Staff DevOps Engineer

Simply Business; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurance technology firm in London is seeking a Staff DevOps Engineer to lead the technical direction of their Internal Developer Platform. You will architect and implement cloud-native infrastructure, mentor fellow engineers, and drive systemic improvements to enhance developer productivity. This role requires a strong background in AWS and Infrastructure as Code tools like Terraform and Ansible. Join us to redefine high-performance infrastructure in a dynamic environment.

Benefits

Flexible work-life balance

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Private medical insurance

Competitive salary and bonus potential

Access to personal development programs

Qualifications

• Experience mentoring and accelerating careers of engineers.
• Proven track record in designing and implementing scalable infrastructure.
• Fluency in cloud-native technologies and AWS.

Responsibilities

• Set and execute technical vision for infrastructure roadmap.
• Act as key architect for Internal Developer Platform (IDP).
• Mentor the team and provide technical guidance.
• Identify and resolve organizational bottlenecks.

Skills

Mentorship

Cloud-native technologies

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

AWS

Automation

Generative AI

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

Job description

Here’s what you’ll be doing:

Are you an elite-level DevOps professional ready to take ownership of the technical direction and execution of a cutting‑edge platform? We are seeking a Staff DevOps Engineer to join our Platform Engineering and Services Team (PEST). In this high‑impact role, you will be the central technical authority, responsible for designing, building, and scaling our Internal Developer Platform (IDP). If you are a visionary who treats infrastructure as a core product, thrives on solving the most ambiguous technical challenges, and has a passion for pushing cloud‑native boundaries—including leveraging AI for next‑level automation—this is your opportunity to drive systemic change across the entire engineering organisation.

We're looking for someone who is:

• An experienced mentor, passionate about accelerating the careers and technical expertise of fellow engineers within the team.
• A deep technical expert and architectural visionary, with a proven track record of designing and implementing highly scalable and resilient infrastructure.
• Fluent in cloud‑native technologies, possessing a profound, hands‑on understanding of a major cloud provider, specifically AWS.
• An automation specialist, highly proficient with industry‑leading Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform and Ansible.
• A modern DevOps evangelist who lives and breathes "infrastructure as code" and tirelessly champions a robust culture of automation and security.
• An early adopter of the latest technologies, including leveraging Generative AI to push DevOps practices and automation to their highest potential.

As our Staff DevOps Engineer, you'll:

• Set and execute the technical vision, partnering with the Lead to design, architect, and lead the implementation of our next‑generation infrastructure roadmap.
• Elevate the Developer Experience (DevEx) by acting as a key architect for our IDP, treating internal infrastructure as a core product offering.
• Provide expert mentorship, offering technical guidance and coaching to develop the team’s skills and actively grow the careers of our engineers.
• Drive systemic improvement, identifying organization‑wide bottlenecks, tackling technical debt, and proposing solutions that boost developer productivity and reliability.
• Champion a modern DevOps culture, driving our principles of automation, self‑service tooling, and fostering a "you build it, you run it" mindset.
• Lead complex problem solving, remaining hands‑on to diagnose and resolve the most ambiguous, high‑impact technical problems across the platform.

(We know it’s tough, but please try to avoid the confidence gap. You don’t have to match all the bullet points above to be considered for this role.)

We encourage people of all different backgrounds and identities to apply. We are committed to maintaining an inclusive, supportive place for you to be you and do your very best work.

For the Staff DevOps Engineer, the challenge isn’t just maintaining systems—it’s treating reliability and velocity as architectural products. If the idea of engineering "rainbow deployments" for A/B testing, migrating thousands of containers with zero downtime, and using AI to auto‑generate IaC excites you, then you belong here. This role offers the scope, complexity, and autonomy required to move beyond incremental change and truly redefine what high‑performance infrastructure means for a modern software organisation. Apply today!

About Simply Business

We insure small businesses and enable big dreams – not just for our customers, but for our people and communities too. With over 1,000,000 active insurance policies, we protect builders, bakers, landlords and more than 1,200 other trades.

We’re a technology company as well as one that sells insurance. That means we build, we fail, we learn and we improve. We’re a B Corp too, which recognises our strong track record of having a positive impact on people, society and the environment.

Why not check out our advert on YouTube: Simply Business TV advert 2024: 'Simply the Best'

What are the benefits of working at Simply Business?

We offer a great work‑life balance where every team member has a manageable workload and the flexibility to work hybrid.

On top of the 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), we offer leave that suits your needs. Plus the option to buy five more days of holiday with your flexible benefits.

Our flexible parental leave allows you to approach an important time how you want – with six months full pay to the primary caregiver and four weeks full pay if you’re the secondary caregiver.

Our life event leave is an extra days leave every two years for those big moments in your life like moving house or your birthday. And as a thank you to our long‑serving employees we offer a two week paid sabbatical after five years of service, then four weeks off after ten years of service.

And our core benefits can put your mind at ease with private medical insurance through BUPA, that covers any pre‑existing condition. And a health cash plan that covers your everyday medical expenses.

We also make sure you’re compensated fairly with a competitive salar y based on your experience and the market we’re in. Plus the potential to earn an annual bonus based on performance.

There’s access to the tools to support your personal development with programmes on our dedicated learning platform. As well as support for your mental health with access to counselling.

We’ll match what you put into your pension up to five per cent. And pass on a tax‑free sum that’s four times your basic salary with our life assurance policy, with the option to increase it to ten times through our flexible benefit scheme.

Our salary sacrifice car scheme gives you the option to buy a brand‑new, fully insured, and maintained car for a convenient fixed monthly amount taken from your gross salary (after 6 months service).

And our flexible benefits scheme gives you an allocated amount to use each year on benefits like critical illness cover, dental insurance, travel insurance, or a gym membership.

Ready to join us and drive our success as a high‑performing team? Apply today.