Senior Platform Engineer

Our world-leading Time & Frequency department are seeking a Senior Platform Engineer with experience in VMWare and Virtualisation.

About the Role

This is an exceptional opportunity to join the global authority in precision timing at a defining moment for UK digital infrastructure.

Backed by a government investment of £180 million in the National Timing Centre (NTC) programme, we are developing a world-first resilient time distribution capability that will provide industry with a robust complement to satellite systems (such as GPS) – which are increasingly vulnerable to disruption from solar storms, jamming and spoofing.

This will underpin essential services, including

• Telecommunications,
• Online banking,
• Emergency response,
• Transport networks,
• Wider digital and data-driven operations.

Together, these services form the backbone of modern society - and your leadership will help ensure they remain secure, reliable and robust even if global navigation satellite systems fail.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design, implement and support VMware platforms and virtual infrastructure services (vCenter, ESXi and vSAN environments ) - ensuring they remain secure, resilient, stable and highly available.
• Support and development of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms - delivering secure, scalable and high-performing end-user services.
• Manage and support Windows Server and Active Directory services - ensuring the secure and reliable delivery of core infrastructure capabilities.
• Apply security best practice and platform hardening - supporting privileged access management, PKI and certificate services, monitoring, logging and data protection.
• Deliver platform upgrades, migrations and lifecycle management - ensuring infrastructure remains secure, compliant and fit for future needs.
• Develop and maintain automation, scripting and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions - improving consistency, efficiency and service reliability.
• Troubleshoot complex infrastructure, platform and network issues - supporting business continuity, disaster recovery and ongoing service improvement.

NOTE: Travel to customer and operational sites as required to support deployment, implementation and operational activities.

ABOUT YOU:

You’re currently a Platform Engineer, Infrastructure, Systems Administration or Technical Consultant ; with

• Strong experience with On-Prem Enterprise Linux Environments - including the design, implementation and support of Linux-based services.
• Strong capability in automation, scripting and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) - using tools such as Bash, Ansible, Terraform and Python.
• Experience delivering secure, resilient and highly available systems across infrastructure and platform environments.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills with the ability to engage across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience producing technical documentation, operational procedures and implementation plans .

DESIRABLE:

• Experience with VMware (vCenter, vSAN) - including administration, maintenance and optimisation of virtualised infrastructure environments.
• Experience supporting Kubernetes and containerised platforms within enterprise-scale environments.
• Relevant Linux, Infrastructure, Security or DevOps/Automation certifications .

We actively recruit citizens of all backgrounds, but the nature of our work in specific departments means that nationality, residency and security requirements can be more tightly defined than others. You will be asked about this throughout the recruitment process. To work at NPL, you will need to obtain BPSS security clearance.

For this role you will need to have an SC clearance with no restrictions, or you must have the ability to obtain an SC clearance.

Please note: Applications will be reviewed, and interviews conducted throughout the duration of this advert therefore we may at any time bring the closing date forward. We encourage all interested applicants to apply as soon as practical.