Principal CloudOps Platform Engineer

Role OVO-View

Salary banding: £84,000 - £121,000

Experience: Expert

Working pattern: Full-Time

Reporting to: Director of Cloud

Sponsorship: Unfortunately we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

This role in 3 words: Transformative, Visionary, Innovative

Top 3 qualities for this role: Leadership, Organisation, Strategist

 

Where you’ll work:

Depending on the needs of your business area, we expect hub based people to be in the office at least once a week, and to go to OVO Connection events in-person. 

You’ll be assigned to the closest one of our three hub offices, Bristol, Glasgow, or London; unless your role requires field-based work. Each hub has accessible spaces to park your laptop, is designed to inspire people, help them connect and bring big ideas to life.

 

Everyone belongs at OVO

At OVO, we are on a mission to solve one of humanity's biggest challenges, the climate crisis. And we know it takes all of us to change the world. That's why we need diverse people from all abilities, gender identities, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations, life experiences and backgrounds to join us.

 

Teamworking for the planet

Everything we do here spins around Plan Zero. So, naturally, the team you’ll be joining plays a gigantic role in making that happen. Here’s how:

The Evergreen and CloudOps teams are at the heart of OVO's customer focused technology transformation. Building a scalable and efficient service to host OVO's applications and services. Evergreen's goal is to make it easier for teams to host in GCP and at the same time to reduce CO2 usage through efficient and smart usage of cloud services. This is at the heart of OVO's Plan Zero

 

This role in a nutshell:

As the Principal Cloud Platform Engineer at OVO, you’ll lead the development and execution of the cloud and platform strategy, focusing on innovation, governance, cost efficiency, and infrastructure excellence. This role plays a key part in shaping the company's long-term engineering practices and influences strategic decisions at both the team and organisational levels. As a recognised leader in cloud and platform initiatives, this position works closely with senior management to drive the future direction of OVO’s technology landscape.

 

Your key outcomes will be:

• Lead the strategic direction for cloud and platform initiatives, ensuring alignment with OVO's goals.
• Architect and oversee the development of scalable, secure, and high-performance platform infrastructure, focusing on large-scale Kubernetes environments.
• Drive enterprise-level cost optimisation strategies and establish compliance frameworks.
• Influence senior leadership on strategic decisions and manage third-party platform lifecycle.
• Develop advanced automation, monitoring, and self-service tools to enhance platform efficiency.
• Champion the integration of emerging technologies into the platform.
• Ensure platform strategies align with business objectives, promoting synergy across the organisation.
• Mentor senior engineers, setting practices and standards to drive excellence.
• Community of Practice: Lead and grow the Community of Practice, driving industry engagement and thought leadership. Contribute to content creation and knowledge exchange, furthering your skills while mentoring and coaching others. Provide input into upskilling and learning pathways, supporting career progression within the CoP.

 

You’ll be a successful Principal CloudOps Platform Engineer at OVO if you…

• Extensive experience in cloud platforms (preferably GCP) and large-scale systems, with proven leadership in driving strategic tech initiatives.
• Expertise in enterprise cloud architecture, governance, and multi-cloud strategies, including advanced Kubernetes management and security.
• Strong track record in cloud economics, cost optimisation at scale, and managing budgets effectively across multiple regions.
• Proven ability to design and implement disaster recovery (DR) and high-availability (HA) engineering strategies.
• Deep knowledge in performance optimisation, automation, and orchestration architecture, with hands-on experience in GitOps and CI/CD.
• Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior leadership and align technical strategy with business goals.
• Demonstrated mentorship and coaching abilities, promoting