Platform Engineer - Secure Operations

Job Description:

Your Impact

Do you want to develop your engineering career while helping operate, maintain and improve secure platforms that protect national security? At Leonardo, our Platform Engineers provide the hands-on engineering and operational support that keeps critical customer services secure, available and fit for purpose.

Your work at Leonardo UK will see you solve customer and service problems in an agile, innovative and team-centric manner. This is an operational role supporting highly controlled environments, requiring regular on-site working and close collaboration with senior engineers, service management, security and customer teams.

Leonardo UK is seeking a Platform Engineer to join the Cyber & Security Solutions Division team. This role is focused on operating, maintaining and improving platform and systems engineering solutions that underpin critical defence, government and public sector services.

What you will do as a Platform Engineer

• Operate, maintain and support secure Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and virtualised platforms within highly controlled environments.

• Deliver assigned operational engineering tasks, including deployments, configuration changes, monitoring, patching, upgrades, backup and service enhancements.

• Support incident, problem and change activity, investigating technical issues and contributing to recovery and root-cause analysis.

• Maintain secure configurations, platform baselines, support documentation, runbooks and knowledge articles.

• Troubleshoot platform, network, integration and service issues, escalating complex problems where appropriate.

• Contribute to low-level designs, implementation plans, testing, technical evidence and operational documentation.

• Work with Senior and Principal Engineers to support operational readiness, service acceptance and transition into business-as-usual support.

• Contribute to continuous improvement through automation, reusable engineering patterns and improvements to support processes.

• Share knowledge with colleagues and support the development of wider team capability.

What you’ll bring

• A solid grounding in IT infrastructure, with hands-on experience in system administration, engineering or technical support.
• The ability to work independently on defined activities while collaborating effectively within a wider operational engineering team.
• A disciplined service mindset, with attention to detail and a willingness to take ownership of assigned issues and tasks.
• A proactive approach to learning new technologies and developing broader platform engineering capability.
• The ability to communicate clearly with technical, service management, security and customer stakeholders.

Core areas (must have):

• Hands-on experience with Windows Server and/or Red Hat Enterprise Linux administration and support.
• Experience with enterprise virtualisation technologies, such as VMware or Hyper-V.
• Networking fundamentals including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing and firewalls.
• Experience supporting infrastructure or platforms within a controlled, regulated or secure environment.
• Infrastructure lifecycle activities including deployment, configuration, monitoring, patching, upgrading, backup and sustainment.
• Understanding of incident, problem, change and configuration management within an ITIL-aligned service environment.
• Awareness of cyber security controls, system hardening and vulnerability remediation.
• Troubleshooting and fault-finding across integrated infrastructure and platform services.
• Creation and maintenance of technical documentation, such as support guides, runbooks and configuration records.

Desirable:

Experience in one or more of the following areas would be highly desirable:

• VMware Cloud Foundation, including vSphere, vSAN, NSX or VMware Aria.
• Automation or scripting using PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible or Terraform.
• Privileged Access Management, including CyberArk or comparable technologies.
• Public Key Infrastructure, certificate lifecycle management or trust services.
• Cross-domain solutions, secure data transfer or controlled data flows across trust boundaries.
• DevOps, DevSecOps, CI/CD pipelines or Infrastructure as Code.
• Active Directory, identity services and wider enterprise integrations.
• Security monitoring, SIEM, endpoint security or integration with SOC tooling.
• Cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.
• Containerisation platforms such as Kubernetes or Docker.
• Relevant Microsoft, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, cyber security or cloud certifications.

Candidates are not expected to have experience in every area. We are particularly interested in capable operational platform engineers who have a sound technical foundation, bring experience in one or more relevant domains and are keen to develop across the wider secure-service environment.

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) will apply. This role requires Developed Vetting (DV) clearance prior to starting.

For more information and guidance please visit: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/security-and-vetting

Location

This role is based at our Yeovil site and supports the ongoing operation of secure customer environments. Due to the nature of the service and the systems supported, regular on-site attendance is required and this is not a traditional hybrid role.

Applications from candidates who would need to relocate to the Yeovil area are welcome. Relocation support is available, subject to policy and eligibility, and can be discussed during the recruitment process.

Why join us

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work-life balance.

• Time to Recharge: Generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits such as private healthcare, lifestyle discounts, and gym memberships.
• Flexible Working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options.

For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website.

Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team-they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.

At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Be part of something bigger - apply now!

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