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Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) – Defence / National Security
Location: Farnborough
Salary: £75k
Full – Time (3 days a week onsite)
We are looking for an experienced Site Reliability Engineer to join a team working in defence and national security environments. This is a hands-on role focused on building secure, automated, and highly reliable platforms, combining engineering, design, and DevOps principles.
You’ll work closely with platform engineers, infrastructure teams, operational stakeholders, and project managers to take requirements from early design and proof-of-concept through to production. This role is ideal for someone curious, detail-oriented, and comfortable in complex, regulated environments, with a passion for automation, resilience, and secure-by-design infrastructure.
The Role:
- Designing, delivering, upgrading, and maintaining core platforms, services, and automations
- Building and improving monitoring, alerting, and observability platforms
- Designing secure infrastructure using automation-first approaches
- Creating and productionising proofs of concept for new tools and technologies
- Diagnosing and resolving performance, reliability, and availability issues
- Supporting architecture, documentation, and non-functional requirements
- Mentoring engineers and helping improve DevOps and SRE practices
Essential experience:
- Strong experience with Linux (Ubuntu) and Windows Server
- Good knowledge of Linux administration
- Skilled in scripting: Bash, Python, PowerShell, or similar
- Experienced with DevOps/automation tools: Ansible, Terraform, CI/CD, Git
- Familiar with cloud platforms, especially Azure
- Knowledge of configuration management (e.g., DSC)
- Excellent problem-solving skills
- Willingness to learn new technologies
- Able to handle multiple projects in a fast-paced environment
Desirable experience:
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) – Terraform, ARM templates
- Knowledge of security best practices
- Configuration as Code: DSC, Ansible, or similar
- Linux (Ubuntu, RHEL/CentOS) and Windows Server administration
- Containerisation & orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes
- Version control and configuration management: Git/GitLab
- Project and issue tracking tools: JIRA or similar
- Cloud platforms: Azure / Azure Stack Hub
- Monitoring and alerting: Nagios, Splunk, or similar
- Strong communication and documentation skills
- Experience with large-scale system deployment
- Advocate for DevOps and Agile practices
- Able to work closely with teams and customers
Benefits:
A collaborative, inclusive culture with strong benefits including competitive pay, bonus, pension, private healthcare, generous leave, professional development, wellbeing perks, and modern on-site facilities
UK Security Clearance
Due to the secure nature of the position and working environment, you must be a UK sole national and either have, or be eligible to obtain Security Clearance.
To apply or find out more information on the role please send your CV to rebecca@talentlocker.co.uk
Outside IR35 Backend Software Engineer – MOD/Defence Project, Farnborough, Hybrid, £500-550 per day
Contract opportunity for a backend software engineer for a programme involving LLM. This is for a defence consultancy and security clearance (SC) would be needed prior to engagement. Due to the nature of the role, 1-3 days per week in Farnborough is needed.
Key skills required
- Backed development experience (Mid-senior level)
- Python
- Data Pipeline Creation and Management
- API Creation and Integration
- Database Creation and Integration
- Working with JSON
If you have worked in a security cleared environment, have the active relevant Security Clearance and skilled with backend development - please apply.
Manufacturing Support Engineering Shift Lead (Nights)
Southampton
up to £55k + 26% shift allowance (up to £69k total)
7pm–7am | 4 on, 4 off (nights)
This role sits at the sharp end of a highly automated manufacturing operation, leading a team of Manufacturing Support Engineers on the night shift within a 24/7 production environment where uptime, quality and pace genuinely matter. You’ll take full ownership of nights, balancing hands-on engineering support with people leadership, performance management and forward planning.
You’ll be accountable for leading an engineering team in a clean-room, high-volume environment, reacting to faults, overseeing planned preventative maintenance and resolving operational issues in real time during the night shift. Alongside this, the role requires strong analytical capability, using data from nights to identify trends, plan improvements and feed into wider engineering performance.
Strong people leadership is essential. This role requires proven experience of managing engineers through appraisals, coaching, development plans, disciplinaries and regular 1-to-1s, while maintaining engagement and standards on a permanent night pattern.
