Principal DevOps Engineer

Are you ready to lead engineers and take on complex automation and DevOps challenges that underpin the UK’s most critical missions? At Leonardo, our Principal DevOps Engineers combine people leadership with technical authority, leading the design, integration, and delivery of secure, automated solutions across hybrid and cloud environments.

Your work at Leonardo UK will see you take the lead in solving customer problems in an agile, innovative and team-centric manner. The role may involve a blended hybrid working model, with a mixture of working from home and working on site at one of our Leonardo offices to ensure close collaboration with the wider team and with our customers.

Leonardo UK is seeking a Principal DevOps Engineer to join the Cyber & Security Solutions Division team. This role combines technical leadership with responsibility for leading and developing engineers and delivering DevOps work packages.

• →Act as the technical authority for automation and DevOps solutions across projects and programmes.
• →Lead the design and implementation of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and container orchestration.
• →Provide domain expertise in secure DevOps/DevSecOps, embedding cyber security into pipelines and environments.
• →Capture and analyse requirements, shaping high- and low-level technical designs.
• →Lead the planning, resourcing and technical delivery of assigned work packages, including estimation, reporting and management of risks.
• →Provide line management, mentoring and coaching for DevOps Engineers and Technicians, supporting their performance, development and wellbeing.
• →Support recruitment, onboarding, capability development and knowledge sharing across the DevOps community.
• →Support technology assessments, feasibility studies, and roadmap development.
• →Engage with stakeholders and customers, presenting and defending technical solutions and reporting on delivery progress, risks and mitigations.

• Extensive technical expertise in automation, orchestration, and secure DevOps practices.
• Ability to balance hands-on engineering and technical authority with people leadership, delivery management and mentorship.
• Demonstrable experience of leading and developing engineers and coordinating technical delivery.
• A problem-solving mindset with the confidence to recommend and justify technical approaches.

• Experience in the design, build and maintenance of CI/CD pipelines (Github Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps) and version control (Git)
• Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible, Helm)
• Containerisation and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift/Tanzu)
• Scripting and automation (Python, Bash, PowerShell)
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) and hybrid deployments
• Knowledge of DevSecOps and cyber security practices in software delivery
• Experience leading engineers and planning technical work to cost, quality and schedule

• Expertise in secrets management and PKI (e.g. HashiCorp Vault)
• Experience with monitoring/logging tools (ELK stack, Prometheus, Splunk)
• Familiarity with service mesh and modern networking (Istio, Envoy)
• Exposure to data engineering and integration (Apache ecosystem, SQL, Python)
• Recognised technical certifications (AWS/Azure Architect, Kubernetes CKA/CKAD, Terraform)
• Experience in influencing technical standards, best practices, or contributing to professional forums

This is not an exhaustive list, and we are keen to hear from you even if you might not have experience in all the above. The most important skill is a good attitude and willingness to learn.

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit: Security and Vetting | Leonardo UK

This role is based at one of our UK sites, Bristol, with hybrid/custom working options where appropriate.