Platform Engineering

FairPlay Sports Media Ltd.; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Subsidized Sky package

Free gym membership

Private health care

Pension scheme

£1,000 training fund

Unlimited holiday

Job summary

FairPlay Sports Media Ltd. is seeking a hands‑on Platform Engineer (DevOps / Infrastructure) to own components in our Google Cloud Platform estate, including CI/CD, IaC, and observability.

You will contribute to Kubernetes workloads on GKE and support product squads with scalable environments and tooling. The role requires 3–5 years in Platform/DevOps, strong GCP and container experience, and a pragmatic, security‑minded approach.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years in Platform Engineering, DevOps, or Cloud Engineering delivering production infrastructure with limited oversight.
• Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform (Compute, IAM, VPC, GKE, Cloud Storage) and containerisation with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Proficient with Terraform modules, state management, and safe changes.
• Proficient at building and debugging pipelines (GitLab CI or similar), including artifact handling and deployment strategies.
• Strong observability skills with metrics, logs, and traces; able to build dashboards and actionable alerting; understands SLIs/SLOs.
• Linux systems proficiency (processes, filesystems, systemd) and networking basics (DNS, TLS, load balancers, VPC).
• Automation skills in Python, Go, or Bash; able to read others.
• Comfortable in on‑call rotations and incident handling with calm, methodical approach.
• Security fundamentals: least privilege, secrets management, safe configuration.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver components within our Google Cloud Platform estate across CI/CD, infrastructure‑as‑code, observability, and Kubernetes‑based workloads.
• Participate in on‑call rotation and reduce toil with automation; support product squads with environments and tooling.
• Contribute to runbooks, post‑incident reviews, and production readiness for peak events.
• Implement secure‑by‑default practices in cloud infrastructure and policy‑as‑code across pipelines.
• Collaborate with product development squads and Platform Team to share modules, patterns, and clear documentation.

Skills

DevOps

Cloud Engineering

GCP

Kubernetes

Terraform

CI/CD

Python

Go

Bash

Linux

Observability

SRE

Tools

GitLab CI

Terraform

GKE

Prometheus

Grafana

OpenTelemetry

Job description

FairPlay Sports Media is an AI-driven, technology-led media network and BetTech infrastructure provider. Built on the 25-year legacy of oddschecker (founded in 1999), the group operates globally at the intersection of high-intent sports audiences, premium publishers and betting operators. By combining deep market expertise with technical proficiency, FairPlay Sports Media bridges the gap between sports content and sustainable monetisation. Its global infrastructure runs on a proprietary data platform built to process over one billion odds on peak days and cover more than 30,000 sporting events annually.

The company nurtures a portfolio of highly engaged, trusted brands, including oddschecker, WhoScored, SuperScommesse and Confido Network.

FairPlay Sports Media is a Bruin Capital company headquartered in London, UK, and has operations in North America and throughout Europe, supported by a global workforce of over 200 employees.

iGaming is one of the fastest-growing and most technologically innovative sectors, and we're on top of our game, powered by market-leading technology and driven by brilliant people.

We champion diversity and operate an open and inclusive culture while remaining focused, fast-paced, and always making sure to have fun along the way.

So why not join FairPlay Sports Media and be part of something bigger...

Working Arrangements & On-Call Requirements

• Remote Working & Office Attendance: This is a flexible, remote-first role, with occasional visits to our London office next to Waterloo Station, typically one day per month and potentially a second day for meetings or training.
• On-Call Rotation: Participation in an on-call rota, covering one week every six weeks.

Role Summary:

FairPlay Sports Media is building a tech-led, AI and data-powered sports media network that serves both owned brands (e.g., oddschecker, WhoScored.com, SuperScommesse, and others) and partners with BetTech products spanning data, display, and predictive capabilities. At FairPlay scale - real-time data, high-frequency updates, and partner integrations - the Platform team provides the infrastructure, delivery pipelines, and observability that let multiple engineering teams ship and operate reliable, compliant, high-throughput products.

Our busiest moments - major sporting events, new market launches, and B2B partner go-lives - are when the platform matters most, and the Platform team makes sure the foundations hold.

What you’ll do

We are looking for a hands‑on, pragmatic Platform Engineer (DevOps / Infrastructure) to own and deliver components within our Google Cloud Platform estate - across CI/CD, infrastructure‑as‑code, observability, and Kubernetes‑based workloads.

You’ll take part in the on‑call rotation, automate away operational toil, apply secure‑by‑default practices to everything you build, and support product development squads with the environments, pipelines, and tooling they need to move quickly and safely. You’ll work with limited oversight on 2–3 month pieces of work and contribute to larger initiatives led by Senior engineers.

Pillar 1: Platform Engineering & Delivery

Building dependable automation so developers can ship confidently:

• Cloud Infrastructure: Design, build, and operate GCP infrastructure (Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud SQL, Memorystore, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage, VPC networking) as Terraform, following and contributing to the team’s shared modules and standards.
• Kubernetes Workloads: Deploy and run services on GKE - workloads, networking, storage, autoscaling, and Helm‑based configuration - and help product development squads containerise and operate their applications well.
• CI/CD: Build and maintain GitLab CI pipelines: artifact management, environment promotion, and safe deployment strategies (blue/green, canary, rollback), with policy and security checks baked in.
• Developer Experience & Automation: Identify toil and remove it with Python, Go, or Bash tooling; improve self‑service for product development squads (environments, access, deployments).
• AI‑assisted Engineering: Use Claude Code and adjacent tooling deliberately as part of day‑to‑day work - managing context, using sub‑agents for investigation and adversarial review, and writing reusable skills (prompt‑driven automations) for repeat tasks.

Pillar 2: Reliability & Operations

Keeping the platform healthy and the team ready for peak events:

• Observability: Build and maintain metrics, logging, tracing, dashboards, and alerting (Google Cloud Operations Suite, Prometheus/Grafana, OpenTelemetry or equivalents) for the components you own; define and track SLIs/SLOs.
• On‑Call & Incident Response: Take part in a week‑long 24hr on‑call rotation: respond to escalations from product teams and to platform‑owned alerts; triage, mitigate, and elevate following our incident process. On‑call duties and escalations are additionally compensated via callout pay.
• Runbooks & Post‑Incident Reviews: Write and maintain accurate runbooks; contribute to blameless post‑incident reviews and see durable follow‑up actions through to completion.
• Production Readiness: Factor upcoming critical business events - peak sporting fixtures, market launches, B2B go‑lives - into your work, and support load testing, capacity, and failover checks led by Senior engineers.

Pillar 3: Security & Compliance

Building security in from the start:

• Identity & Access: Implement least‑privilege IAM, Workload Identity, and service account hygiene in the components you build; explore design decisions with wider security or compliance implications.
• Secrets & Configuration: Use Google Secret Manager and Cloud KMS for secrets and encryption; keep configuration safe and auditable; ensure credentials never end up in code or pipelines.
• Guardrails in Delivery: Contribute to policy‑as‑code across Terraform and security scanning (SCA/SAST, container image scanning) in GitLab pipelines, working alongside our Security function.
• Security Reviews: Consider security during design, raise implications explicitly, and contribute to security reviews of your own and others’ components.

Working with others

• Product Development Squads: Understand their needs, unblock delivery, and communicate progress, risks, and operational status clearly.
• Platform Team: Deliver alongside Senior engineers; contribute to shared modules, patterns, and standards; write clear documentation for what you own.
• Coaching: Pair with and review the work of Junior engineers, explaining your decisions so they can learn from them.

What we’re looking for

Technical Skills & Experience

Must have

• Experience: 3–5 years in Platform Engineering, DevOps, or Cloud Engineering within a modern cloud environment, delivering production infrastructure with limited oversight.
• GCP & Containers: Solid hands‑on experience with Google Cloud Platform (Compute, IAM, VPC, GKE, Cloud Storage, managed data services) and containerisation with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Infrastructure‑as‑Code: Proficient with Terraform - modules, state management, and reviewing changes safely.
• CI/CD: Proficient at building and debugging pipelines (GitLab CI or similar), including artifact handling and deployment strategies.
• Observability: Proficient with metrics, logs, and traces; has built dashboards and actionable alerting and understands SLIs/SLOs.
• Linux & Networking: Proficient with Linux systems (processes, filesystems, systemd, shell) and a working knowledge of TCP/IP, DNS, TLS, load balancing, and VPC networking.
• Scripting & Automation: Proficient in at least one of Python, Go, or Bash, and able to read the others.
• Operations: Comfortable participating in an on‑call rotation and handling common incidents calmly and methodically.
• Security Fundamentals: Working knowledge of secure‑by‑default practices in cloud infrastructure: least privilege, secrets management, safe configuration.

Highly Desirable

• Experience with high‑traffic or real‑time systems (sports, betting, finance, media streaming).
• Hands‑on use of AI‑assisted coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) with an understanding of context management, sub‑agents, MCP, and hooks.
• Experience with GitOps‑style workflows (e.g. Argo CD or Flux) for managing Kubernetes and infrastructure changes.
• Exposure to policy‑as‑code (OPA/Conftest, Sentinel, or similar) and security scanning in pipelines.
• Exposure to security or compliance practices in regulated environments (e.g. gambling regulation, SOC 2, ISO 27001).
• Cost and efficiency awareness in cloud environments (rightsizing, committed use, FinOps practices).
• Relevant certifications (GCP Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer, Professional Cloud Architect, CKA).

Soft Skills

• Ownership & Pragmatism: You take initiative, pursue problems to resolution, and balance speed with care - and know when to raise a trade‑off rather than decide alone.
• Calm under Pressure: You stay methodical during incidents, ask for help early, and follow through on the actions that stop it happening again.
• Communication & Collaboration: You explain technical decisions clearly to developers and teammates, write documentation people actually use, and give and receive constructive review feedback.
• Curiosity & Growth: You’re keen to learn across the full breadth of the platform and to help those around you learn too.

What you’ll get back from us:

Alongside being challenged daily and a real interest in your development, you will also receive:

• Subsidized Sky HD package, broadband and discounted sky talk
• Free Puregym membership
• Free healthcare with Bupa, life assurance and income protection
• Pension scheme with up to 9% contribution from the company
• £1,000 training fund each financial year, to spend on your professional development
• Unlimited holiday plan

Research shows that women and ethnic minorities are less likely to apply if they don’t meet every qualification. If you’re passionate about our purpose, determined to take on challenges, and eager to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement.

We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive team, and to ensuring an accessible recruitment process.

• Equal opportunity employment
• Non‑discrimination in recruitment, compensation, development, and promotion
• Inclusive leadership and respectful workplace behaviors

If you need any accommodations during the recruitment process, please let us know.