Operation Support Engineer

Electus Recruitment; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading recruitment firm is seeking a Principal Operations Support Engineer to maintain critical operational integrity in a global defence environment. The role involves overseeing system performance, leading support activities, and ensuring compliance in a secure setting. Candidates should have a STEM degree and 5 years of relevant experience. The position offers a hybrid working model with a salary range of £52,900 to £79,300, making it an excellent opportunity for technically skilled individuals.

Qualifications

• 5 years of relevant technical or engineering experience in a demanding operational environment.
• Proven experience in the use of LINUX, Perl, Python and similar development tools.

Responsibilities

• Act as Responsible System Engineer, reviewing and reporting on multiple systems performance.
• Develop, maintain, and utilise tools and scripts for performance monitoring.
• Lead anomaly support and resolution activities for critical systems.

Skills

LINUX

Perl

Python

Agile processes

Education

Bachelor of Science Degree in a STEM discipline

Tools

Grafana

Jira

Confluence

Git

Job description

Principal Operations Support Engineer

Due to the nature of work at our client’s site, these vacancies are only open to British Citizens who hold DV clearance or can obtain it.

Location: Harrogate, Yorkshire (Hybrid Working)

Salary: £52,900 - £79,300

A senior opportunity exists to join a world leading defence and cyber technology organisation as a Principal Operations Support Engineer. This role is fundamental to maintaining the operational integrity, reliability, and security of critical mission systems. We are recruiting on behalf of a highly respected global enterprise operating at the cutting edge of secure system delivery.

The Role : Operational Excellence and System Leadership

The Principal Operations Support Engineer acts as a senior technical authority and operational leader, focused on maximising system uptime and efficiency. This position requires a blend of hands‑on technical skills, strong leadership, and an absolute commitment to process and compliance within a secure environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Serving as a Responsible System Engineer, reviewing and reporting on multiple systems performance and trending data.
• Developing, maintaining, and utilising necessary trending and monitoring tools and scripts using languages such as Perl, Python, and Grafana.
• Overseeing and leading the review, update, and validation of Standard Operating Procedures and training material for multiple system generations.
• Leading 24/7 on‑call anomaly support and resolution activities for critical systems.
• Successfully completing and maintaining a Systems Controller certification with a minimum requirement of real‑time operations shifts per quarter.
• Reviewing and supporting factory design working groups and future systems development to assess and mitigate impacts on system operability.
• Utilising Agile processes and tools including Jira, Confluence, and Git to coordinate departmental tasking across a multi‑site enterprise.
• Interfacing directly with government customers and factory specialists in technical exchanges and question answering forums.

Essential Candidate Requirements

• A Bachelor of Science Degree in a STEM discipline (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) plus 5 years of relevant technical or engineering experience. Equivalent experience with a Master of Science (3 years) or a PhD (0 years) will also be considered.
• Proven experience in the use of LINUX, Perl, Python and similar development tools.
• Ability to work in a demanding, real‑time operational environment including supporting an on‑call rota.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Prior operational or systems engineering experience, ideally within the defence or intelligence sector.
• Experience working with trending and monitoring toolsets such as Grafana.
• Experience leading and mentoring junior engineers.
• Experience working effectively in a geographically diverse team and matrix organisation.

This is a permanent role.

Electus Recruitment Solutions provides specialist engineering and technical recruitment solutions to a number of high technology industries. We thank you for your interest in this vacancy. If you do not hear from us within seven working days, please presume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. You are free to resubmit your CV or details in the future, and we shall assess your suitability then.