Lead Site Reliability Engineer

Starr Underwriting; Stratford-upon-Avon; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK insurer seeks a Lead Site Reliability Engineer to shape its monitoring and observability strategy. This hands-on role will involve designing and optimizing solutions to ensure reliable, scalable services. With a hybrid working model, the role emphasizes collaboration across engineering teams, using modern tools such as Dynatrace and Grafana. The ideal candidate should possess extensive experience in observability and cloud-native environments.

Benefits

Up to £80,000 + 25% annual bonus

Contributory pension scheme

28 days annual leave + bank holidays

Family Friendly policies

Private medical insurance

Gym contribution

Health and wellbeing plans

Employee Volunteering opportunities

Refer a Friend bonus scheme

Life Assurance of 4x salary

Qualifications

• Experienced observability specialist or site reliability engineer.
• Strong hands-on experience with Dynatrace.
• Knowledge of Azure and modern cloud-native observability approaches.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and maintenance of observability tools.
• Design robust, future-proof monitoring solutions.
• Collaborate with teams to influence monitoring best practices.

Skills

Dynatrace

Cloud-native observability approaches

Technical leadership

Tools

Grafana

InfluxDB

Azure

Job description

• Senior technical expert in Monitoring & Observability

• Hands-on role responsible for design, implementation, and optimization of monitoring solutions

• Hybrid role with 80% homeworking and 20% in Stratford-upon-Avon

About the role:

We’re seeking a Lead Site Reliability Engineer to shape our monitoring and observability strategy, ensuring reliable, scalable solutions for our critical services.

Within the Monitoring Team in Infrastructure Products, you’ll lead the development and maintenance of observability tools such as Dynatrace, Grafana, and InfluxDB, covering application performance and infrastructure monitoring.

You will work on programs like Data Centre Exit and the Bridge Programme, ensuring effective service monitoring from inception. Collaborating with architecture and engineering teams, you’ll design robust, future-proof solutions aligned with enterprise standards. You’ll also contribute to tooling strategies, explore new capabilities, and support automation and event-driven responses across the platform.

This role is internally known as Senior Technical Operations Engineer.

About you:

You are an experienced observability specialist or site reliability engineer with the technical expertise and critical thinking to lead by example. You understand how monitoring underpins system availability and performance, and you can design, implement, and scale effective solutions. You will also have:

• Strong hands-on experience with Dynatrace (essential)
• Knowledge of Grafana, InfluxDB, ScienceLogic, and event management tools
• Experience with Azure and modern cloud-native observability approaches (essential)
• Confidence working closely with architects on design and implementation — highly desirable
• Ability to influence architecture, engineering, and stakeholders to embed monitoring best practices

At NFU Mutual, we support an inclusive workplace and value diversity. We celebrate creativity and innovation from varied perspectives and are committed to doing the right thing for our customers and employees.

We recognize that some candidates may face barriers during recruitment. We encourage discussions about any adjustments or accommodations needed to support your application process.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Race at Work and Women in Finance Charter signatory, welcoming applications from all backgrounds regardless of age, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, gender, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background.

Benefits and Rewards:

• Up to £80,000 + 25% annual bonus + PMI + benefits
• Annual bonus (up to 25%)
• Contributory pension scheme, up to 20%, including your 8% contribution
• 28 days annual leave + bank holidays + holiday trading scheme
• Family Friendly policies
• Private medical insurance + options for family coverage
• Access to savings at High Street brands, travel, and supermarkets
• £20 monthly gym contribution (T&Cs apply)
• Health and wellbeing plans including cashback for dental, optical, physiotherapy, and more
• Employee Volunteering opportunities
• Unlimited Refer a Friend bonus scheme (£500)
• Life Assurance of 4x salary
• 15% employee discount on NFU Mutual insurance policies

Working at NFU Mutual:

We are a leading UK general insurer and financial services provider with over 110 years of customer focus. Our culture is supportive, empowering, and growth-oriented. We are proud of our awards, including Gallup Exceptional Workplace and Top Employer recognitions, reflecting our commitment to being a great place to work. We strive for a sustainable, inclusive environment where our people can thrive and contribute meaningfully.