Engineering Manager, DevOps

Role Overview

• Own the architecture, reliability, and evolution of iProov’s cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment practices across GCP (primary), AWS, and Azure.
• Set and enforce engineering standards for infrastructure-as-code, GitOps, DevSecOps, and observability across the team and the wider engineering organisation.
• Lead the design and improvement of containerised deployment workflows using Docker, Kubernetes, and Helm.
• Own the CI/CD toolchain: ArgoCD, GitHub Actions, GitLab pipelines, and Azure DevOps pipelines — ensuring pipelines are fast, reliable, and fit for purpose.
• Drive secrets management, key management (GCP KMS, Azure Key Vault), and security integration into the delivery pipeline as a first-class concern.
• Identify and address tooling gaps across monitoring, alerting, observability, and incident response; own the on-call process, runbooks, escalation paths, and post-incident reviews.
• Directly manage 4 / 5 DevOps engineers: run consistent 1:1s, set clear individual goals, and hold the team to a high and consistent standard.
• Establish unambiguous ownership and accountability across the team — ensure every engineer knows what they own, what is expected of them, and how their performance is being assessed.
• Give feedback directly, specifically, and promptly — both when things go well and when they do not; never let performance issues drift or escalate without intervention.
• Actively develop each engineer’s skills and career; identify growth opportunities and stretch assignments that build capability without compromising delivery.
• Manage team dynamics with fairness and firmness; address interpersonal friction early and constructively, fostering a collaborative environment where all voices are heard and diverse perspectives are constructively managed.
• Act as the primary point of contact for DevOps matters in cross-functional planning, incident response, and infrastructure governance.
• Collaborate closely with the Engineering Manager, Core Platform to ensure platform reliability, deployment pipelines, and infrastructure tooling meet backend SLAs and product commitments.
• Partner with the VP to define the DevOps roadmap, manage infrastructure costs, and make build-vs-buy decisions on tooling.
• Represent the DevOps function in engineering-wide technical discussions and contribute to iProov’s broader platform strategy.
• Support the VP in headcount planning and hiring for future DevOps roles.

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on DevOps or platform engineering experience, with at least 2 years in a leadership or management role.
• Proven ability to drive alignment and establish clear accountability within a team of highly experienced, senior engineers.
• Leads with candour and emotional intelligence: delivers clear, direct feedback while building psychological safety and following through consistently.
• Sets high standards and holds people to them — with fairness, consistency, and genuine investment in each engineer’s success.
• Comfortable making and communicating unpopular decisions when necessary; does not defer difficult conversations to the VP or avoid them altogether.
• Strong emotional intelligence: able to read team dynamics, identify tension early, and intervene constructively before issues escalate.
• Builds trust through credibility and consistency, not authority alone — the team will respect this individual because they know their craft and say what they mean.
• Deep expertise in Kubernetes and containerised deployments — including Helm chart authoring and management; this is the core of iProov’s compute model.
• Strong, hands-on experience with GCP as a primary cloud platform: Cloud Run, PubSub, Cloud Functions, Cloud Scheduler, Cloud Jobs, Cloud Secret Storage, and KMS; working knowledge of equivalent AWS and Azure services.
• Expert-level proficiency with infrastructure-as-code using Terraform and Ansible in production environments.
• Solid command of CI/CD tooling: ArgoCD for GitOps-driven deployments, GitHub Actions and GitLab pipelines for build automation, and Azure DevOps pipelines — able to design, debug, and improve pipelines across all three.
• Strong Linux command-line skills and Bash scripting proficiency; comfortable operating and troubleshooting production systems at the OS level.
• Experience with secrets and key management in a cloud-native context: GCP KMS, Azure Key Vault, and cloud-native secret storage patterns.
• Familiarity with multi-cloud storage: GCP Storage buckets, AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage — and the networking constructs (VPC, VNET) that underpin iProov’s infrastructure.
• Experience with incident management tooling and on-call practices; familiarity with PagerDuty or equivalent for escalation and alerting.
• Security-first mindset: experienced in DevSecOps practices, vulnerability scanning in pipelines, and integrating compliance requirements into the deployment workflow.
• Familiarity with modern AI-assisted tooling and a clear perspective on how these tools can be adopted responsibly for infrastructure-as-code generation, scripting, and operational efficiency within the team.

Tech Stack

• Ansible
• AWS
• Azure
• Cloud
• Docker
• Google Cloud Platform
• Kubernetes
• Linux
• Terraform
• Vault

Benefits

• 25 days Annual Leave, plus 8 Bank Holidays (more holiday with service
• up to an extra 5 days off per year based on your continuous service)
• Growth Shares allocated after passing probation (6 months of service)
• Salary sacrifice schemes including: Pension, Cycle To Work and Electric Car Scheme
• Nursery Sacrifice Scheme
• Work Overseas Perk
• Work globally for up to 2 weeks
• Life Assurance
• SmartHealth
• Access to private GP, Psychologist, Nutritionist along with tailored fitness plans for both you and your family
• Benefit from personalized 1:1 career coaching with our in-house Occupational Psychologist
• Award winning L&D platform with personal allocated training budgets
• Enhanced paid family leave
• Pension
• 5% employee, 3% employer
• Flexible hybrid working environment
• Free Barista Coffee/Tea, biscuits with fruit in the WeWork office
• Free access to WeWork discounts and free online well-being sessions
• Vitality Health
• a range of options available on this below
• The Vitality Programme includes a number of reward benefits that all employees have access to as part of the plan, for example: Private Health cover including Dental, Optical, and Audiology
• 50% off monthly gym memberships
• Apple watches significantly discounted based member vitality status
• Half price trainers with Runners Need
• Weekly rewards – Free coffee with Café Nero
• Monthly rewards – Free Cinema ticket
• Discounts on travel with Expedia (hotels) and Mr & Mrs Smith with discounts getting greater throughout the year based on a members vitality status
• Amazon prime free months based on activity
• Up to 25% cashback at Waitrose when buying healthy foods
• 75% off stays at Champneys Health Spas
• Allen Carr’s £299 no smoking programme for free
• Access to Vitality Healthy Mind with 30% off Headspace subscriptions and the ability to earn Vitality points for using Buddhify, Calm and Headspace
• Discounts on Weight Watchers
• 50%-80% off Comprehensive Private Health screenings