Lead Infrastructure Engineer - Linux

Sopra Steria Ltd; Hemel Hempstead; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 74,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company is seeking a Lead Infrastructure Engineer (Linux) to design and deploy Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. This role involves collaboration with various teams to ensure secure and compliant infrastructure in a greenfield environment. The ideal candidate will have strong RHEL expertise and active security clearance.

Benefits

£5,400 car allowance

25 days annual leave

Private medical

Life assurance

Pension

Generous flexible benefits fund

Qualifications

• Active SC Clearance and eligible for DV Clearance.
• Proven expertise in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) administration and design.
• Experience working in highly governed environments with tight SLAs.

Responsibilities

• Designing, deploying, and maintaining RHEL systems across multiple environments.
• Leading automation and hardening efforts to ensure secure, resilient infrastructure.
• Collaborating with internal teams and third-party suppliers to resolve complex issues.

Skills

Security Controls

Networking Fundamentals

Patch Management

Tools

Bash

Python

OpenSCAP

Nessus

Job description

Are you passionate about Linux and ready to take the lead on a high-impact enterprise system?

We’re looking for a Lead Infrastructure Engineer (Linux) to join our team and play a critical role in designing and deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems within a major greenfield environment. You’ll be the go-to expert for all things RHEL—helping us build a secure, automated, and high-performing estate from the ground up.

This role sits within a collaborative, forward-thinking team that values innovation, resilience, and proactive problem-solving. You’ll work closely with project managers, technical leads, and third-party suppliers, all while shaping solutions that are secure by design and aligned to strict compliance requirements.

What you'll be doing:

• Designing, deploying, and maintaining RHEL systems across multiple environments.
• Leading automation and hardening efforts to ensure secure, resilient infrastructure.
• Collaborating with internal teams and third-party suppliers to resolve complex issues.
• Supporting integration of RHEL systems with a range of other services and applications.
• Producing and maintaining documentation and procedures for both operational teams and end-users.
• Providing input into disaster recovery, monitoring, and security planning processes.

What you’ll bring:

• Active SC Clearance and eligible for DV Clearance.
• Proven expertise in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) administration and design.
• Strong understanding of security controls, including host firewalls, SELinux, and intrusion detection.
• Knowledge of networking fundamentals, especially from a security perspective.
• Experience working in highly governed environments with tight SLAs.
• Skilled in patch management and system update procedures.

It would be great if you had:

• Experience with secure environments and familiarity with JSP 440 and SCIDA requirements.
• Proficiency in scripting (e.g., Bash, Python) for secure automation.
• Familiarity with vulnerability management tools such as OpenSCAP and Nessus.
• Exposure to Red Hat deployment tools and secure system state management.

If you are interested in this role but not sure if your skills and experience are exactly what we’re looking for, please do apply, we’d love to hear from you!

Employment Type:Full-time, Permanent.

Location:Hemel Hempstead

Security Clearance Level:Must hold active SC clearance as a minimum be DV eligible.

Internal Recruiter:Annecia

Salary:up to £74,000

Benefits:£5,400 car allowance, 25 days annual leave with the option to buy additional days, private medical, life assurance, pension, and generous flexible benefits fund

Although this role is advertised as full-time, we believe that flexibility at work can promote work/life balance, increase your motivation, reduce stress and improves performance and productivity. We support different ways of working and can offer a range of flexible working arrangements. So, if you’re interested and need to work flexibly, we encourage you to apply and talk to us about what might be possible.

Loved reading about this job and want to know more about us?

Sopra Steria’s Aerospace, Defence and Security business designs, develops and deploys digital solutions to Central Government clients. The work we do makes a real difference to the client’s goal of National Security, and we operate in a unique and privileged environment. We are given time for professional development activities, and we coach and mentor our colleagues, sharing knowledge and learning from each other. We foster a culture in which employees feel valued and supported and have pride in their work for the customer, delivering outstanding rates of customer satisfaction in the UK’s most complex safety- and security-critical markets.

We embrace difference as a source of creativity, innovation and competitive advantage and are striving to become a more diverse organisation. We welcome applications from people with a diverse variety of backgrounds and identities. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. We havepartnered with Vercida, the UK's largest diversity and inclusion focused careers site, where all our vacancies are available in an accessible format.
If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, to enable you to perform to the best of your ability, please let us knowwhen completingyour application. We participate in the Disability Confident scheme and are committed to offering an interview to any candidate with a disability, who meets the minimum criteria for the role. If you believe this could apply to you, please let us know when completing your application.