This environment suits candidates from highly automated sectors such as automotive, medical devices, pharmaceuticals or FMCG, and is also well aligned to experienced military engineers transitioning into manufacturing leadership roles.
What you’ll need
• Proven leadership experience managing technical teams
• Background in high-volume, highly automated manufacturing
• Confidence working hands-on with engineering faults, PPM and breakdowns
• Ability to balance shop-floor leadership with analysis, planning and reporting
• Experience operating in clean-room or tightly controlled environments
Salary and benefits
• Salary up to £55,000
• 26.09% night shift allowance
• Annual salary reviews
• 5% employer pension contribution
• Health Cash Plan
• Life Assurance and Income Protection
• Gym Flex, Cycle to Work and additional lifestyle benefits
If you’re looking for a night shift leadership role with real engineering ownership, clear accountability and a package that properly rewards working nights, this is a chance to run your shift like it’s your own operation.
Project Manager – GIS / Esri
Glasgow (Hybrid: 3 days onsite with a major energy supplier, 2 days WFH)
Permanent | Full time
This is a consulting Project Manager role within a global technology consultancy, supporting a long-standing partnership with a major UK energy supplier that has been in place since 2018 and is entering a new phase of growth. While the role is currently embedded onsite with the client team in Glasgow, there is a clear ambition to establish a dedicated consultancy presence in the city to further strengthen delivery and collaboration.
The Project Manager will lead the delivery of complex GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Esri-based programmes within the utilities environment, combining strong project governance with hands-on technical understanding. In true consultancy fashion, the role balances delivery excellence with commercial awareness, relationship-building and the ability to identify opportunities to expand and deepen the existing client engagement.
You will work closely with senior client stakeholders, internal consultancy teams, and international delivery teams in Spain, ensuring projects are delivered to a high standard while aligning with broader strategic objectives.
Key responsibilities
- Lead GIS and Esri technology projects from initiation through to successful delivery
- Act as a trusted consulting partner for senior client stakeholders
- Coordinate multi-disciplinary delivery teams across the UK and Spain
- Identify and support new business development opportunities within the client account
- Apply appropriate project governance and delivery methodologies
- Ensure quality, timelines and client satisfaction are consistently met
Essential experience
- Strong Project Management experience within consultancy or client-facing environments
- Hands-on experience with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Esri technologies (essential)
- Experience delivering projects within utilities and/or large-scale infrastructure
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
- Commercial mindset with the ability to identify and shape growth opportunities
Additional information
- Hybrid working model: 3 days onsite, 2 days remote
- BPSS clearance required which will be done during onboarding (no existing clearance needed)
- Highly competitive salary packages available, dependent on experience
This is an opportunity to step into a high-trust consulting role, influence the growth of a strategic client partnership, and help shape the consultancy’s long-term footprint in Scotland.
Outside IR35 Full Stack Software Developer – LLM / AI, Farnborough, Hybrid, £500-600 per day
Long term contract opportunity for a full stack engineer with experience in LLM. This is for a defence consultancy and security clearance (SC) would be needed prior to engagement. Due to the nature of the role, 2-3 days per week in Farnborough is needed.
Key skills required
- Full stack development experience (Mid-senior level)
- PostgreSQL
- Python
- React
- JSON
- LLM and other AI Approaches – GenAI
If you have worked in a security cleared environment, and skilled with LLM and AI Approaches, please apply.
Senior Financial Modelling Consultant – Defence Housing Strategy
£900–£1,000 per day | Inside IR35 | London Hybrid – Contract until end of Dec 26 initially
This role sits at the heart of one of the most ambitious public sector housing programmes in decades. The Defence Housing Strategy is a landmark initiative focused on renewing military family accommodation and unlocking the long-term value of Defence land, delivering thousands of homes while supporting economic growth and national infrastructure priorities.
You will play a critical role in developing and enhancing a sophisticated financial model that underpins the Strategy. The model must evolve from zonal-level plans into a consolidated, portfolio-wide view, capable of tracking delivery against original budgets, renewal plans and emerging strategic decisions. Portfolio strategies include refurbishment, demolition and rebuild, replacement with new build, and selective disposal of assets.
