Lead DevOps / SRE Engineer

Zen Internet; Rochdale; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in technology services is seeking a DevOps/SRE Team Manager. The successful candidate will build and lead a team, engage in incident management, and utilize automation tools to optimize the development processes. This role offers an opportunity to influence team performance and leverage SRE principles to enhance operational efficiency, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Experience in an ISP, Telco, or Managed Services environment.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a deep understanding of DevOps and SRE concepts.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a friendly approach.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of DevOps/SRE Engineers to support and improve the development estate.
• Lead improvements using SRE techniques and practices.
• Create proactive monitoring solutions.

Skills

Automation

Problem-solving

Team leadership

Interpersonal skills

Education

Several years of DevOps experience

Management experience (preferred)

Tools

Puppet

Azure DevOps

Git

CI/CD tools

Elasticsearch

Kibana

AWS

Azure

SQL Server

Windows Server

Job description

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We’re building an inclusive work environment

Here at Zen, your gender, race, ethnicity, neurodiversity, disability, sexuality, subculture, size, introversion, extraversion, family background, and everything else that shapes you matter to us. Because they matter to you and are part of who you are.

We’re interested in you as an individual. Here you’ll find opportunities to develop, be recognized, and hopefully enjoy yourself along the way. So don’t hold back—there is a warm welcome for everyone at Zen, and we look forward to meeting you.

We are always happy for you to inquire about part-time, flexible working, or reasonable adjustments, and we will support wherever possible. Please feel free to discuss your preferences as part of the recruitment process.

FAO Recruitment agencies & organizations: Please note that we do not need agency support to fill this role. We have a small but great pool of agencies on our PSL and will contact one of those if needed.

About the role

You will manage a small team of experienced DevOps/SRE Engineers, supporting, maintaining, and improving the development estate so the development teams can focus and innovate to drive Zen’s business and priorities.

Reporting to the engineering manager, you should have an excellent track record in a DevOps or SRE role and a genuine interest in developing your Line Management experience. Zen is committed to investing in and developing you. We believe that leaders have a significant impact on our people and are vital to our success.

As a service provider, we operate many technologies, so you’ll have the opportunity to keep learning and challenging the status quo. You’ll work with experienced Lead DevOps engineers and developers using frameworks, standards, and operational processes to make the unfamiliar comfortable and familiar. Over time, we’ll leverage SRE principles to further optimize capabilities—this is a great opportunity to shape this journey.

You’ll own the relationship with the operations center, ensuring incidents are managed smoothly and operational knowledge is accessible. You will be a point of escalation for the DevOps team, demonstrating problem-solving skills, quick learning, and adaptability.

Objectives

• Build an effective DevOps/SRE team supporting Zen’s development function
• Lead measurable improvements using SRE techniques and practices
• Establish quality practices and frameworks to enable developers to focus
• Provide coaching and mentoring to Software and DevOps Engineers
• Be a technical escalation point and eventually join a 24/7 escalation rota
• Document processes and decisions for colleagues
• Drive tasks forward with energy and enthusiasm
• Create proactive monitoring solutions using standard tooling
• Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for incidents
• Develop and maintain self-managing infrastructure services and dashboards
• Define success metrics and report progress
• Implement Infrastructure as Code for continuous improvement
• Identify cost-saving opportunities

Key Responsibilities

• Management experience is preferred but not essential for a strong SRE Engineer aspiring to team leadership
• Several years of DevOps experience, ideally in an ISP, Telco, or Managed Services environment, or in a complex heterogeneous environment
• Experience with automation tools (Puppet, Azure DevOps, Git)
• Experience working in complex networking and firewall environments
• Proven ability to handle technical debt effectively
• Strong problem-solving skills with deep understanding of DevOps and SRE concepts
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a friendly approach
• Experience with CI/CD tools (Azure DevOps), Elasticsearch, Kibana, AWS, and Azure cloud services
• Knowledge of database systems, Windows Server, SQL Server, IIS

Interpersonal Skills

We value interpersonal skills and responsible teamwork. You should be able to:

• Influence and lead
• Support teammates
• Support and give feedback to improve team performance
• Embrace and demonstrate Zen values and happiness objectives
• Be kind, understanding, and a good listener