Principal DevOps & Automation Engineer

We don’t just believe in better. We make it happen.  

Better content. Better products. And better careers.  

Working in Tech, Product or Data at Sky is about building the next and the new. From broadband to broadcast, streaming to mobile, Sky Stream to Sky Glass, we never stand still. We optimise and innovate. We turn big ideas into the products, content and services millions of people love. And we do it all right here at Sky. 

Role/Team overview

Apps Integration provides essential software development, platform engineering and technical support functions to internal and external stakeholders in the fast-moving world of Apps.

As a Principal CI/CD & Automation Engineer, you will be an experienced software and DevOps engineer who designs, builds and operates the tooling, services and delivery platforms that enable streaming and web applications to move safely from development to production. Alongside automation and quality engineering, you will create maintainable software, production-grade CI/CD capabilities and reliable developer workflows.

This is not a traditional test-focused role. You will be expected to bring deep development and DevOps expertise, work autonomously across the full software delivery lifecycle, and influence technical architecture, engineering standards and operational direction.

What you’ll do 

• Lead the architecture, development and continuous improvement of production-grade CI/CD platforms and developer workflows for web applications.

• Design and build maintainable software, internal tools, services and integrations using Python and other appropriate programming languages.

• Own source-control, branching, build, packaging, release and deployment approaches, applying software engineering practices such as code review, modular design, versioning and technical documentation

• Build and operate cloud and container-based delivery environments, including infrastructure automation, configuration management and deployment orchestration.

• Implement observability across pipelines and automation services, using logs, metrics, dashboards and alerting to improve reliability, performance and operational support.

• Troubleshoot complex application, environment and deployment issues across Linux, networking, APIs, containers and CI/CD tooling, driving problems through to root-cause resolution.

• Engineer automated quality controls throughout the delivery lifecycle, including unit, API, integration, UI, performance and end-to-end testing.

• Set technical direction, mentor engineers and partner with engineering, product and cross-functional teams across multiple territories to embed secure DevOps, development and automation best practices.

What you’ll bring  

• Substantial hands-on software development experience, with advanced Python skills and evidence of designing, reviewing and maintaining production-quality code. Experience with additional programming languages is advantageous.

• Deep Linux and systems engineering expertise, including shell scripting, networking, containers, package management, version control, branching strategies, release management and complex troubleshooting.

• Proven experience architecting, building and operating CI/CD solutions in production environments using tools such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or Azure DevOps.

• Strong DevOps experience across build engineering, deployment automation, environment management, configuration, secrets, artefact management, observability and operational support.

• Practical experience with cloud and container platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP, together with Docker and Kubernetes or equivalent orchestration technologies.

• Strong understanding of software architecture, APIs and web application delivery, with the ability to translate engineering requirements into scalable, secure and supportable solutions.

Desirable skills and experience:

• Experience developing internal platforms, developer tooling, APIs or automation services used by multiple engineering teams.

• Experience with infrastructure as code and configuration-management tooling such as Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation or equivalent technologies.

• Experience delivering automated testing at scale using frameworks such as Playwright, Cypress or Selenium, plus API and performance-testing tools.

• Experience working in streaming, video-platform or other large-scale web environments, with leadership experience across teams or territories and familiarity with AI-assisted development or testing practices.

Benefits and perks 

There's one thing people can't stop talking about when it comes to life at Sky: the perks. Here’s a taster:  

• Free Sky package, including Sky Sports and Sky Cinema   

• Pension package with up to 9% employer contribution

• Private healthcare with mental health support 

• Aviva Digital GP and dental insurance 

• Discounts on Sky products, including Sky Mobile, Sky Broadband, Sky Glass and Sky Protect  

• Sharesave and Tech schemes 

• A range of Sky VIP rewards and experiences  

How you’ll work 

We've adopted a hybrid working approach to give more flexibility on where and how we work. The hybrid working expectations for this role are 2 days in the office per week

Your office base - Osterley  

Our Sky Group HQ. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology and workspaces, there’s plenty of space to see your big ideas come to life. Here you’ll find 13 subsidised restaurants and cafes. You can re-energise at our gym, catch the latest films at our cinema, get your car washed and even get pampered at our beauty salon.  

Our Osterley Campus is just a 10-minute walk from Syon Lane train station, or you can get one of our free shuttle buses from Osterley, Gunnersbury and Ealing Broadway stations. Plus, there’s free onsite parking available for cars, motorbikes and bicycles. 

Who we are 

We’re Sky, a leading media and entertainment company who connect millions with entertainment, sports, news and arts through innovative products and services. Working with us means you’ll be bringing the joy of a better experience to more people, every day. All so we can do better and deliver better for our customers, colleagues and society.

We’re an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We're a Disability Confident Accredited Employer, and welcome and encourage applications from all candidates. We will look to ensure a fair and consistent experience for all and will make reasonable adjustments to support you where appropriate. Please flag any adjustments you need as early as you can.

Just so you know: if your application is successful, we’ll ask you to complete a criminal record check. And depending on the role you have applied for and the nature of any convictions you may have, we might have to withdraw the offer.  

To be eligible for this role you are required to have the appropriate right to work in the UK. Please be aware Sky does not offer sponsorship for this position.

To find out more about working with us, search #LifeAtSky on social media.