The work requires translating complex data into clear, credible insights for senior decision-makers. Outputs will be used at the highest levels to shape funding decisions, prioritisation and long-term investment planning across a nationally significant housing estate.
Essential experience
- Advanced financial modelling expertise, including complex multi-scenario portfolio models
- Strategic financial analysis to support investment and policy decisions
- Senior-level presentation skills, with confidence engaging and challenging stakeholders
Typical day in the role
You will develop and refine complex financial models that support strategic decisions across the Defence housing portfolio, consolidating zonal plans into a flexible, portfolio-level view. The role involves testing multiple delivery strategies and assumptions, tracking performance against budgets, and translating detailed analysis into clear, decision-ready summaries for senior stakeholders. You will work closely with Defence, infrastructure and specialist advisory teams, contributing financial insight to ongoing strategy discussions. The role is London-based with hybrid working, occasional UK travel, and extended hours during key delivery phases.
Why this role stands out
This is a rare opportunity to work on a nationally significant programme with long-term social impact, improving living standards for military families. You will gain exposure to one of the UK’s most complex residential portfolios while influencing high-profile Defence infrastructure decisions.
Additional requirements
• Strong experience in property or real estate portfolio modelling / residential
• CAPEX and OPEX forecasting, scenario analysis and sensitivity testing
• Understanding of refurbishment, redevelopment, new build and disposal strategies
• Investment appraisal techniques including NPV and value-for-money assessments
• Exceptional attention to detail and comfort working with large financial datasets
Security vetting will be required
Deployment and Integration Engineer
Prestwick, Scotland
Permanent
Full time, Monday–Friday (on call rota once trained)
Right to work in the UK and eligible for BPSS clearance
The Role:
We are seeking an experienced Deployment and Integration Engineer to join our onsite support team based in Prestwick, supporting critical UK national infrastructure.
You will play a key role in the deployment, integration, and operational support of advanced Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems within a highly regulated, safety-critical environment. Working closely with project managers, engineers, offshore development teams, and customer stakeholders, you will support some of the most complex and mission-critical ATM systems in operation today.
This is a customer-facing role involving Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), system integration, virtualisation, networking, automation, and operational support activities.
Key Responsibilities:
- Provide third line (expert) support for operational ATM systems, including incident investigation and resolution
- Collaborate with offshore development teams to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues
- Deploy and maintain operational, training, and test environments
- Act as the engineering focal point during system development, integration, and operational validation activities
- Deploy and integrate hardware and software systems within customer and internal ATM environments
- Participate in customer meetings, providing updates on investigations and progress
- Produce formal technical documentation, including procedures, high level designs, and network architectures
- Build and maintain strong, trusted relationships with customer stakeholders
- Contribute to continuous improvement, innovation, and knowledge sharing within the team
Essential Skills & Experience:
- Experience working in regulated and safety critical environments (e.g. Defence, Aerospace, Rail, Nuclear, Oil & Gas, Automotive, Maritime)
- Strong hands on experience with:
- Linux (preferably RHEL)
- Virtualization (VMware, KVM)
- Networking (TCP/IP, multicast, routing)
- Scripting (Shell, Python)
- Experience with log analysis and system troubleshooting
- Familiarity with automation and provisioning tools (Ansible, Puppet)
- Network troubleshooting using tools such as Tcpdump and Wireshark
- Experience with software installation, deployment, and integration testing
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to both technical and non technical stakeholders
- Strong customer facing skills and the ability to operate effectively under pressure
- Fluent English and willingness to undertake occasional business travel
Desirable:
- Experience with container based technologies (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Experience working in highly distributed, multi site teams
- Spanish language skills
To apply or find out more information on the role please send your CV torebecca@talentlocker.co.uk
Senior Software Engineer
Portsmouth | Hybrid, 3 days onsite
£50,000–£75,000 plus bonus and benefits
This Senior Software Engineer role is ideal for a hands-on engineer with experience in C++ and Unreal Engine, working on complex, performance-critical software across modelling and simulation, autonomy and geospatial domains. The position focuses on building robust, scalable systems while offering clear progression towards technical leadership.
