DevOps Lead

At OCU Digital, we build technology that underpins critical services and infrastructure. Our platforms must be secure, resilient and trusted because the work we do matters. As our digital capability continues to grow, we are looking for an experienced DevOps based in Preston to lead and define how our platforms are built, deployed and operated at scale.

This is a rare opportunity to take end-to-end ownership of DevOps and application-layer reliability across OCU Digital, shaping standards, tooling and culture while leading and developing a talented DevOps engineering team.

About the role

The DevOps Lead is a senior technical leadership role accountable for the design, governance and continuous improvement of DevOps and reliability practices across OCU Digital.

You will define how OCU designs, builds, secures, deploys, operates and scales its digital platforms ensuring delivery is fast, repeatable, observable and resilient across all environments.

Working across our Digital Platform Teams (including OCU One, Data and Dynamics), you will set and govern standards for CI/CD pipelines, secure build and release practices, deployment automation, runtime configuration, observability and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE).

This role acts as the single point of accountability for DevOps capability, operating at the boundary between Engineering, Cloud & Infrastructure, Security and Architecture, its an exciting place to be!

In addition to technical leadership, you will have line management responsibility for DevOps Engineers embedded within platform teams, ensuring consistent practices, strong operational ownership and continuous capability uplift while enabling teams to deliver at pace with confidence.

Can you?

• Own and govern the DevOps tooling landscape, with explicit accountability for Azure DevOps configuration and administration
• Define and govern Azure DevOps Boards work item types, process templates and lifecycle models (Requirements, Change Requests, Work Requests, Bugs and Tasks)
• Define, own and continuously evolve CI/CD standards, templates and reusable pipeline patterns
• Govern how build, test, security scanning, deployment and rollback stages are implemented across platforms
• Enforce secure build and release practices aligned with security and architecture standards
• Own the reliability and performance of CI/CD pipelines, ensuring rapid recovery from failure
• Provide clear guidance and leadership on CI/CD tooling, patterns and best practice
• Ensure release processes are auditable, predictable and aligned to risk and change controls
• Support platform teams during complex or high-risk releases
• Design and govern the application-layer SRE monitoring and performance framework
• Define and manage service reliability standards, including SLIs, SLOs and error budgets
• Lead reliability practices such as fault injection, resilience testing and reliability drills
• Proactively identify reliability risks and drive preventative engineering improvements
• Deploy DevOps Engineers into Digital Platform Teams while maintaining central standards and governance
• Mentor senior engineers and support progression across the DevOps & SRE career framework
• Shape the DevOps capability roadmap, including future skills, tooling and hiring needs
• Foster a culture of ownership, reliability, learning and continuous improvement

What we need

• Extensive hands on experience leading DevOps and SRE practices in complex, multi platform environments
• Strong expertise in CI/CD tooling, including Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions
• Proven experience defining CI/CD standards, templates and secure build pipelines
• Deep understanding of cloud native architectures, Kubernetes and application runtime configuration
• Strong background in SRE concepts, including SLIs, SLOs, error budgets and reliability governance

Driven by values, powered by inclusion.

At OCU, our values guide everything we do: integrity, collaboration, respect, innovation and one company united. They shape how we work with our clients, communities, and each other. We believe that inclusion is more than a principle - it's the foundation of our success. By embracing equity and ensuring that every individual has the opportunity to thrive, we create a workplace where diverse perspectives are valued, and everyone feels they belong.

Together, we build stronger teams, deliver better outcomes, and grow in ways that reflect the communities we serve. If you want to be part of a culture where values matter and inclusion is at the heart of everything we do apply now and help us shape the future together.

If you are invited to progress in the recruitment process, will you require any reasonable adjustments to support you? Please let us know so we can ensure the process is accessible and fair for you. Any information you share will be treated confidentially and will only be used to support you during the recruitment process.