Senior DevOps Engineer

Zen Internet; Greater Manchester; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Zen Internet is seeking a senior DevOps professional to join the Engineering Reliability Team in the UK. The role focuses on designing, implementing, and maintaining the development infrastructure to enable fast delivery and reliable operations.

You will collaborate with development, engineering, and operations to drive continuous improvement and operational excellence. Reporting to the DevOps team manager, you will act as a technical escalation point, applying SRE principles and lean methods to

Qualifications

• Senior-level DevOps experience in complex environments.
• Experience in ISP/Telco or Managed Services is a plus.
• Proficient with automation tools and CI/CD pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement deployment and configuration activities.
• Provide escalation point and mentor peers.
• Develop monitoring solutions and run RCA for incidents.
• Document operational procedures and runbooks.

Skills

Senior DevOps experience

Problem solving

Interpersonal skills

Tools

Azure DevOps

GitLab

Puppet

Kubernetes

Elasticsearch

Kibana

Job description

You’ll be a senior member of the Engineering Reliability Team that will work closely with Zen’s development, engineering, and operations centre teams. You’ll Work alongside the Development and engineering teams, to support, maintain, and consistently improve the development estate so the development teams can focus and innovate constantly to drive Zen’s business and the teams’ priorities.

Reporting to the DevOps team manager, you must have an excellent track record in DevOps roles and the drive and attitude to succeed. Zen are committed to investing in and developing you – we believe that everyone can lead and the way we do has a huge impact on our people and play a vital part in our success.

The DevOps team will be responsible for the design and implementation of applications' build, release, deployment and configuration activities. Other responsibilities include working within multi-functional teams to gather requirements, evaluate tools, implementing/updating solutions, building and executing test plans, provision environments, application performance reviews, assist migration of Legacy systems, and triaging and fixing operational issues.

You’ll ensure incidents are run smoothly and ensure that operational knowledge is available and shared. As a senior you will be a point of escalation, demonstrating problem solving skills, the ability to learn quickly and adapt your skills and knowledge.

As a service provider we operate many technologies, so you’ll have the skills to work with experienced Lead DevOps engineers, Systems Engineers and developers leveraging frameworks, standards, and defined operational process to make the unfamiliar comfortable and familiar. Over time we’ll increasingly leverage SRE principles to further optimize and enhance capabilities – it’s a great opportunity to get in at the start and shape this journey.

Objectives

• Deliver continuous incremental improvement of systems and infrastructure
• Take end to end ownership and responsibility for development infrastructure and systems
• Be a technical escalation point and eventually be part of a 24/7 escalation rota
• Document as you go – enough so your colleagues can follow what’s been done and why
• Drive tasks forward with energy and enthusiasm
• Create proactive monitoring solutions using standard tooling - mainly Zabbix and Elastic
• Conduct RCA (Root Cause Analysis) for incidents
• Develop standard operational procedures and documentation
• Develop and maintain self-managing infrastructure services and dashboards.
• Identify cost-saving opportunities
• Provide advice on DevOps standards and practices

Provide coaching and mentoring to Software and DevOps Engineer peers

Experience

• Worked and succeeded as a DevOps Engineer
• Ideally, experience working in an ISP, Telco or other Managed Services environment or able to demonstrate experience in a complex heterogeneous environment
• Comfortable working with automation tools (Azure DevOps, GitLab, Puppet)
• Worked in complex networking and firewall environments
• Production use of multiple AWS capabilities and Kubernetes debugging
• Demonstratable experience in dealing with technical debt effectively
• Comfortable working with SRE principles and lean methodologies

• Very strong problem-solving skills are essential – understanding of DevOps and SRE concepts with the ability to apply key techniques to unfamiliar problems
• Ability to influence others in matters of standards and best practice, especially individuals outside of our team
• Comfortable working with automation tools (Puppet, Git) and CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps) with complex integrations and test frameworks
• Comfortable with Elasticsearch log standardisation, Kibana dashboard creation and data analysis skills
• Able to code to a good level - this isn’t a developer role but you need scripting skills to succeed
• AWS hands on – Cloud formation, Route53, S3, DynamoDB, Cloud-watch, Lambda, Security, and troubleshooting
• Certificate management and automation
• Strong troubleshooting and diagnosis skills
• Able to write documentation that covers what your peers and operations need to know
• Knowledge of Database systems and models
• Windows Server, SQL Server, IIS and Linux

Interpersonal Skills

We value interpersonal skills and responsible teamwork. You should be able to:

• Patient & friendly with excellent interpersonal skills - demonstrate a natural aptitude for dealing with people
• Influence and lead
• Strong attention to detail
• Happy working and supporting a small closeknit team
• Take and give feedback to tune future actions and behaviours
• Embrace and demonstrate Zen values
• Be kind, understanding, and listen to others
• Be organized

Impact You'll Make

You will be influencing and contributing to Zen’s long-term goals and joining a family that believes business should be a force for good. We’re a company committed to improving the lives of our people, creating a better future through our community and charity work, and ensuring that we look after our environment.

Perhaps that’s why we’re officially a Great Place to Work and have achieved Carbon Neutral Plus status and B Corp Certification!