Principal Infrastructure Engineer

Principal Infrastructure Engineer

Location: Basingstoke (Hybrid)
Salary: Up to £95K plus benefits
Security Clearance: Active UK DV required
Travel Required: Travel expected to client offices

The Mission

We are seeking a Principal Infrastructure Engineer to lead the technical evolution and delivery of our modern, high-security hybrid cloud ecosystem. Operating across both internal R&D and mission-critical customer delivery projects, you will act as a key technical authority and leader. 

You are more than an infrastructure specialist; you bring a software engineering mindset to platforms and systems, treating infrastructure as software and leveraging modern Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automation and declarative CI/CD pipelines. As a principal, you will own complex technical initiatives from whiteboard architecture through to production rollout: directing teams, mentoring engineers, and steering cross-functional initiatives across platforms.

Key Responsibilities

End-to-End Technical Leadership: Take complete technical ownership of complex, multi-domain infrastructure initiatives from initial architecture through to production deployment. Direct and guide engineering teams, assigning deliverables and maintaining technical standards throughout the delivery lifecycle.

Infrastructure Software Engineering: Architect and write high-quality, production-ready code. Build custom tooling, orchestrations and integration scripts to automate operations across modern platforms.

Continuous Integration & Delivery (CI/CD): Design, build and maintain robust automated CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure validation, automated testing and zero-downtime deployments.

Multi-Domain & Hybrid Ecosystems: Direct the strategy, design and integration across diverse platforms, combining deep Linux and Windows environments, software-defined networking, and cloud/virtualisation technologies.

Escalation & Engineering Forensics: Act as the technical authority and escalation point for major systemic incidents, applying deep-level diagnostics across software, physical hardware and high-security networks.

Technical Strategy & R&D: Drive innovation within internal R&D streams, evaluate emerging technologies, champion engineering best practice and setting standards for continuous improvement across the engineering organisation.

What you'll Bring

Software & Automation Rigor: Extensive, hands-on experience designing and delivering software artifacts, with proficiency across multiple coding languages (e.g Python, Java, Rust).

CI/CD Platform Mastery: Proven track record implementing continuous integration and deployment pipelines for platform configurations and infrastructure testing.

Multi-Domain Leadership: Demonstrated experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering projects start-to-finish, coordinating work across teams (systems, network, security, and cloud).

Broad Hybrid Platform Expertise: Deep engineering expertise spanning Linux systems (RHEL/Ubuntu), Enterprise Windows/Active Directory environments and Kubernetes platforms.

Delivery & Mentorship: Ability to mentor mid-level and senior engineers, articulate architectural visions to internal stakeholders and external clients, and maintain clear technical roadmaps.

Requirement: An active DV Clearance is essential due to the sensitive nature of the environments you will support.

The Benefits

Financial: Up to £95,000.

Security: Full-time, permanent role within a stable, high-growth sector.

Balance: A genuine hybrid working model based in Basingstoke and the South. Potential for international travel.

Perks: 25 days leave, private medical cover and a competitive pension.

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