Platform Specialist

Contract Platform Engineer (Security clearance essential) Portsmouth HQ (Fortnightly travel) Up to £580 p/d Inside IR35 Security clearance is essential We are looking to onboard an experienced Platform Engineer with a blend of technical leadership and hands-on delivery. The ideal candidate will be more focused on the hands-on Engineering (CI/CD, K8’s and Automation) with team leadership and architecture experience Ideal Candidate Profile A lead DevSecOps engineer or platform engineer who can lead technical direction, mentor teams, and still actively build solutions. The ideal candidate will have strong Kubernetes, Docker, Python, CI/CD and security expertise, plus experience delivering modern platforms in regulated, security-sensitive environments and integrating AI/ML capabilities into production system Key skills • Security cleared currently (We are not able to consider candidates with lapsed clearance) • Extensive experience with DevSecOps, Python, Kafka, K8’s, Docker, CI/CD and AI/MLCloud integration experience across Azure and AWS Architecture • Team leadership and architecture experience Key responsibilities • Technical leadership and strategic direction, helping guide and support the team • Hands-on engineering, designing and implementing solutions, building pipelines, automation, and platform improvements • Modernising existing platforms while also maintaining current environments • Work across two environments at different levels of maturity, requiring both transformation and operational support • Strong emphasis on DevSecOps within highly regulated environments • Experience working with: Air-gapped networks, Compliance-driven development ITAR-controlled systems and special access/compartmented environments • Security considerations are embedded throughout the development and deployment lifecycle • AI/ML integration is a core part of the role and likely involves deploying, securing and operationalising AI/ML models within the cloud platform.