The role sits within a growing software and data science consultancy delivering end-to-end solutions across defence, energy, transport and health. You will work alongside experienced engineers, data scientists and subject matter experts on programmes covering modelling and simulation, autonomous systems, synthetic environments and digital twins.
You will stay close to the code while contributing ideas, shaping solutions and engaging directly with customers.
What you will be doing
• Designing, developing and delivering software solutions across modelling and simulation, autonomy and geospatial domains
• Working with technologies including wargaming, robotic and autonomous systems, digital twins and synthetic environments
• Applying mathematical and computational methods to solve real-world problems
• Contributing to technical consultancy projects, with opportunities to lead defined work packages
• Analysing use cases and project context to shape requirements and specifications
• Working across existing codebases and contributing to performance-critical systems
• Building and maintaining effective customer and stakeholder relationships
• Supporting technical reporting and presenting work to customers
What you will bring
• At least 5 years’ experience designing and delivering performant software applications
• Proficiency in C, C++ or C# alongside Python
• Experience with Unreal Engine or similar game-engine technology
• Understanding of software modelling and simulation techniques
• Experience in areas such as entity or event-based simulation, robotics or autonomous systems
• Confidence working with large codebases and understanding performance and hardware constraints
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with stakeholders
Desirable
• Experience within UK defence or other regulated environments
• Degree-level education or equivalent experience with a strong STEM or computing background
Location, security and working pattern
• Hybrid working with 3 days per week onsite in Portsmouth
• Willingness to travel within the UK and work at client sites when required
• Right to live and work in the UK
• Eligible and willing to obtain SC security clearance, normally requiring 5 years UK residency
What’s on offer
• Salary from £50,000, flexible based on experience
• 7 percent employer pension contribution
• Private healthcare and life assurance
• 25 days holiday with additional holiday purchase options
• EV salary sacrifice scheme
• Structured mentoring and internal and external training opportunities
Principal Software Engineer
Portsmouth | Hybrid, 3 days onsite
£75,000–£85,000 plus bonus and benefits
This Principal Software Engineer role is designed for a hands-on technical leader with strong C++ and Unreal Engine expertise, working at the forefront of complex, performance-critical software delivery. The role combines advanced engineering with genuine technical authority, shaping how simulation-driven and autonomy-focused systems are designed, built and evolved.
The position sits within a fast-growing software and data science consultancy delivering end-to-end solutions across defence, energy, transport and health. You will work closely with subject matter experts and senior stakeholders on high-impact programmes spanning modelling and simulation, autonomy, geospatial systems, synthetic environments and digital twins.
This is a true principal-level role. You will remain deeply technical while setting direction, leading teams and acting as the technical authority across projects.
What you will be doing
• Leading the design and delivery of complex software solutions using C++ and Unreal Engine
• Acting as technical lead across modelling and simulation, wargaming and autonomous systems
• Applying mathematical and computational techniques to solve real-world problems
• Owning key technical decisions across architecture, tooling and performance
• Mentoring engineers and enabling high-performing delivery teams
• Delivering technical consultancy engagements and leading selected projects
• Building trusted relationships with customers and stakeholders
• Supporting bids, proposals and technical reporting
What you will bring
• Extensive experience, typically 15+ years, delivering high-performance software
• Proven technical leadership at Principal or Technical Lead level
• Strong hands-on expertise in C++ and Unreal Engine
• Background in simulation, autonomy, robotics or game-engine-driven environments
• Experience working with large, complex codebases and performance constraints
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and influencing skills
What’s on offer
• Salary up to £85,000, flexible for exceptional technical leaders
• 7 percent employer pension contribution
• Vitality private healthcare
• 25 days holiday with the option to buy or sell additional days
• Life assurance
• EV salary sacrifice scheme
• Discretionary bonus linked to company performance
• Structured mentoring and ongoing technical development