Principal Cloud Engineer
Salary: £90,000 - £98,000 + Benefits + Unlimited Training Budget
Active SC Clearance is required for this role.

Principal Cloud Engineer
Salary: £90,000 - £98,000 + Benefits + Unlimited Training Budget
Active SC Clearance is required for this role.

Are you a Cloud Engineering leader ready to shape strategy, influence large-scale platforms, and drive engineering excellence? We're seeking a Principal Cloud Engineer to lead the design and evolution of secure, enterprise-grade cloud environments for a major UK government programme in Manchester.

This hybrid role offers flexibility across home, office, and client site, while placing you at the centre of high-impact, mission-critical delivery.

The Opportunity

As a Principal Cloud Engineer, you'll operate at the forefront of technical leadership-setting direction, defining standards, and guiding multiple Cloud Pods. You'll combine deep technical expertise with strategic thinking, ensuring platforms are scalable, secure, and aligned with long-term organisational goals.

This role goes beyond delivery-you'll influence architecture, mentor senior engineers, and play a key role in shaping the future of cloud engineering within the organisation.

What You'll Be Doing

• Defining and driving cloud architecture strategy across multiple teams and platforms
• Leading the design of scalable, secure, and reusable cloud solutions using a code-first approach
• Establishing best practices across Infrastructure as Code, DevOps, and platform engineering
• Providing technical leadership and mentorship to senior and mid-level engineers
• Collaborating with stakeholders to align technical solutions with business and programme outcomes
• Driving innovation, continuous improvement, and adoption of emerging technologies
• Overseeing and enhancing CI/CD, automation, and cloud governance frameworks
• Acting as a key decision-maker on complex technical challenges and architecture

What We're Looking For

• Extensive experience in Cloud / Platform Engineering, with time spent in a senior or principal capacity
• Deep expertise in AWS and/or Azure at an architectural level
• Advanced proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (Terraform strongly preferred)
• Strong experience with Git-based workflows (e.g. GitHub)
• Proven track record of designing and implementing CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices at scale
• Expertise in Kubernetes, containerisation, and automation tools such as Ansible
• Strong understanding of networking, security, and enterprise architecture principles
• Experience leading teams, influencing stakeholders, and setting technical direction
• Background working in Agile environments with cross-functional teams

Why Join?

This is a rare opportunity to operate at a principal level-where your decisions shape platforms, teams, and outcomes. You'll join a collaborative, forward-thinking engineering culture that values innovation, leadership, and continuous growth.

If you're ready to lead at scale and make a lasting impact, we'd love to hear from you.