Senior Platform Engineer - Secure Operations

Job Description:

Your Impact 

Are you ready to take the next step in your engineering career and help operate, maintain and improve secure platforms that protect national security? At Leonardo, our Senior Platform Engineers combine strong hands-on technical capability with engineering leadership, service ownership and continuous improvement, helping ensure the platforms supporting our customers remain secure, available and fit for purpose.

Your work at Leonardo UK will see you solve customer and service problems in an agile, innovative and team-centric manner. This is an operational role supporting highly controlled environments, requiring regular on-site working and close collaboration with engineering, service management, security and customer teams.

Leonardo UK is seeking a Senior Platform Engineer to join the Cyber & Security Solutions Division team. This role is focused on operating, maintaining, assuring and improving platform and systems engineering solutions that underpin critical defence, government and public sector services.
 
What you will do as a Senior Platform Engineer  

• Operate, maintain and improve secure Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and virtualised platforms within highly controlled environments.
• Take ownership of operational engineering activities and defined work packages, including planning, estimation, execution, risk management and progress reporting.
• Provide technical leadership during incidents, problems and changes, coordinating investigation, recovery and root-cause activity where required.
• Maintain secure configurations, platform baselines, support documentation, runbooks and knowledge articles.
• Plan and deliver platform lifecycle activities including deployment, monitoring, patching, upgrading, vulnerability remediation, backup and service continuity.
• Troubleshoot complex platform, network, integration and service issues, working across engineering, cyber security, service management and customer teams.
• Develop, review and assure low-level designs, implementation plans, test evidence and technical documentation.
• Mentor and guide Platform Engineers and Technicians, supporting knowledge transfer and the development of wider team capability.
• Support operational readiness, service acceptance and transition from project delivery into business-as-usual support.
• Identify and implement continuous improvements through automation, reusable engineering patterns and more effective support processes.
• Support technical recruitment, interviewing and onboarding where required.

What you’ll bring 

• Strong hands-on technical ability with experience operating and supporting complex, secure platforms.
• The ability to balance engineering delivery with technical leadership, mentoring and operational ownership.
• A disciplined service mindset, with the confidence to take ownership of issues and represent engineering in technical and operational discussions.
• The ability to work across technical, security, service management and customer stakeholders to maintain service integrity.
• Broad platform engineering capability, supported by deeper experience in one or more relevant technology areas.

Core areas (must have): 

• Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux administration and engineering.
• Enterprise virtualisation technologies, particularly VMware or Hyper-V.
• Networking concepts including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing and firewalls.
• Operation and support of platforms within highly controlled, regulated or secure environments, such as defence or air-gapped systems.
• Infrastructure lifecycle management including deployment, configuration, monitoring, patching, upgrading, backup and sustainment.
• Incident, problem, change and configuration management within an ITIL-aligned service environment.
• Cyber security controls, system hardening, vulnerability remediation and secure-by-design principles.
• Troubleshooting and root-cause analysis across integrated infrastructure and platform services.
• Technical documentation including support guides, runbooks, configuration baselines and low-level designs.
• Automation or scripting using technologies such as PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible or Terraform.
• Technical leadership, mentoring and coordination of engineering activity.

Desirable: 

• Experience in one or more of the following areas would be highly desirable:
• VMware Cloud Foundation, including vSphere, vSAN, NSX and VMware Aria.
• 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.
• DevOps, DevSecOps, CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code.
• Ansible, Terraform and platform automation.
• Active Directory, identity services and wider enterprise integrations.
• Security monitoring, SIEM, endpoint security and integration with SOC tooling.
• Cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.
• Containerisation platforms such as Kubernetes or Docker.
• Relevant Microsoft, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, cyber security or cloud certifications.

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

This role is based at our Yeovil site and supports the ongoing operation of secure customer environments. Due to the nature of the service and the systems supported, regular on-site attendance is required and this is not a traditional hybrid role.

Applications from candidates who would need to relocate to the Yeovil area are welcome. Relocation support is available, subject to policy and eligibility, and can be discussed during the recruitment process.

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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Primary Location:

GB - Yeovil - Lysander Rd

Contract Type:

Permanent

Hybrid Working:

Onsite