Linux Engineer Lead

Job Title: Linux Engineer Lead - VP

Location: London

Contract Length: 6 Months initially. Rolling contracts up to 2yrs

Pay rate: £400-£515 pwd via umbrella

The Role

We’re building a brand-new Linux and container platform capability across EMEA — and this is a key leadership role in that journey. As a Linux Engineer Lead , you’ll be the technical authority driving the design, build, and operation of enterprise Linux platforms that power containerised workloads, with a strong focus on OpenShift and Kubernetes. This is a hands-on engineering role where you’ll combine deep Linux expertise with modern platform engineering practices to deliver secure, scalable, and production-ready infrastructure in a regulated environment.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead the engineering of enterprise Linux platforms (primarily RHEL) supporting OpenShift/Kubernetes
• Act as the technical authority for Linux across the EMEA platform estate
• Design, build, and maintain highly resilient and scalable container platforms
• Own OpenShift cluster lifecycle (build, upgrade, performance, stability)
• Collaborate with Automation, SRE, Security, and Infrastructure teams
• Drive an automation-first approach using Ansible and GitLab pipelines
• Support onboarding of production workloads onto container platforms
• Ensure platforms meet security, compliance, and audit standards
• Integrate monitoring/logging tools (e.g. Splunk)
• Act as escalation point for complex incidents
• Contribute to architecture, capacity planning, and platform strategy
• Participate in on-call rota and occasional out-of-hours support

What We’re Looking For

• Strong experience in Linux engineering (RHEL preferred) in enterprise environments
• Hands-on expertise with OpenShift and/or Kubernetes
• Proven experience in building and operating container platforms at scale
• Solid understanding of automation tools (Ansible, CI/CD, GitLab)
• Experience with monitoring/logging tools (e.g. Splunk)
• Knowledge of security hardening and compliance in regulated environments
• Ability to act as a technical lead / SME without direct people management
• Strong troubleshooting and incident management skills

Nice to Have

• Experience with hybrid or cloud-aligned platform design
• Exposure to SRE practices and platform engineering models
• Financial services or regulated industry background

Why Join?

• Opportunity to build a platform capability from the ground up
• Work on modern containerisation and cloud-native technologies
• High-impact role with strong visibility across EMEA and global teams
• Blend of hands-on engineering + technical leadership

We’re building a brand-new Linux and container platform capability across EMEA — and this is a key leadership role in that journey. As a Linux Engineer Lead (VP), you’ll be the technical authority driving the design, build, and operation of enterprise Linux platforms that power containerised workloads, with a strong focus on OpenShift and Kubernetes. This is a hands-on engineering role where you’ll combine deep Linux expertise with modern platform engineering practices to deliver secure, scalable, and production-ready infrastructure in a regulated environment.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead the engineering of enterprise Linux platforms (primarily RHEL) supporting OpenShift/Kubernetes
• Act as the technical authority for Linux across the EMEA platform estate
• Design, build, and maintain highly resilient and scalable container platforms
• Own OpenShift cluster lifecycle (build, upgrade, performance, stability)
• Collaborate with Automation, SRE, Security, and Infrastructure teams
• Drive an automation-first approach using Ansible and GitLab pipelines
• Support onboarding of production workloads onto container platforms
• Ensure platforms meet security, compliance, and audit standards
• Integrate monitoring/logging tools (e.g. Splunk)
• Act as escalation point for complex incidents
• Contribute to architecture, capacity planning, and platform strategy
• Participate in on-call rota and occasional out-of-hours support

What We’re Looking For

• Strong experience in Linux engineering (RHEL preferred) in enterprise environments
• Hands-on expertise with OpenShift and/or Kubernetes
• Proven experience in building and operating container platforms at scale
• Solid understanding of automation tools (Ansible, CI/CD, GitLab)
• Experience with monitoring/logging tools (e.g. Splunk)
• Knowledge of security hardening and compliance in regulated environments
• Ability to act as a technical lead / SME without direct people management
• Strong troubleshooting and incident management skills

Nice to Have

• Experience with hybrid or cloud-aligned platform design
• Exposure to SRE practices and platform engineering models
• Financial services or regulated industry background

Why Join?

• Opportunity to build a platform capability from the ground up
• Work on modern containerisation and cloud-native technologies
• High-impact role with strong visibility across EMEA and global teams
• Blend of hands-on engineering + technical leadership

We use generative AI tools to support our candidate screening process. This helps us ensure a fair, consistent, and efficient experience for all applicants. Rest assured, all final decisions are made by our hiring team, and your application will be reviewed with care and attention.

Please be advised if you haven't heard from us within 48 hours then unfortunately your application has not been successful on this occasion, we may however keep your details on file for any suitable future vacancies and contact you accordingly.

Pontoon/Adecco is an employment consultancy. We put expertise, energy, and enthusiasm into improving everyone’s chance of being part of the workplace. We respect and appreciate people of all ethnicities, generations, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, and more. We do this by showcasing their talents, skills, and unique experience in an inclusive environment that helps them thrive.