Principal Platform Engineer - Secure Environments

Job Description:

Your Impact

Are you ready to take on complex technical challenges and help lead the delivery of secure platforms that support critical customer missions?

At Leonardo, our Principal Platform Engineers combine hands-on technical expertise with engineering leadership and delivery oversight. You will shape the design, integration and implementation of secure platforms, while providing direction, mentoring and support to the engineers delivering them.

Your work at Leonardo UK will see you take the lead in solving customer problems in an agile, innovative and team-centric manner. Due to the nature of the environments supported, the role will require regular and sustained attendance at secure customer locations, alongside working at Leonardo sites where programme and security constraints permit. Due to the nature of the systems and environments supported, this role requires Developed Vetting clearance prior to starting.

This role is focused on delivering, maintaining and improving platform and systems engineering solutions that underpin critical defence, government and public-sector services.

What you will do as a Principal Platform Engineer

• Act as a technical authority across one or more platform engineering domains, providing specialist expertise and direction to projects and programmes.
• Lead the design, integration and implementation of secure platforms across on-premises, highly controlled and, where appropriate, hybrid or cloud environments.
• Maintain sufficient hands-on technical involvement to support delivery, resolve complex engineering problems and provide assurance over the work of the wider team.
• Capture, analyse and interpret complex customer requirements, translating them into effective platform designs and deliverable engineering activities.
• Develop, review and assure high-level and low-level designs, ensuring alignment with secure-by-design principles, engineering governance and customer requirements.
• Take ownership of technical delivery within work packages, including planning, estimation, resourcing, risk management, progress reporting and technical acceptance.
• Coordinate and provide technical direction to multidisciplinary engineering teams, ensuring activities are delivered to the required cost, quality and schedule.
• Mentor, coach and develop junior and senior engineers, raising technical capability and promoting knowledge-sharing across the engineering community.
• Support recruitment, technical screening, interviewing and onboarding where required.
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders, presenting technical solutions, reporting delivery risks and justifying engineering decisions.
• Drive continuous improvement through automation, reusable engineering patterns, common standards and lessons learned.
• Provide input to technology strategies, feasibility studies, innovation activities and future capability planning.
• Undertake line-management or people-leadership responsibilities where these form part of the agreed role.

What you’ll bring

• Extensive technical experience across platform and infrastructure engineering, with a track record of delivering secure and resilient solutions.
• The ability to combine hands-on technical engineering with technical leadership, delivery ownership and the coordination of engineering teams.
• Strong technical judgement and a problem-solving mindset, with the ability to assess options and recommend proportionate solutions to complex challenges.
• Experience providing technical direction, mentoring engineers and assuring engineering outputs.
• The ability to plan engineering activities, manage technical dependencies and clearly communicate progress, risks and decisions.
• Confidence engaging with customers, architects, project teams, service teams and other engineering disciplines.
• Broad platform engineering capability, supported by deeper experience in one or more relevant technical areas.

Core areas (must have)

• Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform engineering.
• VMware or comparable enterprise virtualisation technologies, with VMware Cloud Foundation experience highly desirable.
• Networking concepts, including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing and firewalls.
• Delivery within highly controlled, regulated or secure environments, such as defence or air-gapped systems.
• Automation and scripting using technologies such as PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible or Terraform.
• Infrastructure lifecycle management, including deployment, configuration, patching, upgrading, monitoring and sustainment.
• Knowledge of cyber security controls, secure-by-design principles and accreditation requirements.
• Experience across the systems engineering lifecycle.
• Development, review and assurance of high-level and low-level technical designs.
• Ownership or coordination of technical delivery, including planning, estimation, risk management and progress reporting.
• Technical leadership, mentoring and the ability to guide engineers working across different platform disciplines.

Desirable

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

• Privileged Access Management, including CyberArk or comparable technologies.
• Public Key Infrastructure, certificate lifecycle management and trust services.
• Cross-domain solutions, secure data transfer and controlled data flows across trust boundaries.
• VMware Cloud Foundation, including vSphere, vSAN, NSX and VMware Aria.
• Software-defined data-centre technologies.
• DevOps, DevSecOps and CI/CD practices.
• Platform deployment pipelines and Infrastructure as Code.
• Ansible, Terraform and platform automation.
• VMware Aria Automation Suite.
• Active Directory, identity services and wider enterprise integrations.
• Cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.
• Containerisation platforms such as Kubernetes or Docker.
• Security monitoring, SIEM and integration with SOC tooling.
• ITIL or service-management practices.
• Relevant technical, engineering or leadership certifications.

Candidates are not expected to be specialists in every area. We are particularly interested in broadly capable platform engineers who bring depth in one or more of these domains and can work across a multidisciplinary secure-platform 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

his role will be based from our Bristol site and will support secure customer programmes delivered from Yeovil and other secure locations.

Regular and sustained attendance at Yeovil will be required. Due to the nature of the environments supported, this is not a traditional hybrid role and candidates should expect significant on-site working throughout delivery activities.

Flexible or remote working may be possible for suitable activities where programme requirements, customer expectations and security constraints permit.

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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