Lead Cloud Engineer - Research

Location -Newquay (flexible with minimum of 5 days per month onsite)

Salary - £55,491 plus 10% achievable bonus

We're supporting a respected UK institution with a specialist central IT team focused on enabling secure, compliant cloud deployments for research workloads - primarily on Microsoft Azure (with light AWS exposure). The collaborative team (6 people) is growing its DevOps capability and needs a hands‑on lead engineer to own Azure DevOps practices, mentor colleagues transitioning to cloud, and guide researchers in building robust, governed deployments.

This is a true leadership + technical ownership role: Azure DevOps SME, CI/CD pipeline architect, coaching/mentoring lead, and final escalation point for complex cloud/dev issues in a highly regulated environment.

What you'll be doing

• Act as the go‑to expert for Azure DevOps: pipelines (YAML), repos/branching policies, CI/CD automation, troubleshooting, and resource management
• Design, build, and optimise pipelines to accelerate secure software delivery for research applications
• Provide hands‑on guidance to researchers/developers (often with limited pro dev experience) on writing fit‑for‑purpose, secure code - strong .NET/Python preferred
• Coach and upskill the team on DevOps/cloud best practices, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement
• Support core Azure services (Web Apps, Storage, SQL/PostgreSQL/MySQL databases, Monitor/logs, Entra ID App Registrations) and ensure compliance/security (OWASP, governed tenant standards)
• Create/maintain technical documentation (designs, runbooks, guides) and contribute to quality processes
• Troubleshoot incidents, drive root‑cause fixes, monitor SLAs, and identify service enhancements
• Collaborate across IT teams, represent in change/service meetings, and promote operational excellence

What we're looking for - Essential

• Solid development background, ideally .NET and/or Python, to assist with code quality/security
• Proven coaching/mentoring skills in cloud/DevOps for mixed‑experience teams
• Experience designing/deploying/maintaining Azure services in enterprise/governed environments
• Strong knowledge of Azure resources (Web Apps, Storage, Databases, Monitor, Entra ID) and log analysis
• Excellent troubleshooting, documentation, and communication skills
• Some AWS exposure
• PowerShell/ARM/JSON scripting
• Microsoft certifications (e.g., AZ-104, AZ-204)
• ITIL Foundation or Agile experience
• Background in higher education/research support