Principal Cloud Engineer

Commify

Nottingham

Hybrid

GBP 70,000 - 80,000

Full time

14 days+

Get more replies from employers

Send a job-specific resume in minutes.

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Company bonus

Healthcare cash plan

27 days annual leave

Wellbeing leave

Birthday off

Pension 5%

Death in service

Awards and recognition

Social events

Training & development

Flexible hybrid working

Job summary

Commify is seeking a Principal DevOps Engineer to drive design and architecture for a global CPaaS platform. You will lead Terraform-based IaC, manage AKS clusters with GitOps, implement Istio, and enforce security guarantees. The role involves CIS hardening, enterprise-scale networking, and driving cost-aware, automated CI/CD pipelines.

You will mentor teams, shape platform architecture, and collaborate with stakeholders to deliver greenfield cloud initiatives in a hybrid UK-based setup.

Qualifications

Expert in Azure landing zones, multi-subscription architectures, hub-spoke networking.
Production experience with AKS or similar, including cluster lifecycle and security hardening.
Expert in Terraform module development, state management, and CI/CD integration.
Hands-on with Istio or Cilium for mTLS, traffic management, and zero-trust networking.
Experience with ArgoCD or equivalent and GitOps methodologies.
Strong with GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps Pipelines.
Deep knowledge of Azure networking, VNets, NSGs, DNS, and firewall design.
Practical shift-left security including container scanning and CIS benchmarks.
Proficient in Helm for multi-language app deployment.
Strong Linux/container lifecycle knowledge, Dockerfile optimization.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain Terraform modules for Azure core services and standardize IaC across providers.
Deploy and manage AKS clusters with GitOps, implement Istio, and centralize Helm charts for consistency.
Design hub-spoke networking, DNS configurations, and centralized security policies.
Implement PIM, RBAC, CI/CD credential management, and container security measures.
Modernise CI/CD with reusable workflows, templates, and automated versioning; integrate security scanning.
Set up observability with Loki, Grafana and tracing; apply FinOps for cost-aware infra.
Improve Developer Experience with automation tools and onboarding resources; provide mentorship.
Post-production, support roadmap design and enterprise best practices including ArgoCD, KEDA, Falco.

Skills

Azure

Kubernetes/AKS

Terraform

Istio

GitOps

CI/CD

Networking (Azure)

Security

Helm

Linux

Scripting (Bash, Python)

Architecture

Communication

Mentorship

Go (Desirable)

Tools

ArgoCD

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Istio

Job description

At Commify, we're not just a company, we're a globally connected team of innovators who love what we do. As a CPaaS leader with 25 years of groundbreaking experience, we're the force behind over 5 billion customer interactions each year, enabling businesses worldwide to connect via advanced channels like SMS, RCS, and complex mobile journeys.

Our culture is our core strength. Operating across the UK, EMEA, the USA, and Australia, we've fostered a truly diverse and connected environment, earning a consistent 4 out of 5 culture score in our employee engagement surveys. You'll join a vibrant team where your diverse experience makes a daily global impact.

We need talented people to grow a global company where everyone feels proud to belong, have a purpose and do their best to directly shape the digital future.

The Principal DevOps Engineer will be the senior technical voice within the team, driving design and architecture conversations, proposing solutions, and challenging the team to raise its technical standards.

Requirements

The Role:

Develop and maintain Terraform modules for Azure core services and enforce IaC standards across providers
Deploy and manage AKS clusters with GitOps, implement Istio service mesh, lead CIS security hardening, and create centralised Helm charts for consistency
Design networking architecture including hub VNets, Azure Firewall policies, and DNS configurations with thorough documentation
Implement Identity and Security measures including PIM, RBAC, CI/CD credential management, container security, and compliance preparation
Modernise CI/CD with reusable workflows, template repositories, provider-agnostic tooling, automated versioning, and integrated security scanning
Set up observability with Loki, Grafana Alloy, and tracing; integrate FinOps practices for cost-aware infrastructure and capacity planning
Improve Developer Experience by building automation tools, creating onboarding resources, and providing technical mentorship
Post-production, focus on technical support, roadmap design, and adopting enterprise best practices including ArgoCD, Cilium, Argo Rollouts, KEDA, Falco, Kyverno, DAPR, and multi-tenant AKS designs

The Person:

Azure at Scale: Expert in designing Azure landing zones, multi-subscription architectures, hub-spoke networking, and key Azure services (Firewall, Front Door, App Service, Key Vault, Entra ID, PIM)
Kubernetes/AKS: Deep production experience managing AKS or similar, including cluster lifecycle, upgrades, RBAC, network policies, and security hardening
Terraform: Expert module development, state management, CI/CD integration, and multi-region/provider codebase management
Service Mesh: Hands-on with Istio (ambient mode preferred) or Cilium for mTLS, traffic management, Gateway API, and zero-trust networking
GitOps & Continuous Delivery: Experience with ArgoCD or equivalent, transitioning teams to GitOps methodologies
CI/CD Engineering: Strong with GitHub Actions workflows, Azure DevOps Pipelines, and migrating CI platforms
Networking: Expert in Azure networking (VNets, NSGs, DNS, hub-spoke topology, firewall design)
Security: Practical shift-left security experience including container scanning, image signing, CIS benchmarks, and pen test readiness
Helm: Skilled in authoring and maintaining Helm charts for standardized multi-language app deployment
Linux & Containers: Strong Linux knowledge, container lifecycle management, Dockerfile optimization, and registry management
Scripting & Tooling: Proficient in Bash and Python for automation and creating internal CLI tools
Architecture: Experience creating HLDs, LLDs, architectural decisions; leading technical discussions with clear trade-offs
Communication: Effective stakeholder communication from developers to C-suite, translating technical decisions into business context
Mentorship: Proven ability as a technical escalation point and mentor for diverse engineering teams
Greenfield Delivery: Experience designing and delivering cloud platforms from scratch, ideally with regulatory/compliance considerations