Senior Software Engineer / Infrastructure Automation Lead

Job Title: Senior Python Engineer / Infrastructure Automation Lead Location: Manchester ( Hybrid -2 days per week, or every fortnight based on candidate trust and performance) IR35: Inside Role Overview: We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Python Engineer with strong experience in Infrastructure Automation to lead and mentor a growing team of junior developers. This role is ideal for someone passionate about technical leadership and upskilling team members, with a focus on Python development and infrastructure automation in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. You will take charge of a team currently comprising 3 graduate developers (with plans to add 3 more), helping them develop their technical expertise and adopt best practices. This role also requires close collaboration with senior stakeholders and non-technical teams to drive transformation and automation initiatives, making it essential that you possess strong stakeholder management skills. Key Responsibilities: - Mentorship and Leadership: Lead and mentor a team of junior developers, particularly recent graduates, providing technical guidance in Python development and infrastructure automation. - Infrastructure Automation: Design, implement, and maintain infrastructure automation solutions using tools such as Ansible, Terraform, and Chef to optimize and scale infrastructure across the organization. - API Production: Drive the development of production-ready APIs and application code using Python, ensuring seamless integration with existing systems. - Stakeholder Management: Engage with senior stakeholders and non-technical communities to understand their concerns, perform demos, and drive transformation initiatives. - Best Practices: Advocate for and implement best practices across the team, ensuring high-quality code and operational efficiency. - Cross-functional Collaboration: Work with infrastructure and software development teams to architect, build, and maintain cloud-native applications using event-driven microservice architectures (e.g., OpenShift and Kafka). - CI/CD Pipelines: Oversee the implementation and continuous improvement of CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab), ensuring an efficient development and deployment process. - Observability: Build observability into applications through alerting, logging, and monitoring frameworks, ensuring quick recovery from failures. - Collaborative Working Sessions: Lead collaborative sessions with team members to tackle technical challenges, write code together, and teach best practices, fostering a culture of continuous learning. Required Experience: - Proven experience as a Senior Python Engineer with strong knowledge of infrastructure automation. - Experience working with IaaC tools like Ansible, Terraform, and Chef. - Expertise in building production-ready APIs and application code, particularly in Python. - Experience in cloud-native architectures, especially event-driven, microservice-based systems, with tools like OpenShift and Kafka. - Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, using tools such as Jenkins and GitLab. - Strong knowledge of observability frameworks (logging, alerting, monitoring). - Stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences. - Experience working with on-premises technology (not just cloud-focused). Desired Skills: - Experience mentoring and developing early career engineers, with a focus on creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment. - Proficiency in delivering technical workshops, collaborative working sessions, and running live demonstrations. - A collaborative mindset with a track record of working alongside cross-functional teams to solve technical challenges. Work Environment: This role offers flexibility with 2 days per week in Manchester, or every other week if trust and delivery are established. If you are a highly experienced Python engineer with a strong background in infrastructure automation and leadership, we want to hear from you.