Senior Platform Engineer (JFF5) - DV Clearance

Successful candidate must hold a minimum of DV (Developed Vetting) clearance. More information can be found here - National security vetting: clearance levels - (url removed) (www.(url removed))

Our client, a prominent organisation in the Defence & Security sector, is seeking a Senior Platform Engineer to join their team on a contract basis. This six-month initial contract role requires 3-4 days on-site per week in Yeovil. The successful candidate will be instrumental in developing and supporting critical platforms that secure national interests.

• Lead the design, build, and support of secure platforms in on-premise and hybrid environments.
• Take ownership of engineering delivery for various work packages, including planning, estimation, execution, and reporting.
• Develop and review system architectures, low-level designs, and technical documentation.
• Integrate and test platform components to meet security and performance requirements.
• Provide mentoring, guidance, and technical leadership to Platform Engineers and Technicians.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, project teams, and customers to ensure solutions meet requirements.
• Drive continuous improvement and contribute to internal engineering standards.

Essential skills and experience required for this role include:

• Significant technical ability and experience in delivering and supporting complex platforms.
• Ability to balance hands-on engineering with technical leadership and mentoring.
• Confidence in taking ownership of solutions and representing engineering in technical discussions.
• Windows and Linux (RHEL) operating systems administration and engineering.
• Virtualised infrastructure (VMware / Hyper-V) design, build, and support.
• Platform hardening, patching, and security compliance across Windows and Linux environments.
• Enterprise identity and access integration (Active Directory, Group Policy, LDAP).
• Automation and configuration management (PowerShell, Bash, Ansible).
• Networking concepts (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing, firewalls).
• Knowledge of cyber security controls and accreditation requirements.
• Experience throughout the systems engineering lifecycle.
• Integration of compute, storage, and virtualisation layers into a unified platform.
• Experience in delivery within secure, enterprise, or defence environments.

Additional skills that would be advantageous include:

• RHEL ecosystem tooling (e.g., Satellite, lifecycle management).
• Windows enterprise services (e.g., AD advanced config, Group Policy design).
• Virtualisation platform depth (VMware stack, clustering, HA/DR).
• Performance tuning and troubleshooting across Linux and Windows systems.
• Container platforms (Kubernetes, OpenShift, Docker).
• Integration with enterprise services (PKI, PAM, monitoring, backup).
• Automation at scale (Infrastructure as Code, pipelines).
• Experience supporting mixed OS environments in secure or regulated contexts.

If you have a strong background in platform engineering with the essential skills listed above, and you are looking for a challenging role within the Defence & Security sector, we would be excited to hear from you. Apply now to join our client''s dynamic team in Yeovil.