Cloud DevOps Engineer

Sanderson Government & Defence; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 94,000 - 127,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanderson Government & Defence is seeking a Senior DevOps/Cloud Engineer (AWS) to design, automate and secure scalable cloud infrastructure. The role focuses on IaC with Terraform, CI/CD pipelines, and container orchestration using Docker and Kubernetes within a hybrid London-based setup.

You will collaborate with software, architecture and security teams to enhance deployment processes, drive cloud adoption, and ensure compliant, resilient platforms in a regulated environment.

Qualifications

• Active SC Clearance required.
• Strong experience with AWS in production environments.
• Hands-on Terraform for IaC and cloud automation.
• Experience building CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins).
• Containerised deployments with Docker and Kubernetes (EKS preferred).
• Experience with monitoring/observability tooling (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK).
• Scripting in Python and Bash for automation.
• Knowledge of IAM and cloud security best practices.
• Ability to design and implement CI/CD pipelines end-to-end.
• Experience with agile delivery and DevSecOps practices.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Develop and manage Infrastructure as Code using Terraform.
• Build and improve CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and Jenkins.
• Deploy and support containerised applications using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Implement monitoring, logging and alerting solutions.
• Automate operational tasks using Python and Bash scripting.
• Support platform reliability, performance and availability.
• Ensure cloud environments meet security and compliance requirements.
• Contribute to DevSecOps and Platform Engineering initiatives.
• Provide technical guidance to development and delivery teams.

Skills

Active SC Clearance

AWS

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes (EKS)

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

Linux administration

Bash scripting

Python automation

IAM & cloud security

CI/CD design

Monitoring & observability

Agile delivery

Tools

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

Prometheus

Grafana

ELK/Elastic Stack

Azure DevOps

Job description

DevOps / Cloud Engineer (AWS) | Active SC Clearance Required

Rate: £600 per day (Outside IR35)

Location: Hybrid, London (1 day per week onsite)

Duration: Initial 6-month contract

Start Date: ASAP

Clearance: Active SC Clearance (Mandatory)

The Opportunity

We are supporting a major government programme seeking an experienced DevOps / Cloud Engineer to join a high-performing cloud engineering team. This role will focus on the design, automation and support of secure cloud infrastructure, enabling the delivery of modern digital services at scale.

You will work closely with software engineers, architects and security teams to build resilient platforms, improve deployment processes and drive cloud adoption through infrastructure automation and DevOps best practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain AWS cloud infrastructure


• Develop and manage Infrastructure as Code using Terraform


• Build and improve CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and Jenkins


• Deploy and support containerised applications using Docker and Kubernetes


• Implement monitoring, logging and alerting solutions


• Automate operational tasks using Python and Bash scripting


• Support platform reliability, performance and availability


• Ensure cloud environments meet security and compliance requirements


• Contribute to DevSecOps and Platform Engineering initiatives


• Provide technical guidance to development and delivery teams

Essential Skills

• Active SC Clearance


• Strong commercial experience with AWS


• Terraform


• Docker


• Kubernetes (EKS preferred)


• GitHub Actions


• Jenkins


• Linux administration


• Bash scripting


• Python automation


• IAM and cloud security best practices


• CI/CD pipeline design and implementation


• Monitoring and observability tooling


• Agile delivery experience

Desirable Skills

• Government or wider public sector experience


• GDS-aligned delivery experience


• Helm


• Prometheus


• Grafana


• ELK / Elastic Stack


• Azure or Azure DevOps exposure


• Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) experience

Contract Details

• £600 per day Outside IR35


• Initial 6-month engagement


• Strong likelihood of extension


• One day per week onsite in London


• Four days remote


• Immediate interviews available

Candidate Profile

We are looking for a senior DevOps or Cloud Engineer who can take ownership of cloud infrastructure and deployment tooling from day one. You should be comfortable working independently, engaging with technical stakeholders and driving automation across infrastructure, security and operational processes.

Applicants must hold active SC Clearance and have proven experience operating within highly regulated or security-conscious environments.

Reasonable Adjustments:

Respect and equality are core values to us. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive community we have built, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and perspectives. Our success is driven by our people, united by the spirit of partnership to deliver the best resourcing solutions for our clients.