Cloud Operations Engineer (AWS or Azure)

Finova; Cheltenham; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Private medical insurance

Life assurance & income protection

Family friendly policies

Work from anywhere

Flexible holiday package

Company pension scheme

Employee assistance programme

Electric car scheme

Health cash plan

Gym discounts

Perks that matter

Job summary

Finova in Cheltenham is seeking a hands-on Cloud Operations Engineer to ensure the availability, security, and performance of our AWS-hosted infrastructure. The role is strongly BAU with a bias toward automation, monitoring, and resilience improvements across production and non-production environments.

You will collaborate with development and security teams to manage deployments, on-call incidents, and compliance activities, while balancing speed and stability in a dynamic financial tech

Qualifications

• AWS production environments management.
• Windows Server administration and networking basics.
• SQL Server operational support (triage & monitoring).
• CI/CD pipelines and automation troubleshooting.
• Monitoring with Datadog, CloudWatch or X-Ray.
• Change management and governance in regulated env.

Responsibilities

• Operate AWS production and non-production environments focusing on compute, VPC, and storage.
• Handle incident triage and on-call rotations for P1/P2 incidents and deployments.
• Execute infrastructure changes with strict security controls and support automated deployments.
• Provide SQL Server health checks and backups; collaborate with DBAs for optimisations.
• Own and optimize monitoring tools (Datadog, CloudWatch, X-Ray) for reliability.
• Assist with security/compliance audits and incident post-mortems.
• Support resilience activities and disaster recovery runbooks.

Skills

AWS expertise

Infrastructure basics

SQL Server familiarity

CI/CD automation

Observability tools

Change management

Tools

Datadog

CloudWatch

X-Ray

Windows Server

Job description

Cloud Operations Engineer (AWS or Azure) - Cheltenham (3 days Office Based)

About Finova

Finova is the UK's leading lending and savings technology provider, supporting one in every five mortgages nationwide. Our agile, cloud-native solutions enable over 60 banks, building societies, specialist lenders, equity release providers and a network of 2,400+ brokers to stay ahead in a competitive market.

Built on open architecture and backed by deep industry expertise, our platform is designed to scale. Each year, we process over £50 billion in loans, manage nearly £50 billion in savings, and support the digital servicing of more than 650,000 UK borrower accounts.

Be part of a team that’s driving innovation, enabling growth and shaping the future of UK lending.

For Lenders

Finova offers a flexible, modular technology suite designed to help lenders move faster, scale efficiently and deliver standout digital experiences.

Financial Institutions use Finova to launch products faster, process applications up to 50% more efficiently and reduce operational costs — all while staying fully compliant in a fast-moving market.

About the Role:

We are looking for an experienced, hands‑on Cloud Operations Engineer to join the team responsible for the availability, security, resilience, and performance of our AWS‑hosted infrastructure.

This is a strictly hands‑on, operational role focused on keeping our production environments stable, secure, and performant. You will operate as a core technical practitioner, balancing day‑to‑day BAU operations and infrastructure changes with continuous improvements to our resilience, automation, monitoring, and security posture. If you thrive in a busy environment, enjoy collaborating with development and security teams, and have a strong bias toward operational discipline, we want to hear from you.

About you:

• AWS Expertise: Proven hands‑on experience managing AWS‑hosted production environments, particularly compute (EC2, ECS), Application Load Balancers (ALB), and networking (VPCs, Security Groups, routing).

• Core Infrastructure Skills: Strong technical competency in Windows Server administration and foundational networking/load‑balancing principles.

• SQL Server Experience: Operational support knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server (Note: This is not a DBA role, but requires comfort with basic triage and monitoring).

• Automation & CI/CD: Hands‑on experience executing, supporting, and troubleshooting CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation issues.

• Observability Tooling: Proficiency with monitoring systems like Datadog, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS X‑Ray, or similar tools.

• Process‑Driven Mindset: A highly disciplined approach to change management, access control, and operational governance, ideally within a regulated environment.

What will you be doing?

• Infrastructure Management: Operate and support our AWS production and non‑production environments, focusing heavily on compute services (EC2, ECS), VPC Networking, and storage.

• Incident Response & Triage: Act as the 1st and 2nd line of defense for platform/application issues. Participate in an out‑of‑hours on‑call rotation for P1/P2 incidents and scheduled deployments.

• Change & Release Support: Execute approved infrastructure changes following strict security controls. Support delivery teams with automated deployments and troubleshoot failed or degraded CI/CD releases.

• Database Support: Provide operational support for Microsoft SQL Server (health checks, job monitoring, basic triage, backup verification) and collaborate with DBA teams for deeper optimizations.

• Monitoring & Observability: Own and optimize monitoring tools (Datadog, CloudWatch, AWS X‑Ray) to catch genuine service‑impacting issues while reducing alert fatigue.

• Security & Compliance: Assess and remediate vulnerabilities, assist with compliance audits (ISO, regulatory assurance), and contribute to incident post‑mortems.

• Disaster Recovery: Support resilience activities, including failover testing, game days, and the validation of recovery runbooks.

What We Offer:

• Hybrid workingWe operate on a hybrid model that is primarily office‑based, requiring three days in the office each week, with the flexibility to work remotely for the remainder.

• Private medical insurance
  Comprehensive health cover, with the option to add your family to your plan, because your well‑being matters to us.

• Life assurance & income protection
  We provide life assurance and income protection to give you peace of mind for the future

• Family friendly policies
  Our enhanced family‑friendly policy goes beyond maternity and paternity leave, offering paid time off for when plans change or alternative paths to parenthood are needed.

• Work from anywhere
  Some thrive in the office, others at home — and many do best with choice. With approval, Finova employees can work abroad for up to 4 weeks each year.

• Flexible holiday package
  Enjoy 25 days paid holiday allowance, plus all public holidays. And, you can rebook any public holidays for a day that aligns with your personal beliefs or celebration calendar. We also offer holiday trading allowing you to purchase or sell your holiday allowance.

• Company pension scheme
  With salary exchange, you save on tax and can build a secure future.

• Employee assistance programme
  We understand that mental health is just as important as physical health. Access to a 24/7 confidential counselling helpline ensures you have support when you need it.

• Electric car scheme
  Get a brand‑new electric vehicle with salary sacrifice as a benefit, paid for through your gross monthly pay, saving on Income Tax and National Insurance.

• Health cash plan
  Our Health Cash Plan empowers you to prioritise your wellbeing by providing effortless reimbursement for everyday healthcare costs, from dental and optical visits to physiotherapy.

• Gym discounts
  Achieve your fitness goals for less with GymFlex, which offers significant savings on annual memberships at over 3,000 gyms and leisure centres nationwide.

• Perks that matter
  We fuel your day with a fully stocked pantry of fresh fruit and snacks and keep the team spirit high with weekly socials and events.

Equal Opportunity Statement

We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. If you’re passionate about this role but don’t meet all the criteria, please reach out, we’d love to discuss how your skills and experiences align with our needs.