Principal Software Engineering Specialist

JAM Recruitment Ltd; Camberley; Hybrid; GBP 119,000 - 161,000; Full time

Job summary

JAM Recruitment Ltd. seeks a Principal Engineer - Software Engineering (Specialist Software) for a leading UK defence organisation. The role is based in Frimley with a hybrid pattern (two to three days on site).

It is a 12-month contract, paying £67.47 per hour via umbrella, inside IR35. The candidate will operate at engineering leadership or architecture level, designing Kubernetes platforms and integrating them with CI/CD.

Qualifications

• Ability to operate at engineering leadership or architecture level.
• Strong experience designing Kubernetes platforms, not just operating them.
• Proven experience integrating Kubernetes with CI/CD systems.
• Experience with multi-team platform design and governance.
• Desirable: Experience with GitOps tools such as ArgoCD or Flux.
• Desirable: Experience with cloud-native build tooling such as BuildKit or Kaniko.
• Desirable: Familiarity with enterprise-scale engineering environments.
• Ideally five years of experience.
• STEM qualification, CEng, Chartered IT Professional (CITP), or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Define architectural direction for Kubernetes platforms.
• Shape the architectural approach, design decisions, and engineering standards underpinning CI capabilities.
• Work with engineering leadership to introduce containerisation for immediate delivery and long-term goals, including multi-team adoption, cost efficiency, and developer experience.
• Integrate US Common Infrastructure Services (CIS) into CI for the project.
• Deliver CI capability within CIIS after integration.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Architecture design

Kubernetes platforms

CI/CD integration

Multi-team governance

GitOps familiarity

Cloud tooling familiarity

Education

STEM qualification

CEng

CITP

Tools

ArgoCD

CI/CD

Cloud

Kubernetes

DevOps

Job description

Salary: £140,337.6 - 140,337.6 per year

Requirements

• Ability to operate at engineering leadership or architecture level
• Strong experience designing Kubernetes platforms, not just operating them
• Proven experience integrating Kubernetes with CI/CD systems
• Experience with multi-team platform design and governance
• Desirable: Experience with GitOps tools such as ArgoCD or Flux
• Desirable: Experience with cloud-native build tooling such as BuildKit or Kaniko
• Desirable: Familiarity with enterprise-scale engineering environments
• Ideally five years of experience
• STEM qualification, CEng, Chartered IT Professional (CITP), or equivalent

Responsibilities

• Help define our architectural direction for Kubernetes platforms
• Shape the architectural approach, design decisions, and engineering standards underpinning our future CI capabilities
• Work closely with engineering leadership to introduce containerisation in a way that supports immediate delivery needs and longer-term strategic goals, including multi-team adoption, cost efficiency, and developer experience
• Support the immediate project by integrating US Common Infrastructure Services (CIS) into CI
• Following that integration, deliver CI capability within CIIS

Technologies

• ArgoCD
• CI/CD
• Cloud
• GitOps
• Support
• Kubernetes
• DevOps

More

We are offering a Principal Engineer - Software Engineering (Specialist Software) role with one of the UKs leading defence organisations. The role is based in Frimley and operates on a hybrid basis, with two to three days per week on site. This is an initial 12-month contract, paying £67.47 per hour via umbrella, inside IR35.