Principal Cloud Engineer

Skipton; Skipton; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mutual organization in the UK is seeking a Principal Cloud (Azure) Engineer to oversee the development and optimization of its Azure Cloud infrastructure. This pivotal role supports a team of engineers, promotes best practices, and engages with various stakeholders to align cloud strategy with digital transformation goals.

Benefits

Annual discretionary bonus scheme

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Matching employer pension contribution

Private medical insurance

Training and development opportunities

Paid volunteering days

Cycle to work initiative

Qualifications

• Expert knowledge in Azure cloud services.
• Deep proficiency in automation and Infrastructure as Code.
• Hands-on experience in Azure cloud security.

Responsibilities

• Leading technical expert in Azure Cloud solutions and infrastructure.
• Defining best practices and enforcing standards.
• Engaging with senior leadership to shape cloud strategy.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Communication

Leadership

Solution architecture

Continuous improvement

Tools

Powershell

Terraform

Bicep

Azure DevOps

Job description

Hours:
35hrs per week, permanent, Hybrid, 1 day a week at the office.

Closing Date:
Sun, 20 Jul 2025

We are recruiting for a Principal Cloud (Azure) Engineer to provide a key role in the development, implementation and optimisation of our Azure Cloud infrastructure. If you are a strategic but hands on technical leader, who thrives working in a fast paced and agile environment where technology is at the centre of our organisational goals, then this may be the job for you!

Who Are We?

Not just another building society. Not just another job.

We're the fourth biggest building society in the UK and what makes us a bit different is that we're a mutual organisation. We don't have shareholders; we're owned by our members.

Our colleagues say Skipton's a great place to work, and you could be one of them, bringing with you new ideas on how we can keep customers at the heart of what we do.

Whatever your background, and whatever your goals, we'll help you take the next step towards a better future.

You will be working within our IT function as part our Cloud Engineering teams on our Azure Platform, ensuring it is fit for purpose, resilient, scalable and provides the capabilities needed to deliver value at pace. The teams consist of around 20 engineers who you will support as overall lead technical authority and decision maker. The teams work very closely with the rest of the IT function and our software and data engineering teams who are building cutting edge solutions within our Azure Platform.

What's In It For You?

Skipton values work/life balance and we are proud to support hybrid and flexible working, where possible. We have a newly refurbished head office which offers a vibrant and collaborative working space.

We have a range of other benefits available to you including;

• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• 25 days standard annual leave + bank holidays + rising 1 day per year of service to a maximum of 30 days
• Holiday trading scheme allowing the ability to buy and sell additional annual leave days
• Matching employer pension contribution (up to 10% per annum)
• Colleague mortgage (conditions apply)
• Salary sacrifice scheme for hybrid & electric car
• A commitment to training and development
• Private medical insurance for all our colleagues
• 3 paid volunteering days per annum
• Diverse and inclusive colleague networks available for you to join including our Carers and Pride Alliance groups
• We care about your health and wellbeing - we provide a range of benefits that support this including cycle to work initiative and discounted gym membership

What Will You Be Doing?

As part of our hybrid cloud strategy we are migrating many services from our data centres into Azure, as well as developing greenfield solutions and products within the Azure platform. We have a large and complex change portfolio with technology related change right at the centre. You will be providing expertise to multiple teams who are involved with the continual evolution of the Azure platform in the following ways:

• Serving as the leading technical expert in Azure Cloud solutions, infrastructure as code (IaC), automation, and security, informing critical design and implementation decisions.
• Defining and enforcing best practices, ensuring that Cloud Engineering teams adopt cutting-edge Azure methodologies and adhere to industry standards for security, compliance, and performance.
• Driving the adoption of DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles to improve operational efficiency, resilience, and service reliability.
• Engaging with Senior Leadership, IT Teams, Security teams, Engineering teams and Data teams to shape cloud strategy ensuring that cloud investments align with the Society's digital transformation goals.
• Advising on Azure cost management approaches, implementing strategies to drive efficiency and financial accountability in cloud resource usage.
• Championing continuous learning by mentoring engineering teams, embedding technical excellence, and ensuring adherence to regulatory and legislative requirements.

What Do We Need From You?

You will need to hold an expert level of knowledge in Azure cloud services to be a credible technical decision-making authority across the platform. Your technical skills will cover core Azure services such as Azure networking, integration and data services and you will have a deep proficiency in automation and infrastructure as code using technologies such as Powershell, Terraform, Bicep and Azure Devops pipelines. Hands on experience of Azure cloud security, identity management and access control is expected. You will also need:

• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills to translate technical concepts into business value.
• Proven leadership and mentoring capabilities, capable of driving technical excellence and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Strong solution architecture skills capable of designing scalable, high performance and resilient cloud solutions.
• Strategic thinking and the ability to work across teams to build a shared vision empowering engineers to achieve technical excellence.
• A passion for learning and innovation, driving continuous improvement in cloud engineering practices.