachable and available person
  • You have a solid understanding of business logic and objectives and can then prioritise accordingly and convey this message to your team
  • You proactively seek out improvements for our technical offerings to achieve greater efficiencies
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work efficiently across internal and external organisations
  • An innate hunger to learn and absorb new technologies in the industry? 
  • Last but not least, great tech leads are great mentors!

 

Hard skills:

  • A proven track record of both delivering and supporting production systems at scale with AWS
  • Expertise in CI/CD automation – experience in AWS CodeBuild, CodeDeploy and Code Pipeline is desirable
  • Significant experience in AWS Cloud Architecture and Design
  • Excellent understanding of application, server, network security, and compliance requirements
  • Experience in dealing with customers from a Solution Architect level or in a Support environment
  • Great knowledge of Cloud VM and Server technologies, including service management across a hybrid-cloud environment
  • Linux or Windows system administration, scripting and automation skills
  • Excellent troubleshooting skills
  • Experience in writing Infrastructure as Code – CloudFormation or Terraform
  • Common DevOps tooling skills e.g. Ansible or Git
  • Professional Experience with at least one popular programming language e.g. Python, NodeJS, or Java
  • Experience with a wide range of AWS Services such as RDS, EC2, Elasticache, CloudFront, Autoscaling or Lambda  
  • Experience with implementing and supporting containers in AWS on EKS and ECS
  • Demonstrable experience in leading and coaching teams to achieve success
  • AWS certifications in the Specialty level e.g. AWS Solutions Architect or DevOps Engineer (Database or Security would be preferred, but not essential – we are open to considering any)

 

Who are our partners? 

  • UKFast are on the Board of Advisory for Intel, Citrix, and VMWare - We are asked to contribute to how the products develop
  • VMWare Premier Cloud Provider partner - Launch partner for VMWare’s Project Pacific  
  • Global Beta Testers for HPE and their 3Par arrays – Launch partner for their latest arrays? 
  • AWS Premier Partner expected 2021 
  • AWS Training Partner 
  • Azure Expert MSP expected 2021 
  • Microsoft Gold Partner 
  • Red Hat Advanced business Partner  
  • LPI Approved Training Partner 
  • Cisco Master Service Provider 

 

Why UKFast?

  • Birthdays off as an extra paid holiday
  • Private health insurance after one years’ service
  • Full paid maternity leave for first 16 weeks and full paid paternity leave for 2 weeks after two years' service.
  • Flexible working
  • Award-winning training and education centre with four full-time teachers to help you obtain accreditations, develop and learn.
  • Pearson Vue test centre on-site
  • On-site gym
  • Games zone with arcade games and retro consoles.
  • Free onsite parking
  • Table tennis and pool tables
  • Team building experiences
  • Regular quiz nights and LAN parties
  • Family days out and cinema nights
  • Volunteer days to help support our community and charity partners
  • An active and engaged LGBTQ community with group events and educational sessions arranged regularly

 

Do you have a CV?