Head of Dev Ops

Sponge has built a global reputation for pushing boundaries in the digital learning space. Our customers include companies whose products you might use every day, through to smaller companies looking to upskill their people to stay one step ahead of the competition. We design effective and engaging learning applications focused on making a difference to the lives of our learners.

There's no greater gift in life than an education. Want a job with a purpose? Then join us to help deliver unforgettable learning.

Role and responsibilities

Reporting to the CTO, the candidate will be a seasoned DevOps engineer wishing to move into a management role, but still enjoy rolling their sleeves up. The role has one direct report (DevOps engineer), and we're likely to hire another DevOps engineer later in the year.

• Design, deploy and maintain Public Cloud (AWS and GCP) infrastructure. Note the strategy is to move across to AWS entirely over time.
• Line manages one DevOps Engineer.
• Select, adopt, and maintain deployment tools.
• Define service level metrics and implementing the monitoring tools for applications.
• Work closely with the software development teams ensure smooth and continuous deployment of applications.
• Maintain and evolve CI/CD pipelines.
• Troubleshooting and incident management.
• Support is mostly in UK business hours, but there maybe a need for the occasional out of hours support.
• Identify and act on areas of improvement and optimisation.
• Define processes and tools for deployment, incident / problem managemet

Qualifications and background:

• Preferably a bachelor's degree in engineering or science, but we will consider other degrees for the right candidate4+ years of DevOps experience at a Senior or Manager level. Management/Leadership roles would be good but aren't essential.
• Hands on experience with SaaS applications.

Experience with:

• Terraform
• Agile software development practises.
• AWS and GCP infrastructure.
• Kubernetes
• Linux based environments
• Repos: Git (and Github) and Github Actions.
• Config management: Ansible or Puppet.
• Languages/scripts: Python, Shell, Perl.
• Security accreditation – As a SaaS provider, security matters for our medium-large enterprise customers so experience with ISO27001, and SOC compliance would be a bonus.

We will consider candidates who've been software developers but want to move into a DevOps role.

Tech stack

The Tech stack comprises of:

• OS: Linux (no Windows deployments)
• Languages – Perl, Shell Script, Python and PHP
• Managed Kubernetes
• AWS Lambda, Step Functions
• Databases: Postgres, Redis
• Open-source apps: Apache Airflow, Key Cloak, CraftCMS
• Development Frameworks: Django, Tailwind CSS/UI

Who we are…We're a world leading, digital learning provider, designing and delivering training solutions for global brands across multiple sectors and industries including pharmaceutical, technology, finance, retail, manufacturing, and professional services. Our exciting client list includes some of the worlds' biggest brands – AstraZeneca, Coca-Cola, IKEA, Tesco, and Royal Mail, to name but a few. With strong financial backing, we're growing fast, focused on being a global leader in learning and development, bringing together a heritage of creativity and technology, and applying the latest thinking in learning science to deliver truly effective digital learning.

What we can offer you……

• A competitive salary – our priority is to find the right person
• Flexible working hours and the opportunity to work from home some of the week
• Pension
• Income protection and life assurance
• 5 weeks holiday plus bank holidays
• Your birthday off
• A fabulous health cash plan

Location

Our new headquarters is in the Bristol area (The Paintworks). We offer a mix of home and office working because we believe both are necessary for a high performing team. We know you need some time to concentrate and avoid constant commuting, so homeworking is essential, but we also feel face-to-face time is important too.

We work in a Hybrid way with ideally 3 days per week in the office and the rest of the week worked remotely. We offer flexible working options also to help find the right work-life balance for you.

We currently have main offices in the UK in Bristol, Plymouth, Glasgow, and in Europe in Berlin and Brussels.

Be you, with us!

At Sponge, we are all different. And that's what makes us great! We hire talented people with different and diverse backgrounds, stories, and perspectives not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes us stronger.

We are actively working and committed to increasing diversity in our teams and management positions. It's our ambition to create an inclusive environment where we can all be ourselves together.

What's next?

If this sounds like you, then you're on your way to joining a forward-thinking industry leader and a team of like-minded, exceptionally talented people. Simply send us your CV, and we will be in touch.

We can't wait to hear from you!