Location
London

Hours
Full Time

Salary
Competitive, commensurate with experience

About the Role
We are seeking a Senior Cloud Platform Engineer with deep expertise in Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Kubernetes, and High-Assurance UK Defence environments. In this role, you will design, deploy, and maintain mission-critical, sovereign cloud infrastructure for sensitive national security operations. You will operate at the intersection of modern cloud-native software engineering and strict defence compliance—building automated, air-gapped platforms using Google Distributed Cloud air-gapped (GDC air-gapped) and GKE Enterprise capable of supporting tactical edge analytics and disconnected containerised workloads.

Experience
- Proven experience delivering cloud platforms within UK Defence (MoD, CSOC, DE&S), Intelligence, or National Security environments
- Active UK SC Clearance, ideally MoD Developed Vetting or eligibility for DV
- Working knowledge of UK Government Security Classifications (OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE / SECRET / TOP SECRET), NCSC guidelines, and JSP 604 accreditation loops
- 3+ years of production experience operating Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- Expertise in Terraform for declarative infrastructure management
- Deep understanding of GCP networking (VPC Service Controls, Cloud Interconnect, Private Service Connect, Cloud NAT, DNS)
- Production experience administering GKE / GKE Enterprise
- Hands-on experience with container security, Service Mesh (Istio), and admission controllers (OPA/Gatekeeper or Kyverno)
- Experience managing air-gapped software deployments where continuous internet connectivity is absent

About you
You are a highly skilled cloud engineer with a strong background in high-assurance and defence environments. You have a passion for secure, sovereign infrastructure and thrive working with complex compliance frameworks. You are proactive, detail-oriented, and able to operate effectively in challenging, disconnected, or low-bandwidth environments.

Qualifications
- GCP Professional Cloud Architect, GCP Professional Cloud Security Engineer, or Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certifications are desirable
- Experience with Google Distributed Cloud air-gapped (GDC air-gapped) hardware appliances or edge deployments
- Familiarity with event streaming technologies (Kafka, Cloud Pub/Sub) in low-bandwidth, intermittent, or limited connectivity scenarios
- Background in Armed Forces technical branches, tactical C4ISR systems, or specialised defence consultancies is advantageous