Principal DevOps Engineer

Job Description:

Your impact Are you ready to lead engineers and take on complex automation and Dev Ops challenges that underpin the UK’s most critical missions? At Leonardo, our Principal Dev Ops Engineers combine people leadership with technical authority, leading the design, integration, and delivery of secure, automated solutions across hybrid and cloud environments. Your work at Leonardo UK will see you take the lead in solving customer problems in an agile, innovative and team-centric manner.

The role may involve a blended hybrid working model, with a mixture of working from home and working on site at one of our Leonardo offices to ensure close collaboration with the wider team and with our customers. Leonardo UK is seeking a Principal Dev Ops Engineer to join the Cyber & Security Solutions Division team.

• Act as the technical authority for automation and Dev Ops solutions across projects and programmes.
• Lead the design and implementation of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and container orchestration.
• Provide domain expertise in secure Dev Ops/Dev Sec Ops , embedding cyber security into pipelines and environments.
• Capture and analyse requirements, shaping high- and low-level technical designs.
• Lead the planning, resourcing and technical delivery of assigned work packages, including estimation, reporting and management of risks.
• Provide line management, mentoring and coaching for Dev Ops Engineers and Technicians, supporting their performance, development and wellbeing.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, capability development and knowledge sharing across the Dev Ops community.
• Support technology assessments, feasibility studies, and roadmap development.
• Engage with stakeholders and customers, presenting and defending technical solutions and reporting on delivery progress, risks and mitigations.

• Extensive technical expertise in automation, orchestration, and secure Dev Ops practices.
• Ability to balance hands‑on engineering and technical authority with people leadership, delivery management and mentorship.
• Demonstrable experience of leading and developing engineers and coordinating technical delivery.
• A problem‑solving mindset with the confidence to recommend and justify technical approaches.

• Experience in the design, build and maintenance of CI/CD pipelines (Github Actions, Git Lab CI, Jenkins, Azure Dev Ops) and version control (Git)
• Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible, Helm)
• Containerisation and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Open Shift/Tanzu)
• Scripting and automation (Python, Bash, Power Shell)
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) and hybrid deployments
• Knowledge of Dev Sec Ops  and cyber security practices in software delivery
• Experience leading engineers and planning technical work to cost, quality and schedule

• Expertise in secrets management and PKI (e.g. Hashi Corp Vault)
• Experience with monitoring/logging tools (ELK stack, Prometheus, Splunk)
• Familiarity with service mesh and modern networking (Istio, Envoy)
• Exposure to data engineering and integration (Apache ecosystem, SQL, Python)
• Recognised technical certifications (AWS/Azure Architect, Kubernetes CKA/CKAD, Terraform)
• Experience in influencing technical standards, best practices, or contributing to professional forums

Security Clearance This role is subject to pre‑employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance…