Principal Devops Engineer - Secure Environments

Leonardo; South Cheriton; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

12 flexi-days per year

Pension up to 15%

Mental health support

Bonus scheme

Access to Coursera & LinkedIn Learning

Referral bonus

Flexible benefits up to £500

Job summary

Leonardo UK seeks a Principal DevOps Engineer to lead automation, platform engineering, and secure solution delivery for defence and government programs. The role involves on-site work at Bristol Yeovil and other secure locations, with flexible working possible for appropriate activities where programme and security requirements permit.

You will act as technical authority, drive CI/CD and IaC, and mentor engineers while operating in highly controlled environments and adhering to security

Qualifications

• Design, implement and operate CI/CD pipelines and release automation.

Responsibilities

• Act as technical authority for automation and platform engineering practices across projects.
• Lead design and implementation of CI/CD pipelines and IaC.
• Develop and maintain secure deployment pipelines for controlled environments.
• Automate deployment, configuration and operation of infrastructure and applications.
• Lead DevSecOps adoption and embed security controls in delivery lifecycle.
• Capture requirements and produce high/low level designs as needed.
• Provide technical leadership for work packages including planning and reporting.
• Drive automation and engineering best practices across platform teams.
• Mentor DevOps and Platform Engineers and junior staff.
• Support assessments, feasibility studies and future capability planning.
• Engage with customers and stakeholders to present and defend solutions.

Skills

CI/CD pipelines

Infrastructure as Code

Containerisation

Automation scripting

Platform deployment

DevOps practices

DevSecOps

Security controls

Git version control

Cloud & hybrid platforms

Tools

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Terraform

Ansible

VMware Aria

Job description

Job Description:

Your Impact

Are you ready to take on complex automation and DevOps challenges that underpin some of the UK's most critical missions?

At Leonardo, our Principal DevOps Engineers are recognised technical leaders who combine hands‑on engineering with technical authority, helping to shape, automate and deliver secure platform solutions across highly controlled environments. You will work alongside platform, infrastructure, security and delivery teams to improve the speed, consistency, resilience and security of solution delivery through automation and modern engineering practices.

Your work at Leonardo UK will see you take the lead in solving customer problems in an agile, innovative and team-centric manner. Due to the nature of the programmes supported, the role will require regular and sustained attendance at secure customer locations, alongside working at Leonardo sites where programme and security constraints permit.

Leonardo UK is seeking aPrincipal DevOps Engineerto join the Cyber & Security Solutions Division team. This role is focused on developing, deploying, operating and improving automated platform solutions that underpin critical defence, government and public sector services.

What you will do as a Principal DevOps Engineer

• Act as the technical authority for automation, DevOps and platform engineering practices across projects and programmes.
• Lead the design, implementation and continuous improvement of CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code and platform automation solutions.
• Develop and maintain secure deployment pipelines supporting highly controlled and regulated environments.
• Work with Platform Engineers, Security Engineers, Architects and Project Teams to automate the deployment, configuration and operation of infrastructure and applications.
• Lead the implementation and adoption of DevSecOps approaches, embedding security controls throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Capture, analyse and interpret technical requirements, producing high and low level designs where required.
• Provide technical leadership for assigned work packages, including planning, estimation, delivery oversight and reporting.
• Drive the adoption of automation, repeatability and engineering best practice across platform teams.
• Mentor and coach DevOps Engineers, Platform Engineers and junior engineers, raising technical capability across the wider organisation.
• Support technology assessments, feasibility studies, innovation activities and future capability planning.
• Engage with customers and stakeholders, presenting, defending and assuring technical solutions.

What you'll bring

• Extensive technical expertise across DevOps, automation and modern platform engineering practices.
• The ability to balance hands‑on engineering with technical leadership and mentorship.
• Strong problem‑solving capability with the confidence to recommend and justify technical approaches.
• Experience driving automation and continuous improvement across engineering teams.
• The ability to operate effectively within highly regulated, secure or defence‑related environments.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work across engineering, delivery, security and customer teams.

Core areas (must have)

• Design, implementation and operation of CI/CD pipelines.
• Infrastructure as Code and configuration management.
• Containerisation and orchestration technologies.
• Automation and scripting using technologies such as Python, PowerShell or Bash.
• Platform deployment pipelines and release automation.
• DevOps and DevSecOps practices.
• Secure software delivery and integration of security controls into engineering workflows.
• Enterprise Git‑based version control and branching strategies.
• Cloud and hybrid platform technologies.
• Experience delivering within highly controlled, secure or defence environments.
• Technical leadership and mentoring of engineering teams.

Desirable

Experience in one or more of the following areas would be highly desirable:

• VMware Aria Automation Suite.
• VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), vSphere, vSAN or NSX.
• OpenShift, Kubernetes or related container platforms.
• Terraform, Ansible and platform automation tooling.
• Infrastructure and platform monitoring solutions.
• Secrets management, certificate management and PKI integration.
• Privileged Access Management integration and automation.
• Cross‑domain or air‑gapped deployment environments.
• Active Directory and broader enterprise service integration.
• Azure, AWS or hybrid cloud deployments.
• Security monitoring and integration with SOC tooling.
• Industry certifications in DevOps, Cloud, Security or Automation technologies.

Candidates are not expected to be specialists in every area. We are particularly interested in DevOps leaders who bring strong automation experience and can apply these skills across complex secure‑platform environments.

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre‑employment screening in line with the UK Government's Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS).

An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) will apply.

Due to the nature of the systems and environments supported, this role requires Developed Vetting (DV) clearance prior to starting.

For more information and guidance please visit the Leonardo UK careers security and vetting guidance.

Location

This role is based from our Bristol site and will support secure customer programmes delivered from Yeovil site and other secure locations.

Regular and sustained attendance at Yeovil site will be required.

Due to the nature of the environments supported, this is not a traditional hybrid role and candidates should expect significant on‑site working throughout delivery activities.

Flexible or remote working may be possible for appropriate activities where programme, customer and security requirements permit.

Why join us

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company‑funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award‑winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee‑led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part time opportunities, please talk to us about what might be possible for this role.

For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website.

Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.

At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

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