Lead DevOps Engineer

Who are V? As a global leader in ship management and marine services, we add value to a vessel’s operations. Operating around the clock and around the world, V. gives every client the quality and efficiency they need in every sector. Covering crew management and recruitment, quality ship management and technical services, together with supporting management and commercial services, V. has an unrivalled industry knowledge with performance assured. Our values, We Care, We Collaborate, We Challenge, We are Consistent, We Commit and Deliver, are at the heart of everything we do and they support our strategy of Investing in Talent. We are always interested in making contact with talented individuals - people who will demonstrate our values and deliver great service, for internal and external stakeholders.

Overall Purpose of The Job

The Lead DevOps Engineer is a Glasgow-based, senior player-coach role filling a critical capability gap in the IT Director’s team. You will own security, cloud cost optimisation and developer experience, while actively coaching and upskilling engineers.

The role is split approximately 50% coaching and upskilling engineers and 50% infrastructure strategy. You will report into the IT Delivery Director (hard line) with a dotted line to the Head of Engineering, and uphold engineering standards across squads working with our development partners.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and own the DevOps strategy, CI/CD pipelines, cloud infrastructure and tooling across ShipSure.
• Own cloud cost optimisation (FinOps), driving efficiency and value for money across cloud spend.
• Own the platform security posture, embedding security into the software development lifecycle (DevSecOps).
• Uphold ISO 27001 controls and the information security management system (ISMS), embedding security compliance into pipelines, cloud infrastructure and ways of working.
• Improve developer experience through paved-road tooling, self-service automation and reduced friction in the delivery pipeline.

Coaching & Capability (~50%)

• Coach, mentor and upskill engineers across squads in DevOps, automation and cloud-native practices.
• Operate as a hands-on player-coach — contributing directly while raising the capability of the team.
• Uphold and evolve engineering standards in partnership with the Head of Engineering.
• Operate as a member of the IT Delivery Director’s leadership team, filling a critical capability gap.
• Partner with development partners to ensure consistent DevOps practice across internal and outsourced squads.
• Report on security, reliability, cloud cost and developer-experience metrics.
• Liaise closely with the Head of Information and Cyber Security to uphold ISO 27001 and broader information security compliance across the platform.

Person Specification

• Significant experience in DevOps, platform engineering or SRE, including a leadership or player-coach element.
• 3+ years’ hands-on Microsoft Azure experience (required), including cloud cost optimisation / FinOps; experience of other cloud providers (AWS or GCP) is helpful but not essential.
• Strong CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code experience (e.g. Terraform, pipelines, containers/Kubernetes).
• Solid security / DevSecOps experience, embedding security into the SDLC.
• Demonstrable experience coaching and upskilling engineers.
• Able to be Glasgow-based with regular onsite presence.
• Experience in maritime, ERP, or multi-tenant SaaS environments.
• Experience working across multi-vendor / outsourced delivery models.
• Relevant cloud or FinOps certifications.
• Experience operating within an ISO 27001-certified environment (or equivalent ISMS), including security controls, audit and compliance.

Working Conditions

• Glasgow-based; hybrid working with regular onsite presence in the Glasgow office.
• Occasional travel to London or other V.Group sites as required.
• A minimum of three days per week onsite in the Glasgow office is required.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary within the stated band, plus annual bonus.
• Glasgow-based; hybrid working from the Glasgow office.
• The opportunity to shape a platform that manages thousands of vessels worldwide.
• Access to cutting-edge AI-assisted development practices.
• Private healthcare, pension contribution, and 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays.
• A collaborative, ambitious team working on a programme with genuine board-level sponsorship.