Lead Linux Infrastructure Engineer - Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - G7

Manchester Digital; Manchester; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Manchester Digital is seeking a Lead Engineer to drive a high‑performing Linux team, delivering integrated, secure infrastructure and services. You will ensure SLAs are met, translate designs into operable systems, and guide BAU and project work across Linux hosted applications.

The role requires strong scripting (Bash/Python), virtualization experience, and a solid DevOps/Agile mindset within a government‑aligned, cloud‑first environment.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a Linux engineering team in a complex IT infrastructure.
• Senior level Linux engineering, incident/problem/change management.
• Ability to translate architectural designs into operational infrastructure.
• Strong Bash and Python scripting skills.
• Experience with virtualization platforms (VMware/Hyper-V).
• Familiar with DevOps, Agile practices and infrastructure monitoring.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Linux team in delivering integrated, high‑standard services.
• Maintain operational SLAs for Linux infrastructure across environments.
• Develop and execute strategic roadmaps for Linux infrastructure and apps.
• Ensure changes follow approved business processes and governance.
• Collaborate with vendors and product owners on roadmaps.
• Mentor junior team members and support BAU and projects.

Skills

Leadership

Incident management

Python

Bash

DevOps practices

Agile methodologies

Troubleshooting

Documentation

Collaboration

Education

Relevant Computer Science/Information Technology qualification

Tools

VMware

Hyper-V

Job description

Location
East Kilbride

About The Job

Job summary
Right now, within government departments and secure facilities around the world, people are making decisions that protect the UK’s interests. They’re sharing sensitive intelligence, coordinating responses to emerging threats, and collaborating on work that is imperative to UK interests.
They can do this because of Rosa.
Our work is the foundation for what comes next.The government has committed to a programme that will upgrade Rosa to a modern cloud‑first platform. But transformation doesn’t happen in a vacuum - it happens because the current service is trusted, reliable, and run by people who understand what government actually needs.
We need your help to deliver Rosa brilliantly today. This is how we earn the right to deliver the next generation capability for working at SECRET. Every improvement we make, every incident we resolve, every user we support builds the credibility and capability that makes transformation possible.

Job Description

The successful candidate will need to combine strong technical skills with a consultative approach and lead a team of engineers ensuring services are integrated, delivered, and operated to a high standard.
The role will involve working with enterprise Linux systems and developing an understanding of government security guidance to deliver secure Linux infrastructure services.
For this role as well as maintaining the operational SLA’s you will be expected to translate and deliver architectural designs into operational infrastructure, manage database systems and Linux hosted applications. This role requires a strong user focus and an eye for detail – understanding the technology that is required to facilitate the network infrastructure and be able to work with minimal supervision or as part of a larger team.

In This Role You Will Be Responsible For

• Responsible for maintaining operational SLA’s for Linux infrastructure incidents across the service, involving both physical and virtual servers, DNS, NTP, RHEL Directory Services, Proxy, database, Satellite and CEPH Infrastructure.
• Responsible for monitoring, alerting and maintenance of the RosaLinux Infrastructure across all environments.
• Leading the Linux team in support of BAU and Project implementation activities. Ensuring the relevant artefacts are in place for the team to be able to support Project and BAU activities.
• Implement strategic and technical roadmaps for the aligned Linux Infrastructure and hosted applications. Ensuring infrastructure is kept up to date.
• Ensure that all new components and installations meet or exceed the RSO internal and regulatory requirements.
• Work within the wider organisations DevOps strategy to provide automated solutions where possible.
• Own responsibility for changes across the environment within your technical discipline and ensure they are implementedaccording to agreed business processes.
• Monitor trends to be able to proactively respond to issues to support the business needs.
• Develop the creation of documentation, processes, and policies to ensure necessary governance and reporting is in place.
• Responsible for all Incident, Problem and Risk Management within your technical discipline.
• Assisting more junior team members with learning and development as required.
• Liaise with vendors and product owners on product support and product roadmaps.
• Collaborate with the other Lead Engineers across the Engineering function and support on initiatives as needed.

Person specification

Essential

We are looking for someone with:

• Experience in a similar Lead Engineer or Tech team lead role in
• Linux Engineering in a complex IT Infrastructure.
• Leading a team, managing incident, problem, change and allocating work.
• Acting as the senior technical Linux resource across the engineering function.
• Experience with virtualized networking principles and platforms (VMware/Hyper‑V)
• Advanced experience with Bash and Python.
• Good understanding across IT On‑Prem and Cloud based
• Manage Linux certificates across the environment.
• Good experience of squid.
• Responsible for driving all system upgrades across Linux
• Experience with open-source Ansible automation tooling.
• Good understanding of troubleshooting Linux issues to 4th line.
• Demonstratable experience of Agile / DevOps working practices.
• Experience of systems monitoring infrastructure.
• Working knowledge of Confluence, Jira and JSM.
• Sound understanding of database technologies, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, SQL.tooling infrastructure.

Desirable

• You will have relevant Computer Science, Information
• Technology, Information Security or Systems Engineering qualification, or equivalent related qualifications or experience.
• Experience working in a Cloud Infrastructure Environment; AWS, Azure, GCP.
• Experience with managing CEPH Storage or Linux storage environments.
• Experience of Confluence, Jira and JSM administration and upgrades.