Principal Infrastructure Engineer

HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS; Leeds; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A government agency in the UK is seeking a Principal Infrastructure Engineer to lead the technical strategy for their Contact Engagement Platform. This role focuses on ensuring secure, scalable, and resilient infrastructure while championing cloud and automation practices. Candidates should have significant experience in cloud-first solutions, preferably AWS, and a strong background in Agile and DevOps environments. The position offers competitive benefits including a generous salary and flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

Competitive salary and pension contributions

Generous leave starting at 25 days

Family-friendly and flexible working arrangements

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Significant experience in leading large-scale, cloud-first infrastructure services, preferably AWS.
• Proven background in building and operating resilient, secure, and scalable infrastructure within Agile and DevOps environments.
• Strong communication and influencing skills to collaborate across multiple teams.
• Experience in adopting and promoting automation, observability, and self-service practices.

Responsibilities

• Set the strategic direction for infrastructure and platform teams.
• Define the infrastructure and platform engineering strategy with Agile and DevOps practices.
• Identify opportunities for improvement and stay ahead of emerging technologies.
• Champion automation and promote a culture of frequent deployments.
• Manage live platform services and conduct post-incident analysis.

Skills

Cloud-first infrastructure services

Agile methodologies

DevOps practices

Leadership and communication

Job description

Job Overview

As a Principal Infrastructure Engineer at HMRC you will provide technical leadership for the Contact Engagement Platform (CEP). Your focus will be on ensuring that the infrastructure underpinning CEP’s services is secure, scalable, resilient and cost‑effective, while championing modern cloud and automation practices across multiple delivery teams.

Responsibilities

• Report to the Deputy Director for CEP and set the strategic direction for infrastructure and platform teams.
• Own and define the infrastructure and platform engineering strategy, embedding Agile, DevOps and cloud practices with robust governance.
• Identify opportunities for improvement, collaborating with other heads of infrastructure and engineering across government to stay ahead of emerging technologies and industry trends.
• Champion automation, observability and self‑service, promoting a culture of frequent, confident deployments that meet compliance and governance standards.
• Ensure all infrastructure roles support the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework, overseeing career pathways, learning opportunities and apprenticeship programmes.
• Support multiple delivery teams in a multi‑supplier environment, defining outcomes, troubleshooting issues, and fostering an agile delivery approach.
• Protect user and business needs by embedding feedback loops, user research and performance analytics into ongoing service improvement.
• Manage live platform services, orchestrate incident investigations, keep senior stakeholders informed and conduct post‑incident analysis.
• Reduce reliance on suppliers by developing in‑house technical talent through training and apprenticeship programmes.
• Establish guard rails for cloud deployments, ensuring adherence to organisational standards and security controls.
• Advise senior stakeholders on technical decisions and ways of working, drawing on deep technical expertise.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in leading large‑scale, cloud‑first infrastructure services (preferably AWS).
• Proven background in building and operating resilient, secure, and scalable infrastructure within Agile and DevOps environments.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to collaborate across multiple teams and suppliers.
• Demonstrated leadership in adopting and promoting automation, observability and self‑service practices.
• Understanding of security controls for internal and external web services and experience in implementing them with security teams.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and pension contributions (≥28.97% of salary).
• Generous leave starting at 25 days, increasing with service.
• Family‑friendly and flexible working arrangements.
• Career development opportunities and coaching.