Head of DevOps – Azure, Terraform, CI/CD Leadership

About the role

We are seeking a Head of DevOps to lead a 40‑person function that underpins technology delivery for a large UK insurer. Based in London with a hybrid schedule, you will shape the operating model, strategy and roadmap as the business modernises its legacy estate.

Key responsibilities

• Own end‑to‑end delivery of DevOps and automation across the UK and offshore India teams.
• Define and evolve the team structure, governance and CI/CD processes to meet FCA regulatory standards.
• Manage a budget of £1‑1.5 million, vendor relationships and major transformation programmes.
• Partner with development squads to embed DevOps engineers and ensure reliable releases.
• Drive modernisation of a legacy estate using Azure, Terraform and self‑service provisioning.

Required profile

• 10+ years of experience in DevOps, tooling or automation, preferably within an enterprise or in‑house environment.
• Proven leadership of a sizeable, geographically distributed DevOps function.
• Experience delivering DevOps inside development teams rather than as a pure cloud or infrastructure service.
• Strong understanding of regulated sectors (e.g., insurance, banking) and FCA‑style governance.

Required skills

• Azure
• Terraform
• Jenkins
• GitLab CI
• Ansible
• CI/CD governance and release management
• Infrastructure as Code
• PaaS and IaaS platforms
• Observability and platform engineering concepts

What we offer

• Competitive salary £120k‑£135k plus up to 20% annual bonus.
• Hybrid working (2‑3 days in London office, occasional day in Sussex hub).
• Leadership of a high‑impact function with real budget authority.
• Strong corporate benefits package.