Linux/DevOps SME
Location: Basingstoke - fully onsite
Contract: 12-month rolling contract
Rate: £550-£650 per day
IR35: Outside IR35
Clearance: Active MOD DV clearance required
Working Pattern: Full-time
The Role
We are looking for an experienced Linux/DevOps Subject Matter Expert (SME) to join a high-profile technical environment based onsite in Basingstoke.
You will provide senior-level technical expertise across Linux infrastructure, DevOps tooling, automation and platform engineering. The role will suit someone who is comfortable operating as a technical authority, solving complex infrastructure problems and working closely with engineering, development and operational teams.
Due to the nature of the environment, active MOD DV clearance is essential.
Key Responsibilities
- Act as a Linux and DevOps SME, providing technical leadership and guidance across the environment.
- Design, implement and maintain robust Linux-based infrastructure and platforms.
- Support the development and continuous improvement of DevOps processes and tooling.
- Automate infrastructure, configuration and operational processes wherever possible.
- Troubleshoot and resolve complex Linux, infrastructure and platform issues.
- Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines and associated tooling.
- Support infrastructure-as-code and configuration management practices.
- Contribute to platform resilience, availability, security and performance.
- Work closely with engineering, development, security and operations teams.
- Provide technical documentation, standards and best-practice guidance.
- Mentor and support other engineers where required.
- Investigate emerging technologies and recommend improvements to the existing platform.
- Participate in technical design, architecture and implementation activities.
Essential Skills & Experience
- Extensive commercial experience working with Linux in an enterprise environment.
- Strong hands-on experience across DevOps/Platform Engineering.
- Excellent Linux administration and troubleshooting skills.
- Strong Scripting/automation experience, ideally with Bash and/or Python.
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps tooling.
- Strong understanding of Git and source control.
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code, ideally Terraform and/or Ansible.
- Experience working with containers and container orchestration technologies.
- Strong understanding of networking, systems integration and infrastructure concepts.
- Experience working in secure, highly controlled or complex technical environments.
- Ability to operate independently as a senior technical SME.
- Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
- Current, active MOD DV clearance.
Desirable
- Kubernetes/OpenShift experience.
- Docker/containerisation.
- Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions or similar.
- Ansible.
- Terraform.
- Cloud platform experience.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux or equivalent.
- Experience within UK Government/MOD/Defence environments.
- Experience working with security-hardened Linux environments.
- Relevant Linux, DevOps or cloud certifications.
What We're Looking For
We're looking for a genuine hands-on SME, rather than someone purely focused on management. You should be comfortable getting into the detail, diagnosing difficult technical problems and making pragmatic engineering decisions.
You’ll be joining a technically demanding environment where your experience in Linux, automation and DevOps will have a direct impact on the reliability and evolution of the platform.
Contract Details
- 12-month rolling contract
- £550-£650 per day
- Outside IR35
- Full-time
- 100% onsite - Basingstoke
- MOD DV clearance required