Lead IaC Test Engineer - Newcastle - 6 month contract

Overview

I am workign with a consutlancy feeding into the Public sector looking for an Lead IaC Test Engineer to join a contract. 6 month. Inside IR35. 60% of the week travel to Newcastle.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategy and Leadership: Define and lead the IaC test automation strategy for the PDU, championing quality and best practices.
• Framework Development: Design, build, and maintain scalable and resilient automated testing frameworks for infrastructure as code using industry-standard tools.
• End-to-End IaC Testing: Lead the automated testing of Terraform, Ansible, and other IaC scripts to ensure correct resource creation and configuration, performance, and operational stability.
• Security & Compliance: Drive the integration of security and compliance testing into the CI/CD pipeline, ensuring all deployments adhere to internal policies and government standards.
• CI/CD Integration: Take ownership of integrating and optimising automated tests within our CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab CI) for continuous validation and rapid feedback.

Essential Skills and Criteria

• IaC Expertise: Extensive experience with a major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud) and expert-level, hands-on experience using IaC tools, such as Terraform or Ansible.
• Test Automation: A proven track record of designing, building, and leading automated testing strategies and frameworks for both infrastructure and application layers.
• Experience using specific IaC testing frameworks, such as Terratest, InSpec, or Gherkin.
• Scripting & Programming: Senior-level proficiency in multiple scripting or programming languages relevant to test automation (e.g., Python, Bash, or JavaScript).
• Cloud Architecture: A deep and comprehensive understanding of cloud principles, architecture, networking, security, and identity and access management.
• Agile/DevOps Practices: A strong background in modern agile and DevOps methodologies, with a demonstrable ability to integrate and improve CI/CD practices (e.g., GitLab CI).
• Communication & Leadership: Exceptional communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills, with a proven ability to provide technical leadership and mentor colleagues.
• Experience with containers and orchestration tools (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
• Extensive knowledge of monitoring and observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana).
• A strong background working with large-scale digital transformation projects in the public sector.