DevOps Lead / DevOps Manager

DevOps Lead - AI-Enabled Software Engineering

Location: Reading (Hybrid)

Permanent

We are seeking an experienced and hands-on DevOps Lead to join a leading digital infrastructure organisation undergoing significant technology transformation. This is a unique opportunity to lead a high-performing software engineering team while driving the adoption of AI-assisted development practices across the software delivery lifecycle.

As DevOps Lead, you will be responsible for setting the technical direction, owning the engineering roadmap, and ensuring the successful delivery and ongoing support of bespoke cloud-based applications. You will combine strong leadership capabilities with hands-on software development experience, leveraging modern AI-powered engineering tools to improve delivery speed, quality, and developer productivity.

The Opportunity

You will lead an Agile software development team comprising engineers, analysts, and QA specialists responsible for building and maintaining business-critical applications for internal users, customers, and external partners.

This role offers the opportunity to shape engineering best practices, modernise development processes, and drive innovation through AI-enabled software delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Delivery

• Lead and mentor a cross-functional software development team in an Agile environment.
• Define and execute the technical roadmap, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Drive the successful delivery of cloud-based applications and digital initiatives.
• Collaborate closely with business stakeholders to manage priorities, expectations, risks, and dependencies.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, within scope, and to a high standard of quality.

Technical Ownership

• Own the end-to-end technology stack including frontend, backend, APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Ensure solutions align with enterprise architecture, scalability, performance, and security standards.
• Champion DevOps best practices including automation, monitoring, observability, and operational excellence.
• Maintain robust security controls, vulnerability management, and compliance standards.

AI-Assisted Engineering

• Act as a hands-on contributor to software development activities.
• Drive adoption of AI-assisted coding tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and code generation platforms.
• Establish best practices for safe, secure, and effective AI-assisted development.
• Embed AI-enabled workflows across design, coding, testing, documentation, and knowledge management.
• Ensure AI-generated outputs meet engineering, security, and architectural standards.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities to enhance engineering productivity and delivery capability.

Skills & Experience Required

• Proven experience leading software engineering or DevOps teams.
• Strong background delivering cloud-native applications within Agile environments.
• Experience with public cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Strong understanding of full-stack development, APIs, databases, and software architecture.
• Expertise with source control, CI/CD automation, and DevOps tooling such as Git, Jenkins, Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar technologies.
• Experience implementing monitoring, observability, and operational support practices.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience using AI-assisted development tools and integrating them into engineering workflows.

Desirable Experience

• Experience establishing AI governance and secure AI development standards.
• Exposure to integrating AI tooling into CI/CD pipelines and software delivery processes.
• Understanding of prompt engineering, code validation, and AI risk management.
• Experience working within highly regulated or security-conscious environments.

Qualifications

Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Systems, Electronic Engineering, or a related discipline.

Why Apply?

This is an opportunity to play a key role in shaping the future of software engineering within a technology-driven organisation. You'll have the autonomy to influence technical strategy, lead a talented team, and drive the adoption of cutting-edge AI-assisted development practices while delivering solutions that have a significant business impact.

Project People is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.