Linux SME - DV Cleared

Linux SMELocation: Reading - fully onsite
Contract: 12-month rolling contract
Rate: £600-£650 per day
IR35: Outside IR35
Clearance: Active MOD DV clearance required
Working Pattern: Full-time

The Role

We are looking for an experienced Linux Subject Matter Expert (SME) to join a high-profile technical environment based onsite in Reading .

You will provide senior-level technical expertise across Linux infrastructure, DevOps tooling, automation and platform engineering. The role will suit someone who is comfortable operating as a technical authority, solving complex infrastructure problems and working closely with engineering, development and operational teams.

Due to the nature of the environment, active MOD DV clearance is essential .

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a Linux and DevOps SME, providing technical leadership and guidance across the environment.
• Design, implement and maintain robust Linux-based infrastructure and platforms.
• Support the development and continuous improvement of DevOps processes and tooling.
• Automate infrastructure, configuration and operational processes wherever possible.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex Linux, infrastructure and platform issues.
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines and associated tooling.
• Support infrastructure-as-code and configuration management practices.
• Contribute to platform resilience, availability, security and performance.
• Work closely with engineering, development, security and operations teams.
• Provide technical documentation, standards and best-practice guidance.
• Mentor and support other engineers where required.
• Investigate emerging technologies and recommend improvements to the existing platform.
• Participate in technical design, architecture and implementation activities.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Extensive commercial experience working with Linux in an enterprise environment .
• Strong hands-on experience across DevOps/Platform Engineering .
• Excellent Linux administration and troubleshooting skills.
• Strong Scripting/automation experience, ideally with Bash and/or Python .
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps tooling .
• Strong understanding of Git and source control .
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code , ideally Terraform and/or Ansible.
• Experience working with containers and container orchestration technologies.
• Strong understanding of networking, systems integration and infrastructure concepts.
• Experience working in secure, highly controlled or complex technical environments.
• Ability to operate independently as a senior technical SME.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
• Current, active MOD DV clearance.

Desirable

• Kubernetes/OpenShift experience.
• Docker/containerisation.
• Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions or similar.
• Ansible.
• Terraform.
• Cloud platform experience.
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux or equivalent.
• Experience within UK Government/MOD/Defence environments.
• Experience working with security-hardened Linux environments.
• Relevant Linux, DevOps or cloud certifications.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for a genuine hands-on SME , rather than someone purely focused on management. You should be comfortable getting into the detail, diagnosing difficult technical problems and making pragmatic engineering decisions.

You'll be joining a technically demanding environment where your experience in Linux, automation and DevOps will have a direct impact on the reliability and evolution of the platform.

Contract Details

• 12-month rolling contract
• £600-£650 per day
• Outside IR35
• Full-time
• 100% onsite - Reading
• MOD DV clearance required

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