Lead Linux Engineer

Sopra Steria; Portsmouth; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Health cash plan

Life assurance

Pension

Car allowance

Flex benefit

Job summary

Sopra Steria is seeking a Linux Infrastructure & Platform Architect to lead the design, automation and evolution of enterprise-scale Linux environments, HPC platforms and containerised workflows.

The role combines architecture, engineering and automation to deliver resilient, secure solutions across a diverse tech stack. Hybrid on-site work and DV clearance eligibility are required.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience administering enterprise Linux environments (RHEL/Ubuntu).
• Strong HPC infra knowledge and Slurm workload management.
• Proven Linux infra & platform architecture delivery experience.
• Solid Linux security, virtualization, storage, networking and performance tuning.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, administration, optimisation and support of large-scale Linux environments.
• Architect HPC platforms including compute, storage, networking and scheduling.
• Design, deploy and manage container/orchestration platforms for modern apps.
• Drive technical design, technology selection and infra transformation projects.
• Design and support hybrid on-prem and cloud infra (VMware/Nutanix+cloud).
• Develop and enhance Infrastructure-as-Code and automation with Ansible.

Skills

Linux Administration

RHEL

Rocky Linux

Ubuntu

HPC infrastructure

Ansible automation

Kubernetes

VMware/Nutanix

Education

Bachelor's or equivalent in CS/IT

Tools

Docker

Podman

OpenShift

VMware

Nutanix

Slurm

Job description

Linux Infrastructure & Platform Architect.

Design. Automate. Modernise.

Are you an experienced Linux Infrastructure expert ready to take ownership of complex, enterprise-scale platforms? We're looking for a Linux Infrastructure & Platform Architect to drive the design, automation, and evolution of critical infrastructure environments supporting high-performance computing, cloud services, and modern containerised platforms.

In this hands-on technical leadership role, you'll combine architecture, engineering, and automation expertise to deliver resilient, scalable, and secure solutions across a diverse technology landscape.

Hybrid: 3 days on site in Salisbury OR Portsmouth.

You do need to be eligible for DV Clearance.

What you'll be doing:

• Leading the design, administration, optimisation, and support of large-scale Linux environments, ensuring high availability, performance, security, and resilience.
• Architecting and supporting High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms, including compute, storage, networking, workload scheduling, and user environments.
• Designing, deploying, and managing container and orchestration platforms to support modern application delivery.
• Acting as a Linux Infrastructure Solutions Architect, driving technical design, technology selection, and infrastructure transformation projects.
• Designing and supporting hybrid infrastructure environments across on-premises platforms, including VMware and Nutanix, alongside public cloud services.
• Developing and enhancing Infrastructure-as-Code and automation frameworks, with a strong focus on Ansible orchestration.
• Modernising operational processes and legacy tooling, championing automation-first approaches and migration from Puppet.
• Working closely with DevOps, Security, Operations, PMO, Application, and CTO teams to deliver robust and future-ready solutions.
• Providing expert troubleshooting, technical leadership, and mentoring across Linux, cloud, storage, networking, virtualisation, and platform technologies.

What you'll bring:

• ? Extensive experience administering enterprise Linux environments (RHEL, Rocky Linux, Ubuntu, or equivalent).
• Strong knowledge of HPC infrastructure, workload management ideally using Slurm, and performance optimisation.
• Proven experience designing and delivering Linux infrastructure and platform architectures.
• Strong understanding of Linux security, virtualisation, storage, networking, cloud services, and systems performance tuning.
• Excellent stakeholder management, documentation, project delivery, and problem-solving skills.
• Eligible for DV Clearance.

It would be great if you had:

• Advanced automation skills using Ansible, including playbook development, role design, and CI/CD integration.
• Experience with container technologies such as Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, or OpenShift.
• Experience supporting virtualised infrastructure using VMware and/or Nutanix.
• Experience working with public cloud platforms; AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) experience is highly desirable.

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Hybrid. 3 days per week in Portsmouth OR Salibury.

Security Clearance Level: Eligible for SC and DV Clearance.

Internal Recruiter: Jane

Salary: TBD.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave with the choice to buy additional holiday days
• health cash plan
• life assurance
• pension
• £5400 car allowance
• 3 % flex benefit